Airtags and airtag accessories have been out for a week now, along with a ton of third
party options. But a big question is, are Apples official accessories worth the high
price, or should you just opt for a much cheaper third party version instead.
Today I want to go over a bunch of accessories we bought, compare them to Apples, and let
you know which ones are worth it and which ones you should absolutely avoid!
By the way, the links to all these products and some good alternatives are linked in the
description below! And we're also gonna do a full dedicated real world airtag review
after 2 weeks of use, so if you guys are interested in that, click the subscribe button below,
and you can help us reach our goal of 1 million subs by the end of the year.
Let’s start out with Key rings. The first one we got is this antique leather pouch we
found for $16. It's made of real leather and feels really nice quality wise. It has really
good cross stitching that I think will actually hold up well.
The metal clasp isn't as strong as apples, but I can't imagine how you can accidentally
open this thing. There's no way you can push and pull on the keyring to make it accidentally
open, so you shouldn't worry about that.
I'm in love with how this one looks! It's also the only one that fully covers the airtag.
Every airtag we have has already been scuffed just from testing, but the one in this case
has been kept perfect. So that's something to be mindful of: Your airtag WILL get scratched
and scuffed if it's exposed.
The only issue with this key ring is that it slightly muffles the airtag since the white
part of it is the speaker itself. That's why all of Apple's accessories have an open concept.
But, it doesn't muffle it too much.
And if your tag is in bluetooth range you can just use the precision finding feature.
I would definitely suggest it as long as you have an iPhone 11 or 12 with that precision
finding, but if you have an older iphone and have to rely on the speaker you might want
to go for the next one.
This one is a Leather key ring that's supposed to be a copy of Apples. It costs $20 compared
to apples $35. This one’s also made of real leather. The clasp also isn't as strong, but
once again, that shouldn’t be an issue. The key ring itself is really thick and feels
cheap like plastic, but i'm pretty sure it's actually aluminum. It does have a gate though
for easy attachment which I really like.
Now the biggest downside is that it doesn't fit the airtag perfectly. Apple's official
one fits snug, with the cut out fitted to the metal part perfectly. However, this one
was made too small. Because of that, it fits slightly lopsided in the case, which you can
tell because some of the text on the airtag is blocked. And because of this it ends up
being thicker than Apples. However, since Airtag’s have been released, it looks like
listings are being updated with better fitted versions, like this one that looks identical
but with a bigger cut out, and for only $11, so hopefully this won't be as big of an issue
anymore.
The next one we picked up is this cheap silicone one. This costs $15 for a pack of two. This
one’s very minimalistic and simple. There's not even a clasp. You just kind of have to
shove it in there, but it's surprisingly more secure than I thought. It’s not easy to
pop in and out, so you should be good.
Unfortunately, this one does collect fuzz easily and gets dirty. But Surprisingly, this
one has the best key ring, being basically identical to the one apple uses, super nice
and thin. This accessory is very simple, minimal, and not a bad choice if it fits your style.
And if you want the most budget friendly and minimalistic one, you can buy it and cut off
the top portion and then make a hole to attach it directly onto your keychain. That way it
will be barely any larger or thicker than the airtag itself.
The last 3rd party key ring we got is this metal one with rhinestones. It came in at
$24 for a 2 pack. This one unfortunately didn't fit the airtags, as you can see, so it's a
clear fail. But i'm sure now that airtags are out, these will be remade in the correct
size, just watch for new reviews or updated descriptions on the listing.
They have a unique clasp on them that's actually very hard to get open and feels super secure!
Which surprised me. However, it comes with a really cheap and ugly carabiner, and because
of the design and orientation of the clasp, you can't attach it directly to your keychain.
So you'll have to find another ring to use to attach it.
Now moving on to the loops, we have a cheap 3rd party silicone version, along with 3 official
loops from Apple.
This third party loop costs $12 compared to $29 for Apple’s silicone one. It doesn't
feel nearly as premium but i honestly like how it feels. It's much softer and more flexible,
and because of that, you can tighten it and it'll look normal, compared to apples that
will bend if you tighten them.
It will also retain its shape normally, compared to apples which will become bent, especially
the leather one, which will crease. Once again the clasp isn't as strong but that shouldn’t
be an issue.
What IS an issue however, is that this one doesn't hold the airtag snug at all. With
this one the airtag can pop in and out extremely easily, which basically makes the clasp pointless.
Apples silicone loop however has this strong felt interior that makes the case keep its
shape and hold the airtag tight and securely, so that one's great! But this one makes me
extremely nervous. And for that reason I would definitely not recommend it.
Now you could also get the leather version instead for $39 compared to $29. There's basically
no difference between these other than the leather one looks much nicer. And honestly
to me it's worth the extra $10 bucks for the premium look and feel.
However there is one I would recommend much more, and that's Belkin’s holder with a
strap. Belkin sells 2 airtag accessories on Apple's site. A holder with a key ring, and
an identical holder but with a strap both for only $13 bucks each!
I gotta say this holder is by far my favorite of them all. It's by far the most secure.
You twist it open, pop the airtag in, and then twist it closed. And since its made of
plastic there's no way it can squirm out, like on some of the others.
In my opinion, this one looks the best on a keychain, and it's the only one that actually
looks good on mine. It also has the smallest footprint, as it's small and you can attach
it directly to your keychain, unlike Apple’s leather key ring.
Now, their holder with the strap is also the best one to buy if you're looking for a loop.
As i said it only costs $13, compared to $29 and $39 for Apples versions. In my opinion
it looks much nicer than Apples loops. It's much thinner and has a much smaller footprint.
It's very thin, compact, and convenient.
Also, with this strapped version, I’d recommend buying this one instead of the keyring, as
you can use it with the loop or attach the holder directly to your keys. So you can use
it for any situation, which makes it super convenient and versatile and you save a lot
of money!
Another quick benefit with official accessories that fit perfectly, is that you can swap out
the battery without taking the airtag out of the case! It’s not really a big deal,
but just another added bit of convenience you get with Apple. And in case you didn't
know, replacing the batteries is super cheap! You can buy a 10 pack for $6, and a 100 pack
for only $22 on amazon!
Now there are also a few more accessories I want to talk about that might be worth checking
out. Like these copies of Apple’s Hermes accessories for about $10 bucks. Of course
they quality won't be great, but $10 to get that style of accessory could be worth it.
Nomad has designed some nice accessories that are worth looking into. They're all made of
leather and look really nice! They even made an airtag glasses strap currently for $30,
which is pretty cool!
Moment also made these cool stretch fabric mounts for $20 that you fit over your airtag,
and it adheres to basically any fabric surface.
Not only that, but sellers have started to create protective skins you can stick on to
your airtag, to prevent it from getting scratched and scuffed which might be a good idea to
use before you put your airtags into cases that are open. I’ll leave some links to
a few in the description.
So are Apples Accessories worth it? Well they definitely have nice quality materials and
look good, but when you factor the price and convenience and how much space they take up
I would personally say no. But Belkins on the other hand are absolutely worth it, and
they don't even cost much more than 3rd party ones.
Overall, I think the third party accessories we got provide a great value and work well
especially for the money, and of course as time goes on there will be more and more out
there, so I’ll make sure to update the description with some more suggestions as new ones come
out.
Click above to see our Airtags vs Tile vs Smarttags comparison and subscribe if you
want to see our full review. Thanks for watching, this has been Angelika and I’ll see you
in the next video!