4 ms·
The problem is AirTag is only really viable because of the huge number of iPhone users. Anyone with a recent iPhone will pickup the AirTag signal and report the
by new299 5y ago
The problem is AirTag is only really viable because of the huge number of iPhone users. Anyone with a recent iPhone will pickup the AirTag signal and report the location to the owner.
Tile has somewhat similar functionality, but it doesn't really have the same ability to track the tile's location. And there are a comparatively tiny number of tile users.
- masklinn 5y agoAh so outside of losing stuff in your home it’s really only useful in countries or areas where the apple mesh is dense enough?
- SilverRed 5y agoWhich is almost everywhere on the planet outside of north korea and the middle of a desert. I have tested the things and they get picked up constantly even in low density areas. If you had one in a house they would be getting picked up every 2 minutes from passing cars.
- sofixa 5y agoYeah, no. Apple products aren't that popular outside of Western countries ( and the US in particular). Take India for an example - the iOS market share is a paltry 3.2% for 2019. Ukraine, 13%. Nigeria, 6%. I highly doubt those users are nicely spread to give you full coverage everywhere and not cluttered in the bigger cities and their more affluent parts. Heck, even France is with 23%, that could easily leave significant gaps in coverage.
- akmarinov 5y agoIt’s not only iPhones though, iPads and Macbooks work as well, bumping the number considerably.
- bashtoni 5y ago3.2% of India is still 41 million devices. I'd suspect it'd still be pretty effective there, although I'd be interested to see some data.
- masklinn 5y agoDid you just… assume a smartphone penetration of 100% and run off with that? Are you aware that even the US are not at 100% penetration? Furthermore India is 3.3 million square kilometers, airtags have a range of about 10m.
- kingnothing 5y agoA quick search says there are 290M smart phones in the US for a population of 330M. That's basically 100% excluding small children.
- masklinn 5y ago> That's basically 100% excluding small children. Which is not 100%. OP literally took 3.2% of 1.3 billions and asserted that was the number of iphones in india (compatible with airtag too).
- albertshin 5y agoyou might find this video amusing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8SER24F0U8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8SER24F0U8