I'd like to introduce you to Apple's AirTag.
It's their latest foray into the world of Bluetooth trackers, and it's something we've
been waiting quite a while for now. The idea is it helps you find things you've lost, whether it's nearby or far away, and
to put it to the test, I'm going to be leaving this backpack full of Prestus merch on this
train, and we're going to see how easy it is to get back in a couple of hours.
Now before the panic sets in, what you're going to want to do is put the AirTag in
lost mode. You can do that by just opening up the find my app and then tapping on the object and
clicking enable lost mode. Now what this lets you do is put your phone number with the AirTag so that if somebody
finds it, they can connect to the AirTag with NFC, be taken to a web page with the number,
and hopefully reconnect you with your lost object. I'm curious if that's what's going to happen to us today.
Alright so in the meantime, what we're going to do is we're going to find a set of keys
that I had a colleague hide somewhere in the city, and one of the great things with AirTags
in the find my app is that you can get directions straight to the place using Apple Maps.
Now while we're on the way to this AirTag, I should probably explain how AirTags work.
They don't have GPS built into them that would take too much electricity, so they use Bluetooth
low energy. And with Bluetooth low energy, what an AirTag is doing is it's looking for another phone
to connect to to then send out its location.
The big leverage point for Apple is that they use their find my network, which is basically
every iPhone that has it turned on, which is upwards of a billion users now.
And what that means is that the AirTag can connect with an encrypted connection to any
iPhone that's nearby and tell you where it is. So you're bound to get a more accurate reading more quickly with AirTags than you would with
any of the competitors.
In 250 meters, the destination is on your left.
Where are we?
All right, so we've arrived at where it says the keys are.
And now I have to go and find them more precisely.
So let's see how this goes. OK, so it says that the keys are here with me.
So what I'm going to have to use is ultra wideband to get a precise location of where
it is just by hitting find nearby. It's going to try and connect.
Oh, six and a half meters away. Try and connect to the AirTag and then point me in the direction of where it is.
Now, ultra wideband only works if you have an iPhone 11 or 12.
Otherwise, you can make it make a sound. So it's around here and I should put the sound on.
Is it in the ground in the garden?
It's in on a.
There it is. Now, when you get really close to the object, your phone starts to vibrate like it's in
a game of hot and cold. And here it is in a bike.
How clever they've been anywhere in the city.
Well, now that I have an AirTag, we can now talk about the design of it.
It's a curious little thing that really evokes the design of the old iPod, you know, with
the glossy white plastic on the front and the shiny glossy chrome on the back.
It's also just as easily scratched and scuffed as those old devices were.
Now, annoyingly, it doesn't have any sort of hole or anything on it so that you can
attach a key ring or some sort of lanyard. So if you buy one of these things, you have to buy a holder if you want to attach it to
a key or a backpack. And this key ring from Apple costs $35 on top of the already $30 you spent on the AirTag.
Now, I'm sure Amazon will come to the rescue with really cheap options, but I hope they're
of good quality.
So what about when it comes to tracking people, which is probably something you don't want?
Apple has thought about that in the design of the AirTags. They have a couple of protections which are interesting.
For one, an AirTag that's separated from its owner will start chiming whenever it's
moved after three days. So if you don't even have an iPhone, you'll probably know about it then.
But if you do have an iPhone and you're running iOS 14.5 or higher, you will get a notification
saying that an AirTag that's not yours is nearby.
We tested this with my cameraman, but he didn't get the notification until he arrived at home.
So it's not that instantaneous. In fact, today I've had an AirTag on me all day that isn't mine, and I'm still none
the wiser. All right, so it's been a couple of hours since we left the backpack on the train, and
so I'm curious where it is at the moment.
Oh, it's at the SkyTrain station, well actually the Canada Line station nearby here, Marine
Drive, which incidentally is the train station where I left the backpack on the train.
Now I have been monitoring it through the day, and it did make a couple of lengths up and
down the line, but it made it back to its home.
This train is for YVR Airport.
It says it's here, but it could be, you think there's an office below or something?
We're shipping near it, according to the last update, which was eight minutes ago.
I can't get a signal, I can't get a U1 signal, and I can't get it to play sound.
With the ultra-wideband chip, the range isn't that great. I've seen maybe 10 meters max, which is about 30 feet, 100 feet, 200 feet make things a
lot easier, but I'm not getting a signal, and I'm not even getting a Bluetooth signal
either to be able to play a sound or anything like that.
According to the map, it's on the tracks, but I don't see anything.
Disappointed, disappointed, okay, so it's the next day, and I thought I'd have to end
the piece thinking that the bag is gone and lost forever and that we really pushed what
the air tag can do. But actually, I checked the app this morning, and it's moved.
It's in the maintenance building for the train line, so there's hope.
I forwarded your message on to my manager, and I'm sure he'll be in contact with you
when the train lost property gets your backpacks.
You can pick it up from them at the stadium station.
Okay, well, I appreciate all the help.
Now, Jonathan, you said you called when you were coming here, because it could still be
in quarantine right now. Oh, you know, I was wondering about that.
When I was listening to them, I lost it on Wednesday.
It drove here on Friday, and it's still in quarantine, but when did you give me a description
that I can go back? So it's just a blue and red backpack.
It should have a little thing dangling on the front of it. A little thing dangling on the front of it.
Thanks. It must be not out of quarantine, Jonathan.
Here's our number. Give us a call, because it should be out tomorrow morning, I'm hoping.
As you said, you tracked it right here. Yeah, it's right here.
I could probably beep it. I could make it beep.
Really? I just want to see if I can get it working.
Wonderful. Thank you for being here.
Yeah, they're so handy, eh? I got it back.
I never thought that would happen.
All right, so I guess what we showed is that the Lost and Found system does in fact work,
which is nice to know. But if I didn't have this, I'd have to use TransLink's broken web form or call them and
try and describe what the bag looks like and hope it just turns up.
But this just made things so much easier, and now I have it back.
For me, initially I thought the air tags would just be ideally suited for my wallet, because
I do lose it in the house on occasion.
But I don't know, after this, there's something to be said about attaching one to your bag
or to another object you value, should you ever really lose it.
It really goes to show just how handy that FindMyNetwork is.
Thanks for tracking this Mac Address, and make sure to like and subscribe.
Now, I'm sure you're curious what's in this bag, so let's take a look.
We got an adorable little CPU pillow from the LTT Store, as well as a water bottle still
in its box, a fashion wireless keyboard, and a bunch of t-shirts that are too big.
Where's the mock turtleneck?