As the topic goes, how often does airtag update location. If you have an airtag this is one of the question that will pop into your head, especially when traveling.
Right now I will say that airtag is very essential in today’s society especially when traveling or you have a special product that cherish so much and wouldn’t want to lose.
People use airtag in their cars in case of theft, during traveling for easy locating of their luggage, on their pets, car keys incase you misplaced it, etc.
But the question is how often does this apple device update itself.
Thare the question of the day and which I have explained all you need to know.
How often does airtag update location?
Airtag update it’s location within two to five minutes when in motion, and if there’s an available iphone close to the AirTag.
Again, if you as the owner come close to the airtag, it will automatically update its location right away.
But there are certain occasion where it can take up to an hour for an Airtag to update to it’s current location.
Remember, internet connection plays an important role when it comes to your airtag being tracked on Find My map.
So before I came up with this post, I had to make some research and test to actually see how this item updates it location or probably how it works in terms of updating to it’s current location.
So these are my findings.
But first, you may try to read and understand how does apple airtag work.
1. Internet is a must
If you lost an item and which has the Apple airtag on it, and which you want to track the item or the airtag.
If you try to locate the airtag on the map using Find My, you must have an active internet connection on your device. Also, the Apple airtag wherever it is doesn’t necessarily need to have an internet connection to update to it’s location.
Reason being that it uses the Apple bluetooth ultra wide band to connect to a nearby iphone especially from iphone 11 series and above.
But to locate the AirTag on map, internet is a must, and if there’s no active internet connection, you cannot track your airtag on Find My.
2. There must be an apple device around
This is very essential whenever you’re tracking apple airtag.
There must be an apple device around.
And that is an iphone. Please note that so far ipad, or MacBook don’t have the Precision Finding capability except for iphones.
So for the AirTag to update to it’s current location, there must be an iphone around or close to the AirTag.
When i say iPhone, I mean to say from iPhone 11 and above as they have the Precision Finding capability.
If you happen to be in a location where lost people use samsung phones or android phones, then you will have an issue tracking this device.
Infact this is one major disadvantage of having an apple airtag.
Let’s say for example someone stole your bike and which you have an airtag on it. If the their is using an android phone or anyone around the stolen bike is using an android phone, then you have a problem.
This is so because you won’t be able to track your bike on Find My which is used to track apple airtag.
Below is a typical example of how it will display if your airtag is not with you and within an area or environment where no one is using an iPhone.
As you can see, it shows Address Unavailable. This literally means that the Apple airtag cannot be tracked simply because there’s no apple device it iphone around the airtag to help update it’s location.
The case is different when there’s an iphone around.
Belle is how the airtag will look if it is not with you, but within an area or environment that has an iphone.
As you can see, it is showing the airtag location and this is because there’s an iphone around or within the Apple airtag.
Once you have the airtag with you, it will quickly update it’s location indicating that it is with you.
Please bear in mind that if you’re tracking your airtag on Find My, and it shows With You, it meane that you’re very close to your airtag or you’re already with your airtag.
So when it comes to how often does airtag update location, bear in mind that having an iPhone around the airtag is compulsory.
Don’t Miss:
- Does find my notify the other person when you stop sharing location?
- Can someone tell if i check their location on iphone
3. Precise location is essential
Sometimes you gear about people saying that they couldn’t get the accurate location of their airtag. From my observation, they may likely not have enabled precise location on their Apple device.
So I recommend you to do so.
To enable precise location on your iPhone, open the Settings App and scroll down to Privacy & Security and tap to open the option.
Tap on Location Services in the next window and make sure it is enabled as showed below.
Now what you have to do is to scroll down the page and you will lots of apps using location services on your apple device, what you have to do is to scroll down to Find My and tap to open the option.
In the next window you will see where it says Precise Location, make sure you turned on the option as shown below.
Turning on the precise location will help to give you the accurate location of your airtag if you’re tracking the device.
How to update airtag location
To update an airtag location, you simply have to put the airtag close to an iphone, and this will help to automatically update the airtag location.
As airtag cannot be charged like any other apple device, apple built it in such a way that it doesn’t update it’s location frequently or very often so as to preserve the battery life.
But in a situation whereby you are very far away from the airtag, once you get close to it it will update the location right away.
Now asking how to update airtag location, kindly note that airtag updates on it’s own as long as there’s an apple device or probably an iphone around it or close to the AirTag.
You cannot update or refresh the device on find my.
It does update on it’s own.
How does airtag update location
As Airtag is a small Bluetooth device, it uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to establish a connection with nearby Apple devices, such as iPhones, iPads, or Macs which helps to update it’s location.
When an Airtag is within Bluetooth range of an Apple device, it periodically sends out a Bluetooth signal containing its unique identifier.
If another Apple device comes into proximity with an Airtag, it can detect the Bluetooth signal and relay the information back to Apple’s servers anonymously.
This happens automatically and in the background, even if the Apple device’s owner is unaware of it.
The more Apple devices there are in an area, the higher the chances of someone with an Apple device coming close to an Airtag and updating its location.
The fun part about this is that if someone’s bluetooth is not turned on, airtag will still detect that an apple device is around it, and will update it’s location on Find My.
To view the update airtag location, you have to use Find My on your iPhone or apple device paired with the airtag to see it’s current location.
Using the Find My, when an AirTag is in Bluetooth range of an Apple device belonging to someone using the Find My app, the app will retrieve the latest location information recorded by that device and display it to the user.
These updates occur in the background and are designed to provide near-real-time location information to the AirTag owner.
It’s important to note that the location updates of an AirTag heavily rely on the presence of Apple devices in the vicinity and the use of the Find My app by other individuals.
The more Apple devices there are around, the more opportunities for location updates.
Does Apple AirTag show real time location?
The answer is yes. Apple airtag do show real time location especially if there’s an apple device within.
However, it doesn’t update very often.
Talking about how often does airtag update location, the Apple airtag update within 2 to 5 minutes depending if there’s an apple device around it.
But once you’re close to the device, it updates it’s location right away.
And this is where I come to the conclusion of today’s question of the day, how often does apple airtag update location, and for the last time, it is within 2 to 5 minutes depending.