Airtag: What Is Apple's New Gadget For?

 Airtag: What Is Apple's New Gadget For?

Apple unveiled its spring novelties with a new gadget, the AirTag. This digital badge acts as a tracker to avoid losing your keys, a backpack or a wallet. The iPhone is responsible for helping you find them in the event of a loss.

As expected, the Apple keynote revealed a 24-inch iMac M1 and a new iPad Pro and failing to unveil connected glasses, the brand has finally launched its AirTags. This gadget allows you to find your belongings in the boxes for two years, whether it is your keys or a wallet.

How? 'Or' What? Quite simply because this small object, which looks like a button battery, communicates permanently with your iPhone (11 or 12 only). No Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth. This AirTag uses UWB ( Ultra Wideband ) technology for short-range tracking, and this chip appeared with the iPhone 11. It is permanently activated, and it is linked to the "Locate" function of the smartphone. No need to install any additional application. It is also found in the iPhone 12 and Apple Watch. Samsung also has an equivalent, and this chip is already in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy S21 Plus and S21 Ultra.

Iphone Guides You To Lost Keys

Clearly, for Apple and Samsung, the UWB has an essential stake in the future of connected objects. For now, this is a gadget since the communication between the AirTag (or the SmartTag at Samsung) thus allows you to locate your keys or any device on which you have hung or slipped this "tracker".  

By default, the iPhone notifies you when you move away from the "tracker", and it allows you to sound the tag to find it. But if you don't hear the "tracker", the iPhone, or even that of a loved one, it turns into a guide to find the object. On the screen, a kind of radar that uses augmented reality takes you to the AirTag to get your hands on it. You can even start the search by voice, thanks to Siri.

Soon in cars?

But the most interesting is the future of this technology. According to Cnet, the Ultra Wideband is today in the sights of car manufacturers, particularly Audi, BMW, and Ford. It is not a question of using this wireless technology to find your car in a parking lot, but instead of associating it with functions such as locking or unlocking the doors just by approaching or moving away from the vehicle. 

At home, the UWB could eventually allow you to turn on your computer when you approach it or close the door to your home when you leave. The possibilities are immense, and the advantage of this technology is that it is linked to its own ecosystem and only links two devices together. The connection is not permanent, and there is no confidential information circulating.