How to share AirTag with others in iOS 17

How to share AirTag in iOS 17

AirTag owners can share these through the Find My app from iOS 17. Here’s how to start and stop sharing your AirTag.

Apple’s AirTag, a small device attached to personal items like keys, wallets and bags, has been a game-changer in item tracking. With the release of iOS 17, Apple has introduced a much-awaited new feature that allows users to share their AirTags with others.

This feature is useful for items like car keys or shared bags. This allows multiple people to keep track of an item so it doesn’t get lost.

Sharing AirTags can be a valuable precautionary measure from a safety and security perspective. For example, parents can track the AirTag on their child’s backpack to ensure their safety.

Similarly, for elderly family members who may be at risk of getting lost, an AirTag on their Keychain can provide their loved ones peace of mind knowing they can find them if needed. In terms of convenience, sharing AirTags can make daily life simpler, especially in shared living situations.

Roommates or family members often use the same items like TV remotes or gaming consoles. Keeping track of these commonly misplaced items can save time and prevent disagreements over who had the last item.

Then again, shared AirTags could be a game-changer when it comes to travel. If you’re traveling in a group and have shared luggage, AirTags can help keep track of the luggage’s location.

Everyone in the group can access the luggage’s location, making it easy to keep track during transit.

Now that it is physically possible to share AirTags, it is also possible for someone in an abusive relationship to be forced to share theirs. Or share your abuser’s AirTag, so it can be with them at all times.

It was speculated that this was the reason Apple did not allow sharing when the AirTag was first released, and it is unclear why the company has decided to add the feature now.

However, Apple was the first tracker maker to include anti-stock measures, and these have only increased since launch. Recently, Apple has partnered with Google to ensure that Android users can be alerted to rogue AirTags following them.

This doesn’t address the issue of being pressured to share AirTags, but perhaps the controversy that Apple’s device has sparked has shed a brighter light on the issue.

The first step in sharing an AirTag is to open the Find My app on your iPhone.
Once you launch the Find My app, navigate to stuff Tab. Here, you’ll see a list of all your AirTags and other items. Tap the AirTag you want to share.
Drag the window that appears until you see a add person button. Tap on it.
Next, you will be asked to click continue Press the button to confirm that you want to do this.
Then, you will be asked to type the contact’s name. As you start typing, suggestions based on your contacts will appear. Select the contact you want to share the AirTag with and hit Send button.

Find My will list all your contacts – but, at least initially, only a select few will work. You can only add people who are also on iOS 17.

This is unlikely to change when iOS 17 goes public in September or October, but hopefully some existing bugs will be fixed in the beta. Currently, you can remove someone from the list of people you’re sharing with, but they will remain listed.

They are actually removed from sharing, but they remain listed with the AirTag until you restart your iPhone.

To take back someone’s access to an AirTag, select their name from the Share this AirTag section and press Removal button.
Confirm action by tapping stop sharing button.
Once this is done, the person will no longer have visibility of the AirTag’s whereabouts.

Aside from the benefits and potential disadvantages of sharing AirTags for their intended functionality, this new capability will at least remove one common irritation.

It used to be possible that two users traveling together would be alerted to the other person’s AirTag apparently following them. Additionally if an AirTag was in shared luggage, other family members could not see its location without requesting the owner to check it manually.

However, this may mean that people will need to buy fewer AirTags.

Source: appleinsider.com