iOS 17 will make AirTags even more helpful thanks to a new sharing feature. With the added functionality in iOS 17, you’ll soon be able to share an AirTag with friends and family. In the Find My app, users running iOS 17 will see a new option to share an AirTag with whoever they want. Once someone accepts the share request, they will be able to see the location of the AirTag in their Find My app and be able to search for it.
Previously, as part of AirTag’s anti-stalking protection, if you gave an item with an AirTag attached to someone, their iPhone would notify them that an unknown AirTag is following them. This made it considerably inconvenient and annoying for spouses or friends who share items, such as keys or wallets. Thankfully, Apple is solving this with iOS 17. Let’s look at a few ways in which iOS 17’s AirTag sharing feature could be useful.
AirTag for shared house keys
If you travel and want someone to come into your house to water the plants or feed your pets, you can easily share the AirTag attached to your house keys with your friends and family. This will ensure they can quickly locate the keys if they misplace them. Everyone with access to the AirTag can experience the security of having safe access to the keys without panic-inducing alerts from their iPhone that an unknown AirTag has been found.
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AirTag for remote control
If you live in a household with other people, you know that everyone is always looking for the TV remote. With an AirTag tapped to the remote or with a special case, everyone in the household gets equal access to the AirTag and can find the remote. With Precision Finding, it becomes even easier for anyone with a compatible iPhone to look for it under the couch cushions without digging.
Announced at WWDC 2023 this year, Apple said the Apple TV Siri Remote will gain better location support with tvOS 17 and iOS 17 in the fall, making it easier to find the Apple TV remote when it gets lost. Still, many remotes don’t include Find My support, so using an AirTag remains viable.
AirTag for pets
Having a pet that likes to chase things and wander around is really where a shared AirTag can shine. Link an AirTag to a pet collar, and you can always find your furry friend in the park. When opting for pet sitting someone’s pets or putting yours up at a sitter’s place for hours or days, sharing access to their AirTag makes things convenient for you and the caregiver.
It’s worth noting that Apple doesn’t officially recommend using AirTags to track pets, as the device is meant to track items and not animals. Nonetheless, several makers have designed cases, collars, and accessories for pet owners to use with their furry animals and AirTags.
Shared AirTag for shared items
If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, AirTags is your obvious choice for tracking items, and anyone in a household with shared items can take advantage of this feature. You can put shared AirTag in common bags, keep one in the shared bike, etc. Once shared with someone, you can also revoke access when you no longer need to share the item with them.
While this feature is handy, you must be careful about who you accept the sharing request from, as many bad actors are known to use the tracker for stalking. Apple and Google have committed to tackling the challenge of preventing AirTag and other similar tracking devices from being used for the wrong reasons. However, users are still advised to be cautious with whom they share access to and who they accept requests from.
iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, macOS Sonoma, and tvOS 17 are all expected to be publicly available later this fall, with developers and public beta testers accessing pre-release versions of all the updates throughout the summer.
