AirTag 2 launches with better range and louder speaker

As a surprise surprise on Monday, Apple unveiled an update to its popular operating system Air sign track item. There aren’t any radical design changes to the accessory – instead, it’s all about the extra power to enhance accurate searching to help you locate your keys, lost luggage, and other important items.

Inside the new AirTag is Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the same one you’ll find in iPhone 17, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch Series 11. This increase in power, coupled with an upgrade to the AirTag’s Bluetooth chip, will allow you to find lost items up to 50% further away.

Apple says the new AirTag’s louder speaker will also allow you to hear your AirTag from up to twice as far away as you could before. Another new feature means that for the first time, you can locate your AirTags using an Apple Watch — although you’ll need a Series 9, Ultra 2 or later.

Thanks to the power of Apple’s Find My network, AirTags allow you to track any possessions you attach to them, along with all of your Apple devices and any people who share their locations with you. Apple says AirTag has “industry-leading” security features to prevent unwanted tracking and to ensure your location data and history is safe.

This is Apple’s first major update to the AirTag since it introduced the product back in 2021. Instead of calling it AirTag 2 or a similar name, this new iteration will simply be AirTag. It’s a direct swap for the previous version, which looks set to be discontinued immediately.

If you’ve been thinking about investing in AirTags for a while, now might be a good time to make the move. Apple has priced the new accessory to match its predecessor, meaning that a A single AirTag will set you back $29 (£29)while A The four-pack will cost $99 (£99). Ordering from Apple means you can add a custom engraving to your AirTags for free.

AirTags and the lost luggage revolution

In 2022, when my luggage failed to make it home from my honeymoon on the same flight I took, I announced… Apple’s AirTags are essential for travel.

Although, at the time, I was not able to share the location of the information directly with my airline, the fact that I was able to see where my lost luggage was and the journey it would take to get back with me provided tremendous peace of mind in a stressful situation.

In 2024, Apple has upped its lost luggage game even further Partnering directly with airlines So passengers can share their AirTag locations. A report by air transport industry technology company SITA, released one year later, in December last year, said that thanks to the partnership, the number of lost bags had actually decreased by 90%.