6 ms·

This is truly revolutionary for pet owners. All existing solutions I know of have at least one fault-intolerant property that makes them useless for the lost-pe

This is truly revolutionary for pet owners. All existing solutions I know of have at least one fault-intolerant property that makes them useless for the lost-pet use case (battery / size / unreliable connection coverage / etc.) If I understand correctly Apple tags solve all of these at once.

ambivalents 5y ago
This was my first thought. Is there any downside to putting one on my dog?
- andrewmunsell 5y ago
  No cell/GPS, so it won't track your dog if it gets lost in the forest or something. There are other (bulkier) trackers if you live in those sorts of areas, but otherwise I have a Tile on my dog's leash right now just to keep tabs on where she is when she's with a trusted caretaker like my parents. I'll probably switch it to an AirTag now because the network will have better coverage
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    As with many things in life though it would be better than nothing since there are scenarios when it will help you find your dog.
    - millerm 5y ago
      Yeah, a lot of people applying the Nirvana fallacy here.
      - lucasverra 5y ago
        "It won't work after 72 hours of losing your dog while doing a space expedition on Mars!"
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  > And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it. I think there is no way to disable that feature, and that's by design. Depends on how much distance is "separation" I guess, and how close you stick to your dog at all times, heh.
  - crazysim 5y ago
    The anti anti stalking crowd will probably just jam a pin or pen into the speaker and permanently disable it,
  - jsmith45 5y ago
    As repeatedly reported elsewhere in this thread, the current time for this back-up anti-stalking beeps is 3 days. (Updatable remotely by apple, but I doubt they will go below 24 hours). So as long as you come within Bluetooth range of your dog once every 3 days (or whatever apple changes it to), you will be fine. This makes me wonder how long it takes for the iPhone based anti-stalking alerts to kick in. I'm sure this would be shorter, since it can be without too much annoyance. But how much shorter?
- rhplus 5y ago
  The removable battery might be a problem if it's easily dislodged by scratching at a the collar.
azinman2 5y ago
The Whistle works quite well. And if your dog is somewhere where no other iPhone's are around, it'll still work.
duskwuff 5y ago
This isn't suitable for pets. The crowdsourced Bluetooth tracking will only really work for objects which will stay in one place when lost -- which pets are notorious for not doing. For finding a lost pet, you really want something with cell reception and a GPS for real-time location. There's a number of products which specifically provide this, like the Whistle dog tag. Unfortunately, they're bulkier and require relatively frequent charging, but that's the price you pay for that functionality.
- randyrand 5y ago
  in lost mode the tracking frequency goes to real time.
- limaoscarjuliet 5y ago
  I used tractive. It is bulky and requires daily charging making it not so good for cats. I will likely play with Air Tag, as my cats usually travel in highly populated areas, so they should be seen by many people.
  - psychometry 5y ago
    Would you like to hear the lecture about why cats should be kept indoors now? Or have you already heard and ignored it many times?
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      Would you like to hear the reasons to let cats outside, or have you already heard and ignored them many times?
      - psychometry 5y ago
        I'd actually like to hear one good reason, sure.
        Dylan16807 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Tiktaalik 5y ago
Looked a bit big to me for a cat, but maybe it's lighter than it looks.
- Tiktaalik 5y ago
  11g says the spec sheet, just shy of the weight of a AAA battery. Maybe too heavy for a small cat?

ambivalents 5y ago

This was my first thought. Is there any downside to putting one on my dog?

andrewmunsell 5y ago
No cell/GPS, so it won't track your dog if it gets lost in the forest or something. There are other (bulkier) trackers if you live in those sorts of areas, but otherwise I have a Tile on my dog's leash right now just to keep tabs on where she is when she's with a trusted caretaker like my parents. I'll probably switch it to an AirTag now because the network will have better coverage
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  As with many things in life though it would be better than nothing since there are scenarios when it will help you find your dog.
  - millerm 5y ago
    Yeah, a lot of people applying the Nirvana fallacy here.
    - lucasverra 5y ago
      "It won't work after 72 hours of losing your dog while doing a space expedition on Mars!"
jrochkind1 5y ago
> And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it. I think there is no way to disable that feature, and that's by design. Depends on how much distance is "separation" I guess, and how close you stick to your dog at all times, heh.
- crazysim 5y ago
  The anti anti stalking crowd will probably just jam a pin or pen into the speaker and permanently disable it,
- jsmith45 5y ago
  As repeatedly reported elsewhere in this thread, the current time for this back-up anti-stalking beeps is 3 days. (Updatable remotely by apple, but I doubt they will go below 24 hours). So as long as you come within Bluetooth range of your dog once every 3 days (or whatever apple changes it to), you will be fine. This makes me wonder how long it takes for the iPhone based anti-stalking alerts to kick in. I'm sure this would be shorter, since it can be without too much annoyance. But how much shorter?
rhplus 5y ago
The removable battery might be a problem if it's easily dislodged by scratching at a the collar.

azinman2 5y ago

The Whistle works quite well. And if your dog is somewhere where no other iPhone's are around, it'll still work.

duskwuff 5y ago

This isn't suitable for pets. The crowdsourced Bluetooth tracking will only really work for objects which will stay in one place when lost -- which pets are notorious for not doing. For finding a lost pet, you really want something with cell reception and a GPS for real-time location. There's a number of products which specifically provide this, like the Whistle dog tag. Unfortunately, they're bulkier and require relatively frequent charging, but that's the price you pay for that functionality.

randyrand 5y ago
in lost mode the tracking frequency goes to real time.
limaoscarjuliet 5y ago
I used tractive. It is bulky and requires daily charging making it not so good for cats. I will likely play with Air Tag, as my cats usually travel in highly populated areas, so they should be seen by many people.
- psychometry 5y ago
  Would you like to hear the lecture about why cats should be kept indoors now? Or have you already heard and ignored it many times?
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    Would you like to hear the reasons to let cats outside, or have you already heard and ignored them many times?
    - psychometry 5y ago
      I'd actually like to hear one good reason, sure.
      - Dylan16807 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Tiktaalik 5y ago

Looked a bit big to me for a cat, but maybe it's lighter than it looks.

Tiktaalik 5y ago
11g says the spec sheet, just shy of the weight of a AAA battery. Maybe too heavy for a small cat?