Apple Airtags - use on dive equipment for security?

[Wibble]

Airtags are new tracking devices which could mean recovering kit if it's been stolen.

Pondering putting one in a waterproof case and burying it within a rebreather or even a drysuit. Should it be stolen, it could be tracked for a while.

Thoughts?

There's at least one case that claims 100m waterproof credentials "Catalyst Waterproof Airtag Case" on Amazon et al. Obviously our 100m/330ft depth means exactly that rather than Apple's 50m/165ft watch waterproof (which means it can be worn in a shower).

 

[GF99/99]

Airtags are new tracking devices which could mean recovering kit if it's been stolen.

Pondering putting one in a waterproof case and burying it within a rebreather or even a drysuit. Should it be stolen, it could be tracked for a while.

Thoughts?

There's at least one case that claims 100m waterproof credentials "Catalyst Waterproof Airtag Case" on Amazon et al. Obviously our 100m/330ft depth means exactly that rather than Apple's 50m/165ft watch waterproof (which means it can be worn in a shower).

I thought about this same thing as I often fly with rebrether's and dpv but when they first came out I read into them and it seems like they work by pinging a signal off of surrounding bluetooth devices. So basically the rang of them is only good for the effective range of bluetooth. Also what if your in a remote area and there is not phone coverage?

I am no expert on them but the seem that and detailed info about the range and the ability for them to work in remote areas is not given by apple.

I think the better option would be some kind of GPS tracking device like the once people hind in there teenage kids cars.

Also additionally I have heard there are "find airtag" apps for andriod that use bluetooth to find airtag near by so if your stuff is stolen someone can simply scan for one and notice there is one nearby and search through your stuff till the find it and just throw it away.

 

[Pearlman]

I thought about this same thing as I often fly with rebrether's and dpv but when they first came out I read into them and it seems like they work by pinging a signal off of surrounding bluetooth devices. So basically the rang of them is only good for the effective range of bluetooth. Also what if your in a remote area and there is not phone coverage?

I think the idea is that stolen goods will eventually reach population centers for resale. Then passerby’s Apple devices can pick the signal and bounce it off to reach the owner eventually…

 

[Wibble]

It's just an idea for attempting to track a stolen load of kit.

I think the bigger challenge is the utter hysterical noise around the tracking abilities of these types of devices. Humans are such scumbags.

My fear is that the hysteria will limit the effectiveness of them and certainly the scumbags will be on the lookout for such devices.

 

[GF99/99]

I think the idea is that stolen goods will eventually reach population centers for resale. Then passerby’s Apple devices can pick the signal and bounce it off to reach the owner eventually…

Yes i agree and that is why I thought they would be a good idea too but kind of defeats the purpose of them when there are andriod apps that detect for them and even make them play and audible sound so you can easily find it.

How to Scan for Nearby AirTags Using an Android Phone

 

[Pearlman]

Yes i agree and that is why I thought they would be a good idea too but kind of defeats the purpose of them when there are andriod apps that detect for them and even make them play and audible sound so you can easily find it.

How to Scan for Nearby AirTags Using an Android Phone

Good link thanks. There is also another downside to it : Using AirTags to stalk or steal

 

[Wibble]

Yes i agree and that is why I thought they would be a good idea too but kind of defeats the purpose of them when there are andriod apps that detect for them and even make them play and audible sound so you can easily find it.

How to Scan for Nearby AirTags Using an Android Phone

Kind of negates the benefit as pretty much any thief will know this now.

I'm going to use an airtag in my airline checked baggage so at least I know if they've arrived at the North Pole/wherever when I'm somewhere else.

 

[rddvet]

I have them for my and my wife’s luggage we use for dive gear for Travelling. We had Tile’s years ago but I had no idea that those had a shelf life and once they hit it they would no longer work. So it was buy more tiles or buy the airtags. I went airtags and have had no issues

 

[rddvet]

Tiles and airtags both work off of pinging peoples cell phones. In my use of both, I’ve never had an issue. We’ve searched for our bags with both while Travelling and they both worked. I’m sure you can find places remote enough they may not work. But for our trips to Mexico and France they’ve worked. The pro of the airtags is that there’s so many iPhones in the world, it’s hard not to be near one.

 

[kelemvor]

I'm no apple fan, but I think the airtags are one of their better products. There's a few videos on youtube of people mailing the things around the world. Turns out that so many people in many countries have iphones that you can track just about anything anywhere. Even on cargo planes.

It wouldn't prevent a theft, but might let you track down something that had been stolen. I don't think the police would bother tracking down your item via airtag but if you did it you could potentially call them when you're outside of the thief's home or something. If you're inclined to do such a thing.

Personally, I just insure my expensive stuff. It's much safer to do insurance paperwork than it is to track down a thief.