My bags don’t leave the house without an AirTag in them. And the Apple Tracker is on sale ahead of Black Friday

Not fair: my suitcase was allowed to spend an extra day in Paris. I realized this while waiting in U.S. customs, trying to shake off the effects of a sleepless transcontinental flight. As I stared at the location on my phone, I was actually jealous of my luggage.

But that was me not stressful, thanks to a very advanced tracking device that I swear is also currently for sale in a Four pieces for $70 in early Black Friday deals.

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Until a few years ago, this seemed like something straight out of a spy movie. The Apple AirTag in my suitcase uses an ingenious method of tracking itself, detecting the location of nearby iPhones and using them to anonymously transport the coordinates to a secure server, where I can look them up on my iPhone.

Instead of wondering if my stuff was strewn across the tarmac or stuck on an abandoned luggage cart, I could see almost in real time that my suitcase was actually still cooling at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I was able to calmly tell the airline that my bag didn’t make the flight, and they made arrangements to have it delivered to me a few days later.

AirTags aren’t the only early Black Friday deal. Right now you can score AirPods 2 for just $89. And these are all the deals currently available for iPhones.

Apple AirTags are all about peace of mind

By itself, an AirTag isn’t much. A smooth, 1.26-inch round puck that looks like a shiny white breath coin sinks to the bottom of a bag or dangles from a keychain (with a compatible keychain, sold separately). It is meant to disappear.

Activating the AirTag was a simple process of pairing it with my iPhone. And then, because that’s clearly not really the case Doing everything out of the box, i forgot.

But next time I couldn’t find my keys? Wizardry. My iPhone didn’t just tell me they were somewhere nearby; it took me straight there, thanks to the AirTag’s built-in Ultra Wideband chip. Suddenly, all that time I’d spent in the past retracing my steps and flipping couch cushions felt like ancient history.

Now I have AirTags in or attached to every important item I want to keep an eye on: my everyday laptop bag, my camera backpack, the suitcase I use most when traveling, my key fob, my car, and a smaller tote bag I take with me on walks. I can open the Find My app on any of my Apple devices (or sign in to iCloud on any web browser) and see where my items are and the last time the AirTags recorded their locations.

AirTags aren’t just for my everyday stuff. People I know in the film business tell me that AirTags are thrown into almost every bag and Pelican crate – not only to keep the valuable equipment inside from running away, but to quickly distinguish equipment among similar-looking containers. Some of my friends also attach AirTags to their pets’ collars (although some experts say there are better ways to track pets).

AirTags are also useful for things you want to have close at hand

It was certainly a sense of relief that my luggage was a continent away. But at a local level, my AirTags also trigger a warning if I get too far away. For example, if I accidentally forget my camera bag in the car when I stop somewhere for lunch, a Find My notification pops up telling me I left it behind. It also works the same for newer AirPods models.

Sharing is now a big part of AirTag tracking

My family has two cars, but it proved difficult to pair the AirTag in the car my wife usually drives with her iPhone (and the one in my car with my iPhone).

To prevent unwanted tracking, an AirTag will notify nearby iPhones of its existence. This means that when I drive in my wife’s car without her in it, I get a notification that an AirTag is traveling with me. (If the owner is near the AirTag, the warning will not appear.)

However, starting from iOS 17, AirTags are shareable. I shared my AirTag with her, and she with me, so no matter what car I drive, I can find it more easily in a busy parking lot.

A new feature coming to AirTags iOS 18.2, currently in betais the ability to temporarily share the location of an AirTag with someone I trust. In my luggage example above, if the suitcase was with me at the airport but airport staff had not yet been able to locate it (not unusual during peak travel times), I could share the location with an attendant who could quickly pick it up from areas not accessible to the public.

The only minor annoyance about AirTags

An AirTag contains Bluetooth, the U1 Ultra Wideband chip, and an NFC chip to share basic data when in Lost mode. That’s all powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery, which in my experience lasts about a year before I need to replace it.

I get notified when a battery starts to get low, although there is no gauge to see how much is left until the battery goes into the red. And it’s easy to replace the batteries, but my small fleet of AirTags means I have to flood several of them every year. I buy them per 20 pieces which I am slowly working through.

Why AirTags make great gifts

Apple AirTags consistently appear in our best gift guides because you can always find another use for them – they’re often discounted when sold in packs of four. And there’s an ever-growing ecosystem of ways to attach them, from sturdy safes that attach to a car to discreet fabric holders that keep your favorite classic bomber jacket from flying away.

For even more Cyber ​​Week sales, here are our favorite Black Friday deals under $50. In fact, I think it’s time I sift through all the best Black Friday deals for more items I can attach AirTags to.