Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macwick

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 9, 2008
284
236
AirTags (and iOS devices) can be located even if they're not within range of your device, by beaconing their location to Apple via any nearby iOS devices.

It's not clear to me whether the 'Find My' functionality of the new AirPods Pro 2 case works the same way. If I leave the new AirPods Pro 2 in a restaurant and drive home, will the case beacon back to Apple (via nearby iOS devices) and provide me with its location? Or do you have to be within range of the case for Find My to work?
 

luigi.lauro

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2012
81
48
Milan, Italy
AirTags (and iOS devices) can be located even if they're not within range of your device, by beaconing their location to Apple via any nearby iOS devices.

It's not clear to me whether the 'Find My' functionality of the new AirPods Pro 2 case works the same way. If I leave the new AirPods Pro 2 in a restaurant and drive home, will the case beacon back to Apple (via nearby iOS devices) and provide me with its location? Or do you have to be within range of the case for Find My to work?

This is a very good question that I didn't see answered yet.

They specifically mention a UWB/U1 chip and "precision tracking" for the new AirPods Pro 2, and also has a speaker, so my guess is it should work as good as an AirTag in terms of "Find My" functionalities. Technically they have all the hardware of an AirTag there (U1, speaker, bluetooth, battery).

My only doubt is if they "disabled" the automatic background location updates with other iOS devices for stalking reasons: it would give you "plausible deniability" if you slip your AirPods Pro in a bag (or "lend" them), instead of putting an AirTag in someone's bag. But the same could be done also with a secondary iPhone, etc... the only advantage as a tracker is that it is smaller and has a much longer standby battery (although of course not as small and not with such a "months long" battery as an AirTag).

But I strongly hope it has the full functionality.
 
Last edited:

Broken Hope

macrumors 68000
Jan 15, 2015
1,823
1,880
AirPod pro 1’s already have full functionality, I forgot to disable Find My on my pair I sold and my phone and watch kept saving that I had AirPods travelling with me, just like an air tag does.
 
  • Like
Reactions: addamas

addamas

macrumors 65816
Apr 20, 2016
1,314
1,341
AirPod pro 1’s already have full functionality, I forgot to disable Find My on my pair I sold and my phone and watch kept saving that I had AirPods travelling with me, just like an air tag does.
I had notification that unknown airpods are stalking me when I disabled Find Me for left and right bud. In the result had last location only at place when I put them on.
When came back to home with them
In my ears and put them in charging case got this notification :D

Paired with iPhone, not removed from iCloud
 

Nimrad

macrumors 6502
Jul 28, 2010
421
1,530
AirPod pro 1’s already have full functionality, I forgot to disable Find My on my pair I sold and my phone and watch kept saving that I had AirPods travelling with me, just like an air tag does.
It definitely doesn't. Maybe hardware wise, but they go into some kind of sleep mode or something making the functionality practically unusable for me. For that reason I've had a case with an AirTag on them, which works like a charm. For that reason I was stoked about the new Find My functionality in APP2, but I wanna wait for reviews on how well it works first. I lose mine all the time, and I really need proper AirTag-functionality.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.