A brief overview of my experience with the apple AirTag
I decided to put the collar on the cat when he wants to go out and leave it on when he’s in and out by himself with the window open.
We take it off when the window is closed for example when he comes in on the evening or is asleep and at home at bed time.
As recommended by
@Mrs GIGFY the elasticated buckle collar is perfect - much better than bulky stiff and quick release ones.
We used a small soft AirTag holder from another collar - it has slits for the collar in it so was easy to put on. It’s small and very light and soft so the cat won’t be impeded or hurt by it.
The AirTag works by connecting to your phone. It’s supposed to be for luggage - cars - keys bikes and stuff but can be used for pets.
It doesn’t work like a GPS or RF device - works with Bluetooth - so once set up your iPhone will show the last seen location on the ‘Find My’ app. With a location marked on Apple Maps and a map within the app (you can switch between the two). It won’t show a blinking dot on a map in real time as with GPS - it will however if activated and you’re at the location ‘last seen’ marked on the map - seek the AirTag and give you distance and direction if in range (which is 60 ft) - showing you distance in feet or metres and direction until the phone touches the AirTag.
Range is approx 60feet max - I tested it and the most it managed before losing the signal is 60ft which is 20 yards.
The limited range is because it uses the NFT Bluetooth rather than the regular longer ranged one used for earphones and speakers etc.
when out of range you can determine the location of the AirTag IF someone with an iPhone or compatible Android phone walks within range of it - then it pings your ‘Find My’ app on your phone - so you’ll get an alert that the AirTag has been seen. Giving a good location though within 60 feet of the actual exact location - so for example with lost luggage or dropped keys you can get to the location and once within range the phone will lead you to the exact spot as described above.
If no one walks within range then you won’t be able to determine its location.
Now at first I dismissed it as crap. But after using it for a couple of days it’s actually very good for pets. For dogs it’s better than for cats.
It has a ‘if found’ function. Much like micro chipping. If someone finds the AirTag their phone will get pinged with email and phone number of the owner - the Find My app is set to ‘lost mode’ enabling this
It’s good as combined with the collar it’s a cheap and subscription free way of having some idea about where the animal is and a degree of security if it’s picked up. Of course the collar may break or be pulled off or something but looking at the design and construction - a cat comfortable with it won’t seek to remove it by himself.
Last night I was pinged twice - once the cat had obviously came close to humans with phones and it gave a location 0.8 miles away. Then again another location a mile away.(an historical Mistley hall )
And an hour later he was back inside meowing for me to know he’s back.
So of course the Vodafone curve is almost as discreet and much better GPS but this is a cheap and easy way to have some idea of where your car goes regularly - and looking at the maps of where he went I can trace the same route he took the day he went missing.
Overall recommend!