Air Tag ???

[BeaLola]

Hi - I saw on another thread someone suggesting an apple AirTag be attached to someone's luggage so they could track its whereabouts

Can you attach to an iPhone ? Is it an "electronic tag " of sorts
If you can attach it does the phone holder know ?
And can you track it if phone is out of battery ?

Thinking I could put on my teenagers phone so I know where to pick him up from !!

You can normally see the last reported location of a phone, but yes, you could use an air tag with a phone as a back up location tracker.

However the way the tech works, it's not like an always on GPS. It uses low power Bluetooth to connect to any device (your own or other people's) in its proximity the send a signal that it was last contacted at that position. So it relies on other people being in proximity, and the updates are not super real time.

They're great for lost items, but not for tracking.

Surely Find My iPhone to Life360 would be easier, cheaper and better.

An iPhone has its own tracking. An Apple air tag is a small disc that you place somewhere and track it using an iPhone or Apple website. They sell key fobs, clips, magnetic holders, watch style straps and all sorts to attach them to.

To track your son via his phone you will need his Apple log in details and he will need to keep his phone location sharing on. I have the deal with my kids that if they're wanting the fancy iPhones then they need to make sure I can track it/them. Not a chance am I not having 'Find IPhone' activated on a £500+ piece of tech I've paid for.

If your son has an Apple product then he really should have find iPhone activated anyway or you're screwed if it gets lost or stolen.

And Life 360 is definitely a good app to have too. My family have both life 360 and Find IPhone activated.

Pointless attaching to phone. iPhone already has inbuilt track my phone.

Oh and I know it's a tech question but I have always made DD aware I track her. When and how I will access that, what I use it for etc. all out in the open. Her friends' parents' do it by stealth and I really don't agree with that.

I think most of you missed the point of the scenario being described by OP, where the iPhone battery dies. So no amount of find my phone or life360 will help.

An airtag in this scenario 'could' help a bit.