Air Tag or some type of tracking device?
 

As we have Android phones is there a tracker that wou work and be effec for tracking out bikes during airline travel? Last time we went to Europe I bought Airtags and my wife's sister who has an IPhone was doing the tracking and then emailed us.
So looking for ideas.
Thanks!

Bunch of options.

have a read https://www.androidauthority.com/blu...ttag2-3539097/

Thanks ! I will read it.

As an Android user, I use Chiplo ONE Point tags but for my keys, not the bike.

GCN has an interesting video on Air Tags in the context of bike theft.

Airtags remain as the best supported Bluetooth tracker.
Though they can't be tracked using the Web, a cheap <$100 used iPad would work.

Also the owner of a Lost Airtag can now share location with an Airline or person in the event your bike is misplaced.
The function did not exist previously.

Barry

Good point about the cheap ipad. It might be worth it. Also, if you don't like Apple products, you still might like an ipad. I know some people like that.

Can you explain the airline thing?

Originally Airtags could not be shared with other people.
If I placed one in the car, it would bug the wife while she was driving.

Now I can share an Airtag with the wife and it won't bug her by telling her she is being tracked.
It also will allow her to track the Airtag.

Airlines originally tried to ban trackers in luggage.
I think they were embarrassed by customers telling the Airline the location of Luggage the Airline simply could not find.
Nothing states incompetence like "We are still looking for your bag" only to be told "it's still in Texas and has remained there for two days, while I'm in California"

Airlines are now setup so that a Airtag location can be shared with them by the owner & the Airline can see the bag location for themselves.

Barry




Barry

Very cool, Barry. Thanks.

Since we have Android phones.Would a used IPhone be workable for use with Air Tags?if so is there a certain spec I need to look for?

Android phone here, and I'm going to use the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag for my bike case later this month. I know it's not as big an ecosystem as Apple but a second phone isn't happening.

We have Tile tags that we travel with. Not as big an installed base as Apple Air Tags so less coverage. We've never needed to use them to locate errant bikes or luggage though, so no real world experience.

Does anyone here have real world experience with tags?

I used to travel a lot for work in the 1980s and 1990s, had delayed luggage often. Luggage tags were not bar coded, and often tore off luggage.

But with bar codes on luggage tags and with airline luggage tags being quite robust and unlikely to tear off a bag, I have only had luggage problems more recently when I have a delayed flight caused me to miss my next flight at a layover. On a few occasions my luggage was not delayed but I was, in which case I found my luggage had gotten to my destination before I did.

That said, if you are worried about your bike in a bag getting on a plane at a small airport, that is something I have no experience with.

I always take a photo of my luggage before I turn it over to the airline, so if it is lost or delayed, I can show them the photo. That always helps in describing the baggage.

Tandem Tom ,
Did you find my message in your PM's ?

Barry

I did!

An article just came out about the "share item location" mentioned above.

https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/07/airta...-how-it-works/

I put an airtag on my bike. I put it in my tool bag. I used to leave the tool bag on the bike thinking it wouldn't be a big deal if someone stole it. I disguised it as unattractive by putting it in a grocery bag and putting the grocery bag in the basket which is on the rear rack. That worked OK until I needed to visit my mother in law in the emergency late at night. I ended up staying at the hospital overnight, and I found my toolbag stolen. I'll never leave it out again, because it turns out that replacing everything in it cost over $100. Lesson learned. I watched where the airtag was for a while. It ended up in a housing project on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Then nothing. Either someone removed the battery or assigned it to someone/something else. I'm not sure if that's possible. I decided not to wander throughout the project of apartment buildings to see if I could run into someone with my toolbag.

Attaching an airtag to a bike seems like a challenge. You want it to be hidden, and you also don't want to shield the electromagnetic energy with metal. I've seen gadgets you can use between the bottle cage mount and the bottle, and maybe it's mildly inconspicuous. I'm not sure.

its kinda double edged. some say to not hide it, but actually add a sticker saying GPS tracker on it to deter someone from taking it in the first place. I see both sides.

I was just watching a by Hardware Haven about hacking a Chromebox into a general purpose low power computer. He had ads (affiliate links) for trackers that are compatible with iOS and Find My. I just bought the slim one for use in my wallet. Prices are good.

Slim one……. What slim one ?

Oh... found it, it's not an Airtag.

Barry

It's not made or sold by Apple but it's compatible. I'll let you know how I like it.

This is the tracker I bought for my wallet. It arrived yesterday, and it seems really good. It is a wallet size card, said to be 1.55 mm thick. It has a weird cable/connector for charging which was necessary to make the card thin. It claims to last a year on a single charge. I better not lose the cable, though I have a good system for that. So far, it seems to act just like an airtag, and the beep is louder. I'm going to try walking out of the house and leaving it behind. It's made by ugreen which has received positive reviews for its products.

I have no direct experience, but for theft recovery, a friend suggested attaching an Airtag inside the seat tube (of a carbon bike, naturally). Has anybody here done this?

Aluminum, Carbon or steel seat tubes will shield the 2.4GHz Bluetooth transmissions from the Airtag.
You will need to mount the Airtag in a more open location.
In order to run on a 2032 button cell for a year their transmission power is very limited.

This is why you can purchase a spacer that fits between the bike frame and the water bottle cage.
The Airtag hidden in the spacer can still communicate with phones at a decent range.

Barry

Yes, that seems to be one of the best options. You just have to hope that thieves don't notice it.

And also hope the thieves don't have a iPhone. Perhaps they'll have a android phone! <grin>