The chances of finding lost luggage equipped with an AirTag should increase with the December launch of iOS 18.2. According to the specialized site MacRumors, the beta 2 version for developers of the iPhone mobile system includes an update to Locate. The app, which as its name suggests, allows you to display the position of owned devices on a map, will allow you to share the location of an AirTag “with an airline or a trusted person”, indicates the business.
In practice, when activated, the option creates an internet link which can be shared with an airline employee, for example, to facilitate the search for lost luggage. “The person who opens the link will be able to see the position of your object for a limited time,” explains the Cupertino company in the Locate app. For clarification, this temporary access to the location of the AirTag, as well as the user’s contact details (email address and telephone number), lasts one week. The validity of the link automatically expires after the AirTag (and the lost item it is attached to) is reunited with its owner. In the Locate app, it will also be possible to know how many people have opened the shared link. Note that this can be opened on a device from a brand other than Apple, but the trusted person must have an Apple account.
Remember that it is already possible to share, via the Locate app, an AirTag with up to five additional people who have an Apple account and use the iCloud service (children’s accounts excluded).
Launched in 2021, the AirTag, whose operation is based on sending a Bluetooth signal detectable by devices on the Locate network – a network that Google recently adapted in its own way – is still waiting for its successor. A new model could arrive in the first half of 2025, according to Mark Gurman, journalist at Bloomberg. This new beacon should be equipped with a chip with even more precise location functionalities.
