Apple AirTag (2nd Generation) Review: Far Easier to Find

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Overview

Five years after the first AirTag, Apple’s second-generation tracker looks the same from the outside and kept the original’s price, but it is much easier to find once you are nearby. It is built for iPhone owners who want to keep tabs on keys, bags and luggage in the Find My app, and Apple sells it in single packs and four-packs, with the single pack on Amazon.

The changes are all inside. A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the same one Apple uses in the iPhone 17 lineup, powers Precision Finding, which Apple says now guides you from up to 50 percent farther away, and the speaker is 50 percent louder by Apple’s figure. In Canada the single pack is sold and shipped by Amazon.ca itself, and as of October 2026 it was $34.98 CAD there. For the first time Precision Finding also works on an Apple Watch (Series 9 or later, or Ultra 2 or later).

Key Specifications

Apple AirTag (2nd Generation) Precision Finding and Range

Precision Finding is the AirTag’s party trick: once you are close, the Find My app shows an arrow and a distance and walks you to the item. On the original AirTag it only kicked in at short range, which made it easy to give up and just play a sound. The new tag picked up direction from noticeably farther away in every hands-on review we read, and Macworld measured about a 40 percent wider range in its real-world tests, a little short of Apple’s 50 percent claim.

In TechRadar’s walk across a house, with both generations left in the same corner, the old tag gave directions only within about 1.8 m (six feet). The new one showed a distance from about 14 m (47 feet) and started pointing the way from roughly 10 m (32 feet). In 9to5Mac’s testing the gap held through walls: behind obstructions the original’s useful range could shrink to about 3 m (10-12 feet). The new tag worked reliably at up to about 11 m (35 feet), so it could find keys on a downstairs counter from an upstairs landing.

Which phone you have matters: the longer range needs an iPhone Air or an iPhone 15 or later, and Apple excludes the iPhone 16e and 17e. An iPhone 11 to iPhone 14 still finds the new tag, just at about the first-generation range. Precision Finding on an Apple Watch is new, but 9to5Mac found its range shorter than the iPhone’s and the setup clumsy, since each tag needs its own Control Center button.

Louder Speaker and New Chime

Apple says the new speaker is 50 percent louder and can be heard from up to twice as far away. Two hands-on sound checks agree it is a big step up, with slightly different peaks: Macworld recorded an average of 85 dB against 66 dB for the original, and Cult of Mac measured a peak of 87 dB against 66 dB. The chime also moved up from an F to a G, which makes it sound shriller and easier to pick out.

In practice that is the difference between hearing your keys and not. TechRadar could barely make out the old tag inside a backpack but heard the new one clearly over a nearby television. It is still not the loudest Find My tracker: Macworld measured the Chipolo POP slightly higher, at 88 dB, and in Engadget’s guide, which tested the first-generation AirTag, the Pebblebee Clip 5 was the loudest tracker.

Find My Network, Lost Mode and Luggage

When an item is out of Bluetooth range, the AirTag leans on Apple’s Find My network, which Apple puts at more than a billion iPhone, iPad and Mac devices that anonymously report a nearby tag’s location. There is no subscription or ongoing fee. In Lost Mode you get a notification when the tag is spotted, and anyone who finds it can tap it with an NFC phone to see your contact details.

For travel, Share Item Location lets you send a temporary link to a lost bag’s location to an airline; Apple says it works with more than 50 airlines, and the link expires after seven days or once you have the bag back. The AirTag is meant for objects, not people or pets: an iPhone or Android phone travelling with someone else’s AirTag gets an alert, and a tag separated from its owner for a while starts to play a sound. Third-party Find My trackers such as the Chipolo POP and Pebblebee Clip 5 use the same network, so the AirTag’s real edge over them is Precision Finding, which they lack.

Design, Battery and Compatibility

Apple kept the exact shape of the 2021 model, so every existing AirTag case and holder fits. That also means the same old limitation: there is still no keyring hole, so you need a holder to put it on your keys, and Apple’s own FineWoven Key Ring is sold separately. It is a touch heavier than the original (11.8 g against 11 g, by Macworld’s figures), and the IP67 rating is unchanged.

Power still comes from a CR2032 coin cell you swap yourself, which Apple says lasts more than a year; there is no recharging, unlike some rivals. Apple rates the tag to work from -20°C to 60°C (-4°F to 140°F), worth knowing if your keys or bag spend winter nights in the car. Setup is a one-tap pairing with an iPhone on iOS 26.2.1 or later or an iPad on iPadOS 26.1 or later, as Apple’s Canadian spec page lists; Apple’s US page still says iOS 26.0, but Macworld also gives 26.2.1, so update first. It does not pair with Android phones at all. You also can’t ring a misplaced iPhone from the tag, which the Chipolo POP does with a double press of its button.

How Does It Stack Up Against the Competition?

The AirTag’s closest rivals are the Find My trackers Engadget names as the alternatives for iPhone owners: both also work with Android, and both trade Precision Finding for features Apple leaves out.

Apple AirTag (2nd Generation): Worth It for iPhone Owners Who Misplace Things

If everyone in your home carries a recent iPhone, this is the tracker to get. It pays off on Canadian flights too: Air Canada, WestJet, Porter and Flair all appear on MacRumors’ January 2026 list of airlines that accept Share Item Location links, so you can send the airline a delayed bag’s location. Day to day, the longer Precision Finding range turns “somewhere in the house” into an arrow you can follow. Already own the first AirTag? TechRadar calls the new one a truly worthy upgrade, while Macworld says upgrading might make sense if you often misplace tagged things and the old one will otherwise carry on fine. On Amazon.ca in October 2026 it was $34.98 CAD against $39.00 CAD for the Chipolo POP and $67.87 CAD for the Pebblebee Clip 5, whose Amazon.ca listing is sold by Amazon US.

Look elsewhere if anyone in the house uses Android. The Chipolo POP works with either phone and can ring your phone. Engadget picked it as its top tracker overall, though its pick for iPhone owners is still the AirTag, based on its tests of the first-generation model; the rechargeable Pebblebee Clip 5 was the loudest tracker in Engadget’s tests and adds a siren-and-strobe safety alert. Samsung Galaxy owners have the Galaxy SmartTag2, which works only with Samsung phones.

Apple AirTag (2nd Generation)

On sale $34.98

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Marcus WebbSenior Editor 𝕏

Marcus has been hunting for the best tech and gear for over 40 years — as a coder, gamer, and lifelong outdoors enthusiast, he knows the gap between a good spec sheet and something that actually holds up.

How this was made: Built from the 13 sources listed above, including 5 independent reviewers such as Macworld, TechRadar and 9to5Mac. Written with AI, then fact-checked against those sources by a separate AI. We haven’t tested this product ourselves. How we review →