The first unboxings and reviews are out for Apple’s new AirTag smart item tracker and early impressions are positive – highlighting how well the products works, how smooth the integration with iPhone and Apple’s software is, the thoughtful security included, and more.
AirTags go up for pre-order tomorrow, April 23 at 5 am PT and ahead of that, we’ve got some detailed hands-on experiences about the new product.
While AirTags will be super helpful to find lost items inside with a precision finding experience, in its review, The Verge did a full-scale game of hide-and-seek across an “unfamiliar city.”
On the whole, The Verge’s Dieter Bohn feels AirTag “is the Most Apple Product I’ve seen in a while.” And while the choice to go with white may not hold up so well to real-life use over time, he also says they’re smart, capable, and “work super well.”
After a half-hour of walking around, I finally found him. He was standing on a street corner with no foot traffic whatsoever, which meant that the intermittent signals I got detailing his location came from a couple of iPhones in cars that were driving by.
That’s impressive.
iJustine showed off an unboxing, seamless setup, and a mostly indoor scavenger hunt highlighting the AirTag’s impressively accurate finding experience thanks to the U1 chip. She found them to “work perfectly in the Apple ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, MKBHD gave the precision finding experience 9/10 and called it “pretty sweet.” But he called the experience when you’ve lost something further away the most impressive part of AirTag. When you enter Lost Mode, Apple privately leverages all other iPhones to help you locate your item. And even Android smartphones can read an AirTag to get the owner’s information and hopefully help return it to them.
One criticism from MKBHD was noting “I wish it was a little bit thinner…” and noted that other companies like Tile will have the advantage of offering a variety of form factors.
Rene Ritchie sat down with a couple of Apple execs to ask some detailed questions about AirTags, covering privacy/security, accessibility, family sharing, and more. Notably, for now, one Apple ID account can work with 16 AirTags.
And UrAvgConsumer was impressed enough with his first hands-on to say “I used to be all about Tile, but now, AirTags baby.”
Top image via iJustine
