Apple’s AirTag item tracker turns five years old today, with the $29 accessory having spent half a decade as the best-selling item tracker in the world.
The ?AirTag? launched on April 30, 2021, alongside the M1 iMac, a new iPad Pro, and a new Apple TV 4K. The coin-shaped accessory has a polished stainless steel back, IP67 water resistance, and a U1 Ultra Wideband chip that powers Precision Finding, a feature that combines haptic, visual, and audio feedback to guide users to a lost item’s precise location with the iPhone 11 and later.
Setup works by bringing the tag close to an iPhone, with each ?AirTag? appearing in the Items tab of the Find My app. The ?Find My? network, which relies on Bluetooth signals from nearby Apple devices to relay location data, allows a lost item to be tracked even when out of direct range. The ?AirTag? is priced at $29 for a single tag or $99 for a four-pack, with free engraving available.
Reports of the AirTag being misused for stalking and vehicle theft surfaced within months of launch, with its small size, low price, and the breadth of the ?Find My? network making it an attractive tool for bad actors. Apple released a statement in February 2022 saying incidents of misuse were “rare; however, each instance is one too many,” and introduced setup warnings making clear that using an ?AirTag? to track people without consent is a crime in many regions.
A class-action lawsuit filed in California in December 2022, later expanded to include more than three dozen plaintiffs, alleged that the product’s accuracy and affordability made it well-suited for misuse, and a federal judge allowed certain claims to move forward in March 2024. Apple and Google later aligned on cross-platform specifications so that Android users receive automatic unwanted tracking alerts alongside iPhone users.
Despite the controversy, Apple says the ?AirTag? became its best-selling item tracking accessory, citing user stories of recovering lost luggage, bicycles, and bags in the years since launch.
Apple released the second-generation AirTag in January 2026. The updated model features a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip with Precision Finding working from up to 50% farther away, an upgraded Bluetooth chip, and a speaker 50% louder than the original. For the first time, Precision Finding also works with Apple Watch Series 9 models and later. A teardown revealed that the speaker magnet is more firmly secured in the second-generation model, making it harder to remove, a modification that had previously been used to silence unwanted tracking alerts. Pricing remains $29 for a single tag and $99 for a four-pack.Related Roundup: AirTagBuyer’s Guide: AirTag (Buy Now)This article, “Apple Launched AirTag 5 Years Ago Today” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
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Author: Hartley Charlton