(dramatic music)
(dog panting) (suspenseful music)
- AirTag not reachable.
Move around to connect.
Wasabi.
To my left.
(dog sniffing)
Oh wait.
(dramatic music)
Allow me to explain.
This is my fanny pack
and attached to it is an Apple AirTag,
a new $29 gadget that you attach to items you often lose.
So you could find them using your iPhone's Find My app.
This is Wasabi, a professional detection dog
that can sniff out the most hidden of items.
And well, I think you can tell where I went
with this whole thing.
I put this AirTag and other competing lost item trackers,
like the Tile Pro and Samsung SmartTag
up against Wasabi's nose
in a series of indoor and outdoor hiding challenges
because well, yeah, my dog only moves for bacon.
Up.
(hands clapping)
Do anything.
And since many have been asking if AirTags could be used
as a pet tracker, there you go,
we put one Wasabi for a separate challenge.
Of course, Alisa, Wasabi's owner
and professional narcotic K9 handler with 3DK9
was along for the whole ride,
ensuring Wasabi was happy,
healthy and hydrated.
All right, here we go.
Challenge one, fanny pack lost in the house.
AirTags and other lost item trackers
use lower-powered Bluetooth
to stay constantly connected
up to several hundred feet away.
Wasabi's sniff range?
It depends on a lot of factors
but about five feet in every direction.
For this challenge, we had him sniff out drugs,
fake drugs, more specifically,
a substance that smells like heroin.
Yeah, it definitely smells.
But is absolutely not heroin.
It's used in K9 training.
Instead of using my nose,
I used my ears for this challenge.
When you're in range of an AirTag,
you can press on this button
in the Find My app to sound an alarm
on the tracker itself.
So I had my producer Kenny here hide the fanny pack
someplace inside my townhouse.
- And I'm gonna wrap it.
You can't hear the dangles.
(dramatic music)
- [Joanna] Of course, Wasabi found the fanny pack
in one minute and 20 seconds.
- Yes. - Yo.
Hey, yeah.
- Me and the AirTags?
Okay, not so quick.
I knew it wasn't on the basement floor
because I don't hear anything in here.
When I hit the second floor,
Apple's precision finding feature came in super handy.
It says connected but the signal's weak,
so it's not in this area but I hear the sound.
Tap Find Nearby in the app
and it uses ultra-wideband technology,
which is more precise than Bluetooth
in very close distances.
If you're within a couple of feet of the item
and you have an iPhone with ultra-wideband,
the iPhone 11 and up,
it can guide you to the item
with on-screen directions.
Fanny pack may be on a different level than you
unless it thinks it's upstairs in this area.
And so what?
Bathroom?
Nearby here.
Whoa, I found it.
Got it.
I also tested the Samsung and the Tile in the same location.
The Samsung and the Tile's alarms
were louder and I could hear them clearer
from the second floor.
But they lack ultra-wideband,
so no detailed on-screen instructions
about the direction of the object.
The winner?
(Wasabi barking)
Obviously.
Challenge two.
Funny pack lost outside.
(playful music)
- The planter and you can't see it from the street.
- All the trackers' apps show the location
of where your phone
and the tracker were last connected.
In this case, where I had the fanny pack last,
standing on this street corner.
But Apple's Find My network goes a bit further.
Anyone's iPhone in the real world
can report the location of an AirTag.
Think of it as an invisible network.
Whenever an iPhone passes the AirTag,
it anonymously and unknowingly picks up
that Bluetooth signal
and the location of where it picked it up.
The owner of the AirTag
can then see the location in the Find My app.
Tile and Samsung have similar networks
but in this case, it's likely that no one
with a participating Samsung phone
or the Tile app on their phone walked by
but a billion active iPhones in the world
is a big AirTag selling point.
The Find My app says
that it is on the corner of Newark over there.
Tile has no idea where it is.
But once that Find My app led us into that 10
to 15-foot range,
Wasabi took off.
(beep)
All right, so if I'm standing over here,
it's on the corner over here.
No.
Arg, damn you.
- Yes.
- You wouldn't have known it over here, Wasabi
if it wasn't for me.
Winner, AirTags and Wasabi.
(dramatic music)
Challenge three.
Dog lost.
All right, go anywhere within 10-mile radius,
turn your phone on airplane mode
and wait there.
Before sending them off,
I equipped Wasabi with two trackers,
an AirTag and the Whistle Go Explore,
a real pet tracker.
With the Whistle, I had a live GPS view
of where they were headed.
The device connects to AT&T's cellular network,
which is why in addition to the $150 device,
you have to pay a subscription fee.
Then it says that Wasabi is currently on Freedom Way.
You zoom out.
That seems to be Liberty State Park.
- [GPS] Turn left onto Freedom Way.
- With the AirTag,
it was similar to the lost fanny pack on the street.
I had to wait until someone with an iPhone came
into contact with the AirTag at the park
to see the location.
Wasabi.
Ah, I see Wasabi over there.
As you so impressed that I found you.
The winner?
The Whistle, through the AirTags held their own,
plus the Whistle drops battery quick.
The AirTags have replaceable batteries
that are said to last up to a year.
So what did we learn here today?
Well, that everyone should get a Wasabi.
But really, AirTags are very good.
The lost mode feature needs improvement,
it sucks that you have to buy an accessory
to make sure you don't lose the actual AirTag
and despite Apple's anti-stalking features,
I have fears about these being used secretly
to track people.
But if you often lose things,
the only other real option is to well, not lose them.
Guys, I've gotta get a real dog.
I love you, Browser, I love you.