The only reason I could ever think of buying an iPhone...

Hi guys...
IPhone have been around for about 10 years or so, and I really never got interested by them... the simple fact that you get what you buy as opposed to you tweak what you buy had always putted me off.
Never even saw interest in buying a b4i license...
But today I found what to me is possibly the only reason I would ever buy an iPhone...
AirTags...
Apple publicizes them as "a lost item made easier to find" solution... others see them as a stalking device...
To me they set off a "way to find my stolen stuff" fuse...
I was recently a target of those speedy hands fellows and they took items from my truck overnight worth about 1000€... luckily no damage to the truck except for the backdoor keyhole broken (forced).
One of the items is a Bosch Professional Power Drill 36v, worth about 600€ the drill only plus 150€ the battery... Also luckily, or not, I started bringing home at the end of the day, my fusion splicer, worth about 5000€...
Now... I could buy an iPhone and a bunch or AirTags... place them in these valuable items, we'll concealed of course, and in the unfortunate even of being robbed again... well, even thieves have iPhone nowadays!

Why can't they (Apple and Android) work together and allow such gizmo to be "OS free"?

Companies like Dewalt already pair their batteries to a charger and cordless machines... to make selling stolen goods harder...

What would you do?

Cableguy said:

Why can't they (Apple and Android) work together and allow such gizmo to be "OS free"?

Click to expand...

That's the question and it would make it more interesting...

You can find here some Airtags "experiments"

I played around with these Bluetooth Tags a couple years ago. I used it mainly to sense if something was close by and how far it was.

I looked at the official site: https://www.apple.com/airtag

These things look interesting. It seems as if they've designed the software so that if anyone's iPhone is near your tag you'll be notified where the tag is – not just if it is within Bluetooth range of your personal iPhone. That would make it very useful for locating stolen items.

Apple's description needs to be looked at very carefully.

I agree, an OS independent solution would be really nice.

Yes you can find your stolen property, if it is in BT range (5mts) of an Iphone which are only 16% of mobile devices in the world.
So that is a pretty slim shot at recovering anything ,if you save your Iphone money you can buy new stuff with it...
Besides, I suspect Apple will charge a small fee in the future to enable the end user to use this service.

Companies like Dewalt already pair their batteries to a charger and cordless machines... to make selling stolen goods harder...

Click to expand...

Or force the end user to buy new ones exclusively from them and kill the "cheaper" aftermarket replacements ...

WWDC going to start in 15 minutes

Devices such as the airtag have been on the market for quite some time. They are not suitable for stolen objects as they do not have GPS, they only work with Bluetooth and the same network of iPhone cell phone users. When it comes to expensive objects, tracking devices that alert you when the object to be tracked moves even without being turned on work better. These can be hidden and the battery lasts a long time.

Num3 said:

if it is in BT range (5mts) of an Iphone which are only 16% of mobile devices in the world

Click to expand...

Actually they announce a ble wide range of about 120m, and not only iPhone but any ble active apple device.

The only reason I bought an iPhone is the need to develop iOS app for iPhone user.

JoseAlfredo said:

Devices such as the airtag have been on the market for quite some time.

Click to expand...

Cableguy said:

Actually they announce a ble wide range of about 120m, and not only iPhone but any ble active apple device.

Click to expand...

Actually there is a big difference - the number of iphone users.

Tile etc depend on users to have the app installed. Airtags work with any iOS device so the network is much more intense. I saw some numbers for New York city, there was 1 tile user per block but there were 100+ iOS devices per block - I forget the exact numbers but there was a massive difference. Im not an Apple fan but the way they have implsmented it is very very good compared to Tile etc. There is no way those others can compete with AirTags unless Apple let them access the "find my" network which I doubt they will give them access to.

I saw a Youtube video were the tuber tests a Tile, A smartTag and an Airtag "side by side" during one hour, going from a very little frequented place to a normal freqented place to a higly frequented place and lastly a HUGELY frequented place... Guess who came last? Yeap... the tile... it only popped-up once in the entire hour... while both SmartTag and AirTag had over 20 checks each. Overall, apparently, Samsungs are best but require an app to be configurated even in the "bypassers" devices, while in the case of the Apple devices, it cames pre-activated as a background service.

(3) AirTags vs Samsung SmartTag vs Tile - The ULTIMATE Comparison! - YouTube