By now you've probably heard about apple's new air tags and seen what they're all about.
Well we know they do an excellent job of finding misplaced items at home or at work, and this is thanks
to a technology called precision finding. But I think what we'd all like to know is how helpful
are the Airtags at recovering personal items that have been lost or stolen in public.
Well the only way to find out is if we actually lose something of value in public. So today my loss is your gain
depending on how this goes, because I'm going to intentionally go out there and lose three valuable
objects in public, and of course each of the items will have an Airtag attached to it. These
items will be my bike, my wallet, and the keys to my Mercedes. Don't worry though I don't actually own a
Mercedes. The only wheels I roll around in are... well... probably about to be stolen. So let's get into it!
Let's start with some quick, but important information. A lost or stolen air tag
can be located using apple's find my network. Its approximate location can be identified when it
comes within close proximity of another user's apple device. In most cases this will be iPhones.
More specifically anyone with an iPhone 6s or above is compatible. They'll need to have an
internet connection, and their Bluetooth enabled in order to send the encrypted location data of your
Airtag to the cloud. Your iCloud account can pair with a maximum of 16 Airtags which should be more
than enough for the average user. And lastly I'm originally from New Zealand, but today's test is
happening in the lovely city of Dusseldorf, Germany. Now Germans take privacy very seriously... and
rightfully so. So I have to be very careful with what I do and don't show - especially when filming
in public. It's going to be an action-packed day, so this is going to be very much a run-and-gun style
shoot. Starting with the keys: I used a Belkin Airtag case. Nothing fancy, it cost me about 15
euros. I also attached an old key that I no longer needed just to give it a bit more authenticity. For
the wallet, I purchased an el-cheapo online, threw a couple of old and expired debit cards in there,
an expired id card, and a whopping five euros of cash. I place the Airtag where it was least likely
to fall out of the wallet or get discovered. For the bike, I simply use some duct tape and slapped
that bad-boy under the seat like so... It wasn't going anywhere and is pretty well concealed.
With the pre-work done for my valuables, I set up my iPad and my Mac Pro to screen record
the action. I also had a friend of mine added to my family group so she was able to monitor and
screen record the action from afar. To begin this journey I headed out on my bike to a nearby tram
station where I knew the tram would be relatively empty. Once I was on the tram I left my keys where
they could be easily found. I immediately hopped off at the next stop, ran back to collect my bike
and proceeded to the Rhine-park. Despite the typical grim spring weather, there was quite a
few people out and about making it hard for me to ditch the wallet without it looking
suspicious, or intentional. But the job was done and we had our first update on the lost keys! The
findmy app was giving me regular updates on its location in about five to ten minute intervals.
It made it all the way to the final stop of the U78 tram I left it on. The Dusseldorf Hauptbahnhof.
So I proceeded to where I would ditch my beloved bike - the Rhine-Trepper - which also happens to be
in clear view of this local government live-cam. Thanks Dusseldorf! See those pixels right there?
That's me! Now I won't lie, leaving my bike unlocked in public felt very weird, but
I knew apple had my back. As I headed back to my apartment, you wouldn't believe what happened...
Long story short, a really nice lady messaged me on LinkedIn telling me that she had found
my wallet. Honestly, there are so many nice people in Dusseldorf so I wasn't that surprised by this.
But I was a little bit bummed, because obviously I'd hoped that the Airtags would have played a
part in helping me find my wallet but in this case it was my ID card. Before picking up the wallet I
obviously popped into a supermarket and bought the lovely lady a bottle of New Zealand wine. Now,
once I'd arrived at her apartment the Airtag had given me an approximation of her address.
It was about 25 meters out, and like most parts of Dusseldorf her area was heavily populated with
apartment blocks so had my wallet had been stolen, it would have been quite difficult to locate. With
my wallet now back in my possession it was time to check on the other items. I couldn't believe my
eyes, the keys had left Dusseldorf main station and was heading south, following a train line.
Someone had my keys! They continued all the way to Cologne, then to Frankfurt airport... and I thought,
surely this is far enough... But they didn't stop there! They finally settled in a town I've never
heard of before - Karlsruhe! Over 300 kilometers away from Dusseldorf. The idea of getting my keys back,
was as good as gone. By 10 pm my bike remained dormant with not one dishonest person willing
to take her for a spin. It then dawned on me that perhaps my bike was situated in an area too open
and too risky to be stolen. So I headed back out to the city on one of my spare bikes. Once I got
there I decided to swap my air tag to the other bike, just to mix it up a little... and parked it in
a more concealed location. Come Saturday morning no one had taken my bike, and I was devastated!
Meanwhile my keys were still stuck in the city of Karlsruhe. With this experiment evolving into
something very uneventful, and my curiosity driving me wild, I decided there was no other option but to
pay a visit to the city of Karlsruhe - in search of my fake car keys. So I hopped on the Deutsche
Bahn's website and purchased a 120 euros "Super Sparpreis (super cheap)" return ticket to Karlsruhe. I then immediately get
an email from Deutsche Bahn informing me that I would miss my connecting train in Cologne, due
to a delay. I tried to get a refund, but since I purchased the "Super Sparpreis" ticket, this of
course wasn't an option. Thanks Deutsche Bahn! Given I'd only scheduled to be in Karlsruhe for an hour,
and with the next available connection coming 40 minutes later, Deutsche Bahn job was crushing my soul!
I packed my stuff in a hurry and headed straight to the Dusseldorf main station,
paying a visit to the ticketing office. Luckily for me I was given a ticket for a fancier, faster
train to Karlsruhe - free of charge. I boarded my train; ordered some food and a well-deserved beer,
and finally I was on my way to the mysterious city of Karlsruhe. Two and a half hours later, there
she was... The infamous city which I can barely pronounce. As beautiful as Karlsruhe seemed,
there was no time for sightseeing. So I took the next tram heading east of the city to reach my
final destination. At last I had made it! According to Apple, my keys were just a five minute walk away!
As I approached the exact location of the keys, something incredible happened!
My phone picked up the air tag signal, telling me that the keys were with me.
At this point I knew I was at the right place. I was desperately trying to send a ping-alert
to the Airtag, but it wasn't working. I guess I just wasn't quite close enough. Since I only
have an iPhone 10s Max, I wasn't able to use precision finding. Amateur mistake on my part...
At this point I was 90% sure I knew which apartment block my keys were located in, but I was not nearly
confident enough in my German to ring each of the residence doorbells, and to try explain to them
what an Airtag was and ask them if they'd found my keys. My train back to Dusseldorf was half an
hour away, so I had to admit defeat and call it a day. On one hand, I was disappointed to leave Karlsruhe
without the Airtag back in my possession, but on the other hand, I was so happy because I'd
learned so much about this new Apple product.. and I was impressed! On my way home I checked on my
bike which remained unstolen. I was desperate for at least one last shot of recovering a lost item,
so I messaged my friend Matthias and I asked him if he could pick up my bike and hide it somewhere
in the city. He obliged. Arriving in Dusseldorf, findmy seem to have a solid location on where my bike
was located. Nordstrasser! Once I came within 20 meters of the location my iPhone and the Airtag
made a connection, but in doing that, it changed the location of where the pin was on the findmy app.
So I scoured the area of the updated location but I couldn't find my bike. So I then went and
looked at the original location and there she was! So although finding my bike was not quite
as real-world as I had hoped, I made an important discovery about how findmy works. It seems as
though the location sent out to the cloud is not necessarily of the Airtag itself, but of the
iPhone or the iDevice that it connects to. So if you're struggling to recover an Airtag, make sure
to expand your search radius to about 50 meters, just to make sure you've covered your ground.
Well that was really quite a stressful adventure, but I had a lot of fun making this video. I hope you
guys found it informative or at least somewhat entertaining. I have a couple of air tags left
here and I have a really fun idea with what to do with them.. So stay tuned for that! Until next time...