I ordered my first four-pack of AirTags from Apple the minute they went on sale for $99. It’s important to note that Apple offers free later etching / engraving (emojis, text and numbers) on AirTag, but only if you order directly from them. It’s pretty cool (and free is always nice), but I’ll say that due to AirTag’s small size, the amount of writing you can do is pretty limited. I tried to write my dog’s name, since AirTags are the best pet trackers, but there weren’t enough letters to write “Lucca” – yup, you can only engrave four letters on an AirTag.

So, putting aside free engraving, where is the best places to find AirTags in stock? Where can you find the best AirTag deals? AirTags are now available at major stores such as Amazon and Best Buy for pre-order. Best shot at deals it to regularly check Amazon’s AirTags 4-Pack pricing and the price of a single AirTag at Amazon, and also to keep an eye on places known for having surprise Apple sales like Costco, the cell carriers (Verizon for example regularly has sales on AirPods), etc. We’ll keep you posted – just sign up for our AirTag deal alerts on the top right.

It’s also important to think about AirTag accessories. Apple’s AirTags may be “cheap” at $29 each or $99 for four… But there are limited AirTag uses without an AirTags case, key ring, or loop. For example, I plan to put one on my dog Lucca’s collar – but other than duct-taping an AirTag to the collar (which would be… sad), there’s not an easy way to attach a beautiful chrome circle to something without a case or key chain accessory. And that’s where AirTags get expensive. AirTags don’t come with any accessories at all from Apple.

The truth is – Apple’s AirTag accessories cost more than the AirTags themselves!

Apple sells its simple AirTag Leather Key Ring for $35.

The Apple AirTag Leather Loop is even more expensive, at $39.

The only Apple AirTag accessory that isn’t more expensive than AirTags themselves is the simple rubber Apple AirTag Loop, which at $29 is the same price as a single AirTag.

… So… If you buy a four-pack of AirTags for $99 and want to put them on your two sets of keys + two dog collars, and you want to buy Apple’s AirTag accessories, you’ll need to spend a minimum of another $29 x 4 for the AirTag Loops. That brings your $99 purchase to $215 – just to be usable!

Are there any inexpensive AirTag Accessories?

Apple does sell two lower-priced AirTag accessory alternatives, the Belkin Secure Holder with Key Ring, and the Belkin Secure Holder with Strap. At $12.95 each, these aren’t exactly cheap but at least they aren’t more expensive than AirTags themselves! In fact, they’re roughly half the price of Apple’s own key ring and loop, and for an Apple-Authorized AirTag accessory, I’m betting you can’t go wrong with the Belkin products. I ordered the white Key Rings for my AirTags, and I’ll be sure to post a full review as soon as they arrive. My dog Lucca will too. See our full Belkin AirTag Key Chain Accessory Review.

Editor’s Note: You may have noticed that shipping times on the popular Belkin AirTag accessories have already gone to 5-weeks or more on Apple’s website. So what do you do to protect your beautifully shiny chrome AirTags from scratches / be able to use them on day one when they arrive? Look for inexpensive AirTag accessories on Amazon. Just like iPhone cases, there are already loads of them and there will only be more in the future. Thankfully, there have been so many AirTag Rumors that the AirTag Accessory companies have had time manufacture all sorts of AirTag holders and AirTag cases in advance.

Here are the best AirTags accessories available on Amazon:

Top AirTag Cases on Amazon

Top AirTag Key Chain Alternatives on Amazon

Top AirTag Loop Alternatives on Amazon

Apple released their soon-to-be-iconic AirTag trackers today. They have everything we have predicted in our countless AirTag rumors and our AirTag FAQ has already been updated to reflect all the details of today’s latest and greatest news.

Sign up to the right for our (no-spam) AirTag Deal Alerts email list, which will track all the latest AirTag deals as they come!

Key AirTag Features:

• AirTag uses Apple’s vast, global Find My network of iPhone and iPad users to help locate a lost item
• Location data remains private and anonymous with end-to-end encryption
• Launches / Available for order beginning Friday, April 30 at 5 a.m. PT
• One AirTag costs $29, and a four-pack of AirTags is available for a discounted price of $99
• Makes one heck-of-a Pet Tracker

What is Apple AirTag’s “Precision Finding”? How does the U1 Ultra-Wideband chip help you find your stuff?

• AirTag enables Apple’s “Precision Finding” system by using its proprietary “indoor GPS” U1 Ultra Wideband chip to help direct you to the exact location of whatever you attached AirTag to, instead of relying on just a simple beeping system like AirTag competitors from Samsung and Tile
• Precision Finding helps you more accurately determine the distance and direction to a lost AirTag when it is in range. As you walk or drive with your iPhone or iPad in-hand, Precision Finding fuses input from the camera, ARKit, accelerometer, and gyroscope, to help guide you to AirTag using a combination of sound, haptics, and visual feedback… So you can be inside your house, and it can help you turn left, right and go straight, tell you whether you’re getting hotter or colder, and then take you to that long-lost set of car keys, quickly.

So, how do you find your lost items with Apple AirTag trackers?

• Are you worried about losing an important item (or furry friend – see article on Are Apple AirTags Good Pet Trackers?), well then the first thing to do is to attach an AirTag to it!
• Then, you simply use the Find My app, which is built into every iPhone, iPad and Mac, to help find your lost item & AirTag (just like you’ve used the Find My App in the past to track down your lost iPhones)
• If the AirTag and your precious cargo are in Bluetooth range (e.g., in the the house), it will lead you right to it (oh look, the remote is under the couch… again)
• But, if your item and the AirTag is separated from its owner and out of Bluetooth range (e.g., if Fido ran away!) then you’ll rely on Apple’s nearly-billion-strong network of other iPhone / iPad / Apple Watch users… This is called the “Find My network” and it will help you help track your missing AirTag down
• Apple notes that “the Find My network is approaching a billion Apple devices and can detect Bluetooth signals from a lost AirTag and relay the location back to its owner, all in the background, anonymously and privately”
• Lost something? Simply open your Find My app and place your AirTag into “Lost Mode” – and you’ll (quickly) be notified when it is in range of anyone in the world with a modern iPhone or iPad, as they are the ones who comprise the Find My network
• Imagine – Fido is bound to be chewing on a bone down the street… but what street is he on, and what if he’s hiding behind a bush? Well, if he’s within 300′ or so of any random stranger with an iPhone – their phone will find him, and anonymously let you know exactly where he’s hiding. That’s. Freaking. Amazing. Welcome home Fido, and thank you AirTags!
• Did you find someone’s lost device with an AirTag on it, and want their hero / new BFF? You can help them find it! Simply tap it with your iPhone or any NFC-capable device and you will be taken to a website that will display a contact phone number for the owner, if they have provided one, and help them get it back quickly! I found someone’s locked iPhone on the street the other day, and it was much harder to return than it should have been… I had to keep it charged for hours until a friend of theirs called to ask where it was. Things should be easier to find and return, and with AirTags, now they are.

That sounds amazing… But, what about privacy? Can someone hide an AirTag in my car and spy on me and track me around the world? Do I need to be creeped out by stalkers with AirTags?

• Maybe… But Apple has thought this through, so AirTag has privacy built-in from launch
• First off, you don’t need to worry about Apple or some government entity finding and following you using your own AirTag trackers. Apple boasts that AirTag is designed to keep location data private and secure, as there is “no location data or location history physically stored inside AirTag.” So, check creepy hacking off your list.
• Further, “communication with the Find My network is end-to-end encrypted so that only the owner of a device has access to its location data, and no one, including Apple, knows the identity or location of any device that helped find it.”

That’s nerdy and reassuring… But that doesn’t stop my angry ex from sticking an AirTag in my car and following me around. How do I know if such a small AirTag is hidden in my bag somewhere?

• AirTag is also designed to prevent unwanted tracking a key differentiator from its many AirTag Competitors
• On a technical level, bluetooth signal identifiers transmitted by AirTag rotate frequently to prevent unwanted location tracking / hacking
• More importantly, iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time. This means that if someone stuck one in your bag and you own an iPhone it will warn you that a tracker belonging to someone else has hitched a ride with you and is announcing your location to the world. That’s pretty slick
• If I use Android, do I need to worry about stalkers tracking me with a hidden AirTag? Unfortunately, you kind of do. Since you won’t have an iOS device to automatically warn you that a suspicious AirTag is traveling with you, you’re likely not going to notice it right away. Fortunately, Apple has a backup system in place to give you some privacy… an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play an audible sound when moved to draw attention to it. I guess we have to all tune our ears to listen for random beeps from now on!
• And, if you do find an unknown AirTag in your stuff, you can tap it with an iPhone (or Android phone – or any NFC-capable device) and instructions will guide them to disable the unknown AirTag. But, let’s be real, you’d A) throw it out or smash it immediately, and B) quickly fire off a text to your Ex telling them to stop being creepy, ASAP
• Basically, if you’re worried about privacy, it might be worth getting iPhone now just to “bug-sweep” your life and ensure that you are AirTag free!

How does AirTags cost compare to AirTag Competitors such as Tile and Chipolo (affiliate)? Read on below. (And for other questions and answers, see our AirTag FAQ)

AirTags Device Cost:

Tile prices its Pro line of bluetooth trackers at $35 each – or as low as $25 each if you buy a four-pack – which is the same as Apple AirTags. Tile also has sells the less-expensive Mate series of trackers for $25 each – or as low as $17.50 each if you them in a four-pack, but these really aren’t comparable… Think Apple would release something that wasn’t at the Tile Pro-level? We don’t. So expect that AirTags should cost somewhere in the range of $25 – Editor’s note, this AirTag Rumor was confirmed.

AirTags Monthly or Annual Service Cost?

Apple released its Q4’20 earnings release on September 20th, 2020 and put right in the headline that Services hit an all-time record – so its obviously an area of focus for the company in terms of how to grow its top-line. And, you can see in their actual 10-Q financials that Services accounted for 20% of fiscal 2020 revenue for Apple, and an impressive 34% of gross profit (Services are higher margin than hardware or “Products” as Apple calls them). So Services are a real thing… Apple wants you to pay them monthly, yearly, heck if you’ll pay them daily & buy them lunch they’d probably take that too.

But will AirTags simply fall into the Products revenue line item as a one-time charge on your Apple-branded credit card, or will AirTags have a recurring subscription fee? Well, unlike the competition (sorry Tile), AirTag does not require a monthly or annual service fee.

Tile sells its Premium service for $30/year and its Premium Protect product for $100/year. Tile Premium gives you additional features (smart alerts if you walk away from your device (e.g., you leave your wallet at the bar), free battery replacement, and 30-day location history for your devices), extended warranty (extends warranty on Tiles from 1-year to 3-years), and expanded customer service. Those last two (warranty and premium support) sound a lot like AppleCare, so we’ll have to see if Apple ultimately offers AppleCare for AirTags.

Will Apple offer a service for AirTags like Tile’s Premium Protect? Tile’s Premium Protect offers everything Tile Premium does… but it’s $100/year instead of $30, so what are you getting for that extra $70? Insurance. Premium Protect covers lost items that you had Tile trackers stuck for up to $1000 in reimbursements a year. Tile explains it like this “If your Tiled item is lost for any reason, and Tile can’t find it, we reimburse you. This service warranty provides up to $1000 per year with no additional fees through XCover.” XCover is a third-party insurance company with whom Tile works…

Do you think Apple wants to be in the insurance business? They sort of are already, with AppleCare, but that’s only for their own devices… I don’t see them wanting to insure against the theft of a lost bicycle. But hey – who’s Apple third-largest shareholder (after mutual fund companies Vanguard and Blackrock)? Why, it’s the insurance-magnate and Oracle-of-Omaha Warren Buffett’s very own Berkshire Hathaway. They own Geico and loads of other insurance companies. Maybe Apple would offer Geico insurance on AirTags Premium+ AppleCare+ Super-Duper-Crazy-Insurance? Editor’s note: <– that’s obviously not going to be the name of AirTags AppleCare… We clearly need to take a marketing class! We’ll have to see.

Apple has now confirmed (yes, CONFIRMED) that they are holding a product release event on Tuesday April 20th, 2021! Their “Spring Loaded” event. Will Apple release AirTags this week? Or does last week’s announcement of the Chipolo ONE Spot tracker (basically already an AirTag) mean that Apple’s leaving them to third-party developers? We’ll have to wait and see!

Often-accurate-Apple-leaker Max Weinbach (of the YouTube channel EverythingApplePro), says AirTags are coming out “soon.” Fantastic. Optimistic enough to keep us hooked, but not so specific as to risk being wrong! Well played!

Want even more specificity and certainty than the word “soon?” Well, let’s turn to one of our repeat rumor-creators, Jon Prosser (YouTube channel Front Page Tech), who is back with yet another less-than-confident prediction. Jon claims that AirTags are coming out in April – and says this time he has the info from a source with 100% historical rumor accuracy. So he should feel pretty good about it… But, alas. Jon says of his own rumor that he is “skeptical” as Apple hasn’t had an April launch in 14 years. Terrific…

Will AirTags come out this Spring? Are AirTags being released soon? Are AirTags launch in April. Maybe, definitely, and possibly. 100%. Let’s see how this turns out.

In other news, Mr. Weinbach did provide the world with further details of AirTags, so look out our next article on AirTags Dimensions. Thank you Max, and fingers crossed you’re right with that “soon” prediction as well.

Big news, AirTags fans! Apple launch its Find My network and opened it to third parties this past week, officially announcing that third-party accessory makers can create devices that enable users to keep track of their belongings in the new Items tab within the Find My app! Even better, our friends at Chipolo (affiliate) are one of Apple’s key launch partners, and effectively already launched AirTags with the Chipolo One Spot tracker – read on below for more.

Confirming many of our AirTags Rumors, Apple hailed the private and secure tracking capabilities of their newly named “Find My network,” noting that it already comprises of hundreds of millions of Apple devices (see our article, Does My iPhone Work with the Find My App?).

Even better, Apple is just opening up some nerdy protocol in their systems without any use to us, the end-users… Apple announced a whole slew of products are launching this week from third-party developers! Specifically, new products that work with the Find My app from will launch this week from Belkin, VanMoof, and Chipolo.

In the announcement, Apple VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Bob Borchers noted that “For more than a decade, our customers have relied on Find My to locate their missing or stolen Apple devices, all while protecting their privacy… Now we’re bringing the powerful finding capabilities of Find My, one of our most popular services, to more people with the Find My network accessory program. We’re thrilled to see how Belkin, Chipolo, and VanMoof are utilizing this technology, and can’t wait to see what other partners create.”

What Are the New Apple Find My Products? Are there any AirTags Competitors?

Apple’s Find My launch partners include general accessory-maker Belkin, and two relatively obscure names… VanMoof and Chipolo. What are they releasing? An AirPods competitor, a couple of e-bikes, and importantly a true AirTags competitor.

Belkin’s first Find My compatible product will be its SOUNDFORM Freedom True Wireless Earbuds, a $99 set of noise-cancelling AirPod competitor headphones, launching in June. Key feature of note here is that you can find the charging case, if lost, using Apple’s Find My app…

VanMoof’s Find My compatible products will be the latest S3 and X3 e-bikes. Having built-in Find My tracking on a $2,000 e-bike is a huge and obvious plus! Will make a stolen bike so much easier to recover (and even possibly prevent thefts, if smart thieves know what they’re dealing with). I might have to try one of these S3s…

Most Importantly… What is Chipolo launching? The Chipolo One Spot – a real Apple-approved AirTags Competitor. Chipolo’s launch is exciting. A tracking tile that is compatible with Find My, and therefore enables hundreds of millions of iPhones to help you find your lost item (just like AirTags). This is basically the first release of Apple AirTags, and will certainly give Tile a real run for its money. I signed up to pre-order one for the June launch, and if you want to see one anytime soon, I suggest you do as well! In the meantime, you can also check out the Chipolo One for $25 at Amazon.

What does this mean for AirTags?

So the above was exciting, and we cannot wait to see what new products Chipolo and others launch… But we have to ask and wonder – is Apple still coming out with AirTags? Why would Apple allow its accessory makers to launch a whole new category of products before it release AirTags?

Some have speculated that this is classic, legal “CYA” – and Apple is simply trying to demonstrate that it is not stifling competition (in fact, it is encouraging competitors and giving them a head-start). Though, one must wonder, who has the most to lose to AirTags in a launch? I would have said tracker companies like Chipolo (but they are participating in the Find My launch) and Tile (still conspicuously absent). The Tile Pro is the best-selling AirTags competitor out there today (other than perhaps the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag, though it only works with Samsung Galaxy phones…), and therefore has the most to lose when Apple ultimately launches AirTags. Will today’s launch of the Chipolo One Spot, and Belkin / VanMoof products + promise of more on way mean Apple is now legally clear to launch AirTags? Will Tile ultimately join the party? We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m sure plenty of highly paid lawyers will choose to weigh in.

OK, the title might be a bit tongue-in-cheek but you can’t blame us for getting excited and also trying to temper expectations. Yes, you’ve read here now and probably seen it elsewhere – the interwebs is alive now with a rumored Apple AirTags release event of March 23, 2021.

Loyal readers and AirTags fanatics will know, expected AirTags release date rumors have come and gone before. We just recently ran a piece saying that Apple AirTag will be Released in March but without a specific date on the calendar… Before that, well, we had a quite a few “quasi-credible” leaks and rumors come and go as well (January’s Are AirTags Coming Out in 2021, December’s AirTags Rumors: When Will AirTags Be Announced, the sadly disappointing pre-holiday Will AirTags Be Announced in time for Christmas, and many others that hit our inboxes but didn’t make the publishing cut).

So – what’s behind this week’s AirTag rumor and release-date leak, and is it credible? Let’s take a look.

Twitter-user Kang, who posts under DuanRui and has correctly predicted some prior Apple announcements, seems to be the first to have circled March 23rd on the calendar as the official AirTags release date – or at least, the next official Apple product announcement event (TBD on whether it includes AirTags). See his Tweet below:

Others had previously said the the 16th might be the date – but that felt like random conjecture based on the fact that Apple usually holds a release event in March each year, and was quickly shot-down by a more-connected source… Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman. His two tweets below summarize his thoughts pretty clearly. Not happening on the 16th… But no word on the 23rd.

So, OK, not the 16th. What about DuanRui’s 23rd comment – has anyone else with a decent track record of predicting Apple rumors confirmed that date as a possibility for an Apple event or AirTags release date?

Yes, Jon Prosser “confirmed” the 23rd in his tweet – he agrees, it must. be. happening. now… right? I mean, people don’t tweet without a lot of thought and evidence… right??? (sarcasm). Let’s see who might contradict Mr. Prosser next… It’s —– Mr. Prosser!

Jon Prosser waited a full 25 minutes, and then said he didn’t realize the 23rd was also the date of an upcoming OnePlus android phone release event, and changed his mind. Oh well… that was short-lived.

So, will Apple hold an event on March 23rd, and if so, will AirTags be released? Let’s wait and see!

AirTags are still on for March.

Haven’t heard of any further delays this time.

— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) February 12, 2021

We confirmed this hidden access technique ourselves with the below screenshots. Want to access the hidden AirTags features on your iPhone or iPad? Here are step-by-step instructions on how to access the new AirTags Items tab on your device, so you can preview how AirTags will work.

How to See Find My App’s Hidden AirTags Features

1. Open Safari on a device running iOS 14.3 / iPadOS 14.3, or later
2. Type in the link findmy://items in the URL / search bar, and hit Return / Go
3. A prompt pops up, asking if you want to “Open this page in ‘Find My’?”
4. Click “Open”
5. Now you’re in the Find My app, like normal, but you should also see a new tab called “Items” with a picture of keys, a backpack, and a bicycle (see Screenshot #1 below) — all things you can use AirTags to track in the future
6. You’ll see an option to “Add Item” to pair a new AirTags tracker to your iOS account (see Screenshot #2 below)
7. If you swipe up to read lower on the tab, you will also see an option to “Identify Found Item” (see Screenshot #3 below)– which is the button you’ll use if you’re a good samaritan and come across someone’s lost keys or whatever with an AirTag stuck to it, and want to return it to them