I had a vehicle stolen which was Air-tagged. Police were able to recover it based on the location I got from the AirTag, but it was out by a small margin and updates of it's location were days apart. I did not put it in lost mode for fear of revealing it's location; I had not know how to disable the speaker, so this is a great piece of knowhow. Thanks! PS: Several other vehicles were recovered at the same time as a result 🙂
"I did not put it in lost mode for fear of revealing it's location;" The airtag itself knows nothing of "lost mode" just like it knows nothing of its location. The Lost Mode setting just means that Apple's servers will forward any location packets with your Airtag's identifier (or your phone will go and look for those packets periodically). The airTag is completely unaware of the existence of a "lost mode". Also, a better piece of hardware to use for this is the Atuvos Tracker. It uses the same Find My network, but it doesn't have the precision finding feature which a thief could use to find it inside of your car (which is a feature Apple just enabled recently- allowing OTHER people to precision-locate YOUR tracker if they have stolen your item). So yeah. Atuvos (though the speaker is harder to disable than on an airtag). Or Chipolo.
@@HollywoodCharityAuctioncom you do realize that these all have about the same range, right? I’ve gotten an Atuvos signal picked up from 300 yards away (not 300 feet. Yards). The distance at which your (my) iPhone can connect to them is much shorter. But it was the same for the Atuvos and the AirTag. They all broadcast at the same power, once every 2 seconds, and they have similar antennas. Advertised range is not a deciding factor.
@Craig Saunders - if you didn’t put the tag into ‘lost mode’ and the police still found your vehicle why do you need to put it into ‘lost mode’ ? Sorry I’m a bit puzzled and just after some advice. I don’t want to take the speaker out if I don’t have to.
Great video! I didn't want to remove the speaker, though it looks relatively easy. What I did was place the airtag inside a first aid kit (closeable plastic box) and then put the box in the trunk area of my Forrester under towels and other clothing. Didn't hear a peep, and I think the range was improved over having it in the main seating area of the car.
The problem with this approach is thieves will often start tossing loose stuff out of your vehicle. The most effective approach is silencing the tag and putting it someplace where the thief is highly unlikely to find it. The dome light is an excellent spot because it does not block RF transmission into the cars interior.
Great video. Thank you for the step by step procedure. I am getting a new car soon and I was going to put an AirTag in it to protect it. I had no clue about disabling the speaker. Five stars. Thanks!
Its worth mentioning that the battery life is about a year on AirTags so you need to hide it in a place where you can get back to it to change the battery in the future.
I guess if a thief has stolen your vehicle, knows there is an AirTag but can’t find it then the longer they can’t find it the more “hot” the vehicle becomes and the probability increases they’ll abandon it.
Remember, the battery has to be changed once a year, make sure you can retrieve it later. A big negative with the Apple AirTag is the fact that it can often goes several HOURS without updating its location, even in an area packed with other iPhone users.
Bro thanks for this video. I got my car stolen 3 times in 3 months already because I rent them out via UberCarshare. Going to get the proper tracker, but for now, going to use this. Thankyou
This video is awesome, lately I have not been driving my car as much, and every two days when I do drive it, the airtag is going off, i dont know for how long, and now I need to replace its battery! So I will remove the speaker as a bonus! I am the only person who drives it and just by sitting for a long time in the driveway, it keeps going off, it is only audible from the inside when I open it, and a thief will notice if stolen, will take like 10 minutes to reach it, but will hear it! thank you a lot, I have one hidden inside the metal panels in my car, and I need now to replace the battery, will take me a long time to remove it, but without the speaker I dont have to worry about putting it too deep into car metal panels lol
Best place to hide a tracker like airtag in your car would be a spot high in the interior least obstructed by metal with line of sight to the outside. I'm thinking inside the center plastic mirror housing would be ideal. My second choice would be under top dash panel, or under window pillar cover. Think high, and open. Wireless signal is very directional, the closer to line of sight (still hidden) to all the other iphones, the better it will work. Good idea deleting the speaker, btw.
Ideally you want the device outside of your vehicle provided it will still be protected from the elements. Putting it outside of your vehicle gives the device the best chance of pinging people’s IOS devices which will give the device the best chance for updating its location accurately. This also means installing it inside or behind a material like plastic or rubber and not metal which will be less likely to interfere with the device’s transmission and reception range.
Even if you disable a speaker it is still possible to locate AirTag using precise finding (available on iPhone11 and later). Actually it is possible to create an AirTag clone tracker which will be not detectable by phones automatically (iPhone will not notify you). So it there are significant demand it is possible to start manufacturing.
Since Apple warned people if an AirTag which doesn't belong to them has an AirTag following them it's not a good choice. The new update allows not to be warned on the Tile trackers. But it's not on apples network. However I suggest placing it as far away from the driver as possible. Preferable wrapped with waterproof plastic bag in the bumper or under the car as far back as possible. Do remember to change the battery every year. Even though it will inform the thief that an AirTag is following you, a good idea would be to hide it a solid place that would take a special tool to remove when they find it, and always place more then just one.
It will inform only from 8 to 24 hours and not before that "Currently, users will receive an alert at a random period between eight and 24 hours once an unknown AirTag has been detected traveling with them."
Might work great with a CR2032 to USB adapter that you could hook up somewhere in the vehicle. Hardwire a 12v to USB adapters and then you'd have unlimited battery life
I expected to see comments saying, “but you don't have to disable the speaker, you can just change the settings”. How could Apple not give you a silent option so you can use it to protect devices from being stolen? Crazy!
Good idea, but never put anything in the steering column. Also don’t put it too close to the exterior metal as the metal can interfere with the tag’s signal and may make the triangulation more difficult. Although it will still be close enough to spot you vehicle.
Test the range of the tag when outside/inside your car. There may be some hiding spots that are better than others for transmission that can catch phones that are further away.
As you placed the tag inside the car, would this not effect the signal? Should the tag be placed outside the car, as in the bumper etc? Just wondering! Thanks for the video 😎👍🏽
Excellent video thank you very much. IfIf a thief is an iPhone user, is there anyway they can detect the presence of one of these devices in the car even though the speaker has been removed?
@@pinecedar180 I took out the speaker in mine and hid it. There’s no way they’ll find it in my car and less they spend hours and the iPhone allows them to detect within a foot or 2
When we cannot hear the sound, a supported iPhone model with Ultra Wideband, can also tap Find Nearby to use Precision Finding to help you locate the unknown AirTag.
Very good video . I purchased these waterproof magnetic cases for Air Tags . I have one hidden in the base of the front seat that’s got a brand new unmodified Air Tag in it , and I removed the speaker from my first gen Air Tag and hid it in the magnetic case under my F150 . This way I’m hoping if they find the first one they’ll discard it and ignore the stealth one for the time being . I’m also debating to see if they work in fluid , as I’m tempted to drop one in those water tight cases into the windshield reservoir tank , as I think it may even muffle the sound so it doesn’t have to have its speaker removed .
I glued mine (without removing the speaker) in the boot. It's in the boot-lid. Don't put in places that a thief or car-jacker might open up for parts or to steal stuff from the vehicle. Boot lid is something that most thieves won't touch unless he's stepping down the whole vehicle to its bare-bones. Plus, when its in the boot, the sound of the beeper in the Air-Tag is very faint or not noticeable at all if you're driving.
great video, thank you. Since the purpose of this to make sure that thieves/criminals are not alerted to the AirTag being in the car, hence taking out the speaker. But what happens if a criminal has an iPhone or some other Apple device that can alert/notify them that they are being 'followed' by an unknown Airtag?
"Currently, users will receive an alert at a random period between eight and 24 hours once an unknown AirTag has been detected traveling with them." - meaning you have at least 8 hours to start finding the location of your stolen car. I want to also use the Google tag when it comes out, as an additional tracker.
Hi. I'm in the UK and seriously thinking of using the airtag exactly how you've shown as a great alternative way of tracking your vehicle without expensive phone plans, as gps trackers usually use sim cards. Thanks for this v.informative video James 😀😀👍👍🎯
I was wondering that. It only tracks 30 meters from your phone so your relying on other people on the app searching for it and reporting it’s whereabouts?
@@HelplessHawk I'm sure the Apple Tag reports it's location direct to your iPhone. You don't need to rely on people reporting it's whereabouts onto an app.
@@HelplessHawk any apple device in the find my network within 33 feet automatically updates the owner of the AirTag to the last known location. It works really well I have many AirTags for my valuables, backpack, purse, wallet, car keys, car, even my pup who likes to escape whenever I’m not around. Best thing is, as more and more people get iPhones they will become much more reliable as a tracker because of more frequent pings
The problem i see with it, is that it relies on apple devices being in bluetooth range to update information. If let's say your car thief is an android user and no apple user is anywhere close nough, the airtag will do exactely nothing. And, i am not an expert in air tag stuff, but as far as i learned, if you are an apple user, and you are the only person near an airtag for long enough, (and not the actual owner of it) there will be an information on your phone at some point that there is an airtag near you that isn't yours. Also there is an even cheaper alternative if you still want to go that route: the manufacturer that makes these for apple sells their own ones which are easier to replace the battery by the user (different housing) but work the same way (only with apple devices as data transport medium). But i forgot the name of the manufacturer. (a working collegue of mine has one for his car keys and his wifes.)
You can get 3rd party cases, in a variety of colors, that have an adhesive back. If nothing else, it prevents the tag from bouncing around while driving.
I just wanted to let you know that I have watched this informative video, a you tube video, that you have made, and it carefully thought me how to, exactly do what I need I need to do, which is to properly and carefully hide my tracker, that is a airtag tracker, which is made from apple company, that works with my iPhone, here on this earth and ….
A magnetic box affixed to the outside of the car is just large enough for both the emergency set of keys AND the AirTag. Assuming the thief was not aware the box was there, that is. The magnetic box (and being outside the car) all but kills the sound even with the speaker intact (unless I happened to be parked in a very, very quiet insulated garage perhaps). It also means I have a an easily-accessible AirTag on the go to put from my car onto something temporarily more important like a bag or a piece of equipment.
@@kandyceshrum6326 I have not observed this to be an issue at all. Perhaps the magnet impacts the speaker that makes the beeps slightly, but I am not hearing those anyway. The Bluetooth functionally works seamlessly, including the low battery warnings and other alerts. To be clear for anyone reading, the AirTag is being placed on MY OWN car for two major potential reasons: 1. To possibly help me locate the car in the unlikely but not impossible event it is stolen. 2. Keeping an AirTag on hand is great if I am using any other bag or supply that I want to keep an eye on and forgot to already place on one. This could be an ID badge, wallet, etc…
Great Video thanks for the detailed information I just bought a 4 pack I will probably put 2 in my car in different places just to screw with the car thief 😂also better chance of pinging either side or ends of the vehicle I’m thinking put one in the outside plastic mirror would probably be a great spot and one in a more difficult to find location. If it lets the criminals know they are being tracked I don’t care more than likely they will get out of the vehicle as soon as they know it’s there. If there are 2 hidden tags then they won’t hang around hopefully they leave the vehicle before damaging it
That’s a really good idea! If you put 2 or more air tags in the vehicle you can at least scare the thieves by having one play the alarm and the other(s) silent and hidden in a different location. The thieves might quickly abandon the vehicle if they think they’re being tracked instead of taking it somewhere further away.
Best advice I could offer up is: 1. Yes, remover the speaker! 2. Use a fresh battery! (Also make a reminder of your phone/calendar/whatever to replace the battery in 11 months, don’t just test it!). 3. When you do hide the tag, use a piece of 3M double-sided tape and ensure the hiding area is cleaned first. 4. Check you are still receiving the signal at frequent intervals!
As the owner of a few AirTags, the one obvious thing that comes to mind…..is that the AirTag will advertise to another apple iPhone, that it’s been tracking you as an unknown device.
The fact that new iPhone tell you if an air tag is tracking you is that the person stealing the car if they see this message on their phone they will worry and abandon the car thinking it’s hot
Wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Seeing is not doing or foreseeing, so don't sweat it. 😉 And I hope you've reported it and the cops will find those bastards and your car. 🙏✌
I see that you haven’t uploaded much videos. I’m subscribing to your channel just to encourage you to upload more content. You have more than 1000 subscribers now and you can monetize the videos. You explained the steps in detail and so I would like to see more helpful videos from you. 👍
The first part was helpful, thank you. I bought a fixture to use that helps you hide the air tag. So, I'm going to try and find a secret area to place it in the car.
You will get much more frequent updates if you place it right under the wind screen. Some cars such as Ford Focus have an easily removable cover where you can put it under so it sits right at the front.
It's not necessary, these tags can be picked up from 250 to 300 ft away by other phones, a 5-ft shorter or longer distance won't make a difference, what makes the difference is that it's not obstructed by metal panels so don't put it under your hood or inside a door.
Thx. for the video, that was great info. Can you tell me if i can use this to track my Cat.? I have an outdoor cat and i was thinking of putting this in his collar in case he gets lost. Will it work?
Bro let me be the first, that's the best Toyota they ever made, that FJ Cruiser is sweet. I hope they bring it back, pretty please bring it back Toyota
Or you can put it in the engine compartment which is noisy and will hide any noise coming from the airtag. I put mine in a small freeze bag with two small rare earth magnets and attached inside the fender away from the hot engine components. Batteries work better when warm so on a cold day, the airtag will benefit from under hood heat. And to your point, if you tag someone elses vehicle, the police will track it back to you by registration and IP address
No one discusses this but Apple actually use every iphone on this planet as a tracking device to locate an airtag. Now there must be a fine print somewhere where i sighned up for this, but I feel this is a huge breach of trust and privacy.
@brivt, stop being paranoid. No one cares what you do in your daily life, no one cares about your "privacy". You're not that important. Humans need to work together and that goes for their devices too, plus this doesnt use any of your data
Rubbish! Locating an AirTag via iPhones that are passing by is simply using the i-network that all Apple devices belong to. There is no breach of trust and privacy. An AirTag sending out an "I'm lost" broadcast signal is little different from your iPhone searching for an AirDrop recipient. If you are paranoid about trust and privacy, ditch your cell phone.
You can also paint the AirTag black or color it with black a Sharpie. Since so many parts of the car are black or concealed in shadows, a black AirTag would be harder to spot.
people seem to think they finally found the ultimate way to stop thieves stealing cars but please someone explain to me what stops the thief from carrying a portable Bluetooth jammer to actively jamm the airtags signal and maybe a bluetooth sniffer to find out if the car has an airtag in the first place? come on people a 30usd silly device isnt gonna stop any thief who knows what he is doing. it may stop junkies though
Chipolo One Spot is better for this as it doesn't have UWB so no pinpoint.. You only know there is one nearby. You can crack it open slightly to slip in a peice of masking tape to disable the piezoelectric speaker. Also you will actually see the battery remaining something I don't understand why apple removed from the airtag. I just use airtags for smaller things where pinpoint makes sense.
My car was stolen twice in the same year..they tore apart the car looking for anything I could’ve hidden..all of the spots mentioned were torn open except for the lights. Be careful.
Apple's latest update enables finding the device enables finding the AirTag using the proximity tracker. What might be a better approach is using the AirTag as a decoy then install something like ATUVOS tag, with its speaker removed, it is also compatible with Find My but it doesnt reveal the distance locator only notifies you that a tracking device is present.
What distance does the tag work to find the stolen car? 100 km? More? Less? Have you tried that? Is there a possibility to stop the engine with the app?
Would it get picked up more by other people if it wasn't surrounded by too much metal? So the inside the Roof or pillars would be good? Also an AirTag case that looks like a car key would be good for keyrings, or even in case someone finds the AirTag in a Car, they might keep it in case they find your "second car". Nice video, thanks.
I just bought four airtags, but won't need it in my car, a Subaru Outback. It has StarLink which works fantastic, right down to a few feet anywhere. I probably will toss one in it just for playing around with it and learning, though.
Thank you very much. If you block the airtag too much will that interfere with the signal and how far can a tracker go before you lose the signal or do you ? If someone takes it out of state can you still find it assuming they haven’t found the tracker
The best I've seen is to remove the shark fin antenna on top if your car, there is plenty of room for an airtag, then reinstall the shark fin and seal with silicone caulk.
Well, let’s see… It’s either in your fuse box or under your window buttons since those are the only two places that you actually took apart. Great tip on taking it apart to preserve the clips though! 👍🏼
naa, window buttons been broken, it it was easy to pull it up just for show, and fuse box... well its just a simple clip on door, but good guesses, thanks for the comment.
most cellphones will alert if the tracker is near you, and not in connection with its host. meaning, if your celphone isnt near that tag, its going to throw an alert to anyone with a smartphone. yes, even android. there are manual and automatic scans, and they are performed constantly.
I had a vehicle stolen which was Air-tagged. Police were able to recover it based on the location I got from the AirTag, but it was out by a small margin and updates of it's location were days apart. I did not put it in lost mode for fear of revealing it's location; I had not know how to disable the speaker, so this is a great piece of knowhow. Thanks!
PS: Several other vehicles were recovered at the same time as a result 🙂
"I did not put it in lost mode for fear of revealing it's location;" The airtag itself knows nothing of "lost mode" just like it knows nothing of its location. The Lost Mode setting just means that Apple's servers will forward any location packets with your Airtag's identifier (or your phone will go and look for those packets periodically).
The airTag is completely unaware of the existence of a "lost mode". Also, a better piece of hardware to use for this is the Atuvos Tracker. It uses the same Find My network, but it doesn't have the precision finding feature which a thief could use to find it inside of your car (which is a feature Apple just enabled recently- allowing OTHER people to precision-locate YOUR tracker if they have stolen your item). So yeah. Atuvos (though the speaker is harder to disable than on an airtag). Or Chipolo.
@@ahgflyguy Atuvos Tracker should only be used as a backup - not instead, as it only has 400 ft range.
@@HollywoodCharityAuctioncom you do realize that these all have about the same range, right? I’ve gotten an Atuvos signal picked up from 300 yards away (not 300 feet. Yards). The distance at which your (my) iPhone can connect to them is much shorter. But it was the same for the Atuvos and the AirTag. They all broadcast at the same power, once every 2 seconds, and they have similar antennas. Advertised range is not a deciding factor.
My cousin has had her car stolen twice. She managed to find it the two times thanks to the airtag.
@Craig Saunders - if you didn’t put the tag into ‘lost mode’ and the police still found your vehicle why do you need to put it into ‘lost mode’ ? Sorry I’m a bit puzzled and just after some advice. I don’t want to take the speaker out if I don’t have to.
You sound like Chris Fix.
was about to comment the same thing!
Lol had to check the username to make sure this wasn't Chris fix
Exactly man the moment he said “in the event”….. i was like is this chris fix new page
Also the hand movements are the same
It's him guys
Just did this and works great. Note to anyone doing this, be careful taking apart, the battery contacts are very small and bendable.
Great video! I didn't want to remove the speaker, though it looks relatively easy. What I did was place the airtag inside a first aid kit (closeable plastic box) and then put the box in the trunk area of my Forrester under towels and other clothing. Didn't hear a peep, and I think the range was improved over having it in the main seating area of the car.
The problem with this approach is thieves will often start tossing loose stuff out of your vehicle. The most effective approach is silencing the tag and putting it someplace where the thief is highly unlikely to find it. The dome light is an excellent spot because it does not block RF transmission into the cars interior.
Great video. Thank you for the step by step procedure. I am getting a new car soon and I was going to put an AirTag in it to protect it. I had no clue about disabling the speaker. Five stars. Thanks!
Just completed this on two AirTags, works like a charm. Used iFixit tweezers to pry. Cheers
Its worth mentioning that the battery life is about a year on AirTags so you need to hide it in a place where you can get back to it to change the battery in the future.
And if you lose it behind the seat like I did you so have to put up with months of low battery notifications from your phone before it finally dies.
@@SashazurSorry, but that’s hysterical. Thanks for the laugh 😂
It's a good idea just to change the battery on every oil change
The problem is not the sound, it's the fact that tracker alarms the thief that a tracker is following them
Key point.....surprised that no one has spoken to this issue
@@malange42agreed. I’d like more information on this
anyway they still need to find it, if you hide it well enough.
I guess if a thief has stolen your vehicle, knows there is an AirTag but can’t find it then the longer they can’t find it the more “hot” the vehicle becomes and the probability increases they’ll abandon it.
Yes this is a flaw with the whole idea. But it’s better than no way to track your car at all.
Remember, the battery has to be changed once a year, make sure you can retrieve it later. A big negative with the Apple AirTag is the fact that it can often goes several HOURS without updating its location, even in an area packed with other iPhone users.
it will notify with about 2 months of life left
Ive haven’t experienced it for HOURS , might have a defective unit
When you put it in lost mode, it will start updating its location every 2-3 minutes or more often.
@@jimj2683 *Interesting! Good to know! Thank you, i have one in my truck so Now i know if it ever gets stolen! 👍🏽*
@@james_gatlin I feel like there must be a feasible way to apply dc power at all times. It would make it so much more enticing.
Bro thanks for this video. I got my car stolen 3 times in 3 months already because I rent them out via UberCarshare. Going to get the proper tracker, but for now, going to use this. Thankyou
Hellcat?
Best way, in my opinion, leave 2 inside car, 1 not well hidden for thiefs to find fast, and another well hidden
Good idea could even get a dummy/broken one for the easy to find one
This video is awesome, lately I have not been driving my car as much, and every two days when I do drive it, the airtag is going off, i dont know for how long, and now I need to replace its battery!
So I will remove the speaker as a bonus! I am the only person who drives it and just by sitting for a long time in the driveway, it keeps going off, it is only audible from the inside when I open it, and a thief will notice if stolen, will take like 10 minutes to reach it, but will hear it!
thank you a lot, I have one hidden inside the metal panels in my car, and I need now to replace the battery, will take me a long time to remove it, but without the speaker I dont have to worry about putting it too deep into car metal panels lol
Best place to hide a tracker like airtag in your car would be a spot high in the interior least obstructed by metal with line of sight to the outside.
I'm thinking inside the center plastic mirror housing would be ideal. My second choice would be under top dash panel, or under window pillar cover. Think high, and open.
Wireless signal is very directional, the closer to line of sight (still hidden) to all the other iphones, the better it will work. Good idea deleting the speaker, btw.
I installed mine under the headrest cover of the front seat, this way it's in a high and very receptive position since all 4 windows are facing it.
how come removing the speaker is so good? Does it ring automatically under certain conditions?
@@steveshuffle You can make it do a noise to find it easier. The idea is to be difficult to be found by "bad" people.
Test the possible locations to see which has the best range.
@@brianwest2775 Well, yeah. 🙄
Ideally you want the device outside of your vehicle provided it will still be protected from the elements. Putting it outside of your vehicle gives the device the best chance of pinging people’s IOS devices which will give the device the best chance for updating its location accurately. This also means installing it inside or behind a material like plastic or rubber and not metal which will be less likely to interfere with the device’s transmission and reception range.
Thanks for the very detailed instructions on how to use the Air Tag as an anti-theft device. I am going to put one in my car today.
Great video! Super helpful. Step-by-step instructions worked perfect. Now I can track my car QUIETLY if its ever stolen. Thanks.
Your video was suggested for me to watch. I just purchased a 2011 FJ Cruiser. You better believe I'm doing this hack. She's my new baby.? ♥️
Even if you disable a speaker it is still possible to locate AirTag using precise finding (available on iPhone11 and later).
Actually it is possible to create an AirTag clone tracker which will be not detectable by phones automatically (iPhone will not notify you).
So it there are significant demand it is possible to start manufacturing.
A really great "how to" video. Every detail is laid out and so I finished in a few minutes. Thanks a lot!
Since Apple warned people if an AirTag which doesn't belong to them has an AirTag following them it's not a good choice. The new update allows not to be warned on the Tile trackers. But it's not on apples network. However I suggest placing it as far away from the driver as possible. Preferable wrapped with waterproof plastic bag in the bumper or under the car as far back as possible. Do remember to change the battery every year.
Even though it will inform the thief that an AirTag is following you, a good idea would be to hide it a solid place that would take a special tool to remove when they find it, and always place more then just one.
Had that happen me recently someone followed me with AirTag how to stop it?
It will inform only from 8 to 24 hours and not before that "Currently, users will receive an alert at a random period between eight and 24 hours once an unknown AirTag has been detected traveling with them."
Might work great with a CR2032 to USB adapter that you could hook up somewhere in the vehicle. Hardwire a 12v to USB adapters and then you'd have unlimited battery life
I have a BMW X5 35d with the Thule OEM rack crossbars. I put the AirTag in the plastic end housing of the cross bar which has a lock on it. Perfect.
Thanks ;)
Still very useful if you’ve forgotten where you’ve parked your car in a very large car park at a shopping mall
I just set off my car alarm to locate lol
You can spin me and I wouldn’t know where I was. This is a brilliant use that I’ll remember! Cheers!
I expected to see comments saying, “but you don't have to disable the speaker, you can just change the settings”. How could Apple not give you a silent option so you can use it to protect devices from being stolen? Crazy!
Good idea, but never put anything in the steering column. Also don’t put it too close to the exterior metal as the metal can interfere with the tag’s signal and may make the triangulation more difficult. Although it will still be close enough to spot you vehicle.
Test the range of the tag when outside/inside your car. There may be some hiding spots that are better than others for transmission that can catch phones that are further away.
The steering column area is a bad idea since the thief will most likely rip that panel off to break your ignition.
As you placed the tag inside the car, would this not effect the signal? Should the tag be placed outside the car, as in the bumper etc? Just wondering! Thanks for the video 😎👍🏽
Question: Should we pair it and set up the air tag before or after removing speaker? Thanks for the video!
Excellent video thank you very much. IfIf a thief is an iPhone user, is there anyway they can detect the presence of one of these devices in the car even though the speaker has been removed?
after 8 to 24 hours, yes, they could be alerted and possibly be able to see where its located
@@pinecedar180 I took out the speaker in mine and hid it. There’s no way they’ll find it in my car and less they spend hours and the iPhone allows them to detect within a foot or 2
When we cannot hear the sound, a supported iPhone model with Ultra Wideband, can also tap Find Nearby to use Precision Finding to help you locate the unknown AirTag.
Very good video . I purchased these waterproof magnetic cases for Air Tags . I have one hidden in the base of the front seat that’s got a brand new unmodified Air Tag in it , and I removed the speaker from my first gen Air Tag and hid it in the magnetic case under my F150 .
This way I’m hoping if they find the first one they’ll discard it and ignore the stealth one for the time being .
I’m also debating to see if they work in fluid , as I’m tempted to drop one in those water tight cases into the windshield reservoir tank , as I think it may even muffle the sound so it doesn’t have to have its speaker removed .
I glued mine (without removing the speaker) in the boot. It's in the boot-lid. Don't put in places that a thief or car-jacker might open up for parts or to steal stuff from the vehicle. Boot lid is something that most thieves won't touch unless he's stepping down the whole vehicle to its bare-bones. Plus, when its in the boot, the sound of the beeper in the Air-Tag is very faint or not noticeable at all if you're driving.
What’s a “boot”? Besides this --> 👢
@@BigOsTacoI think British people call the trunk the boot, not sure though
@@Tendertroll1 yes your correct. I looked it up
great video, thank you. Since the purpose of this to make sure that thieves/criminals are not alerted to the AirTag being in the car, hence taking out the speaker. But what happens if a criminal has an iPhone or some other Apple device that can alert/notify them that they are being 'followed' by an unknown Airtag?
They can see it’s following them but can’t find it
"Currently, users will receive an alert at a random period between eight and 24 hours once an unknown AirTag has been detected traveling with them." - meaning you have at least 8 hours to start finding the location of your stolen car. I want to also use the Google tag when it comes out, as an additional tracker.
Hi. I'm in the UK and seriously thinking of using the airtag exactly how you've shown as a great alternative way of tracking your vehicle without expensive phone plans, as gps trackers usually use sim cards. Thanks for this v.informative video James 😀😀👍👍🎯
@Keltic D Cheers. All this info is correct but the air tag is a cheaper alternative that is very much worth considering and just may work 😀
I was wondering that. It only tracks 30 meters from your phone so your relying on other people on the app searching for it and reporting it’s whereabouts?
@@HelplessHawk I'm sure the Apple Tag reports it's location direct to your iPhone. You don't need to rely on people reporting it's whereabouts onto an app.
@@HelplessHawk any apple device in the find my network within 33 feet automatically updates the owner of the AirTag to the last known location. It works really well I have many AirTags for my valuables, backpack, purse, wallet, car keys, car, even my pup who likes to escape whenever I’m not around. Best thing is, as more and more people get iPhones they will become much more reliable as a tracker because of more frequent pings
The problem i see with it, is that it relies on apple devices being in bluetooth range to update information. If let's say your car thief is an android user and no apple user is anywhere close nough, the airtag will do exactely nothing.
And, i am not an expert in air tag stuff, but as far as i learned, if you are an apple user, and you are the only person near an airtag for long enough, (and not the actual owner of it) there will be an information on your phone at some point that there is an airtag near you that isn't yours.
Also there is an even cheaper alternative if you still want to go that route: the manufacturer that makes these for apple sells their own ones which are easier to replace the battery by the user (different housing) but work the same way (only with apple devices as data transport medium). But i forgot the name of the manufacturer. (a working collegue of mine has one for his car keys and his wifes.)
I like the idea of beeping for suitcase or purse... But love the idea of being silent in car... I don't want thief to know we are tracking!
Cheers James. I will now buy as beforehand I was unsure because of the speaker letting the thief know where it was to damage it. Good work. 🏆👍
Great video! JEALOUS of the FJ. The only thing is finding a good spot that is still accessible when you need to change the battery.
Thanks, and good point 👍
I stashed a couple of these in my old vehicle they will have to hunt to find them both.
Stick the AirTag with double side tape,I think the headrest would make a good place as it’s not hot or direct sunlight
You can get 3rd party cases, in a variety of colors, that have an adhesive back. If nothing else, it prevents the tag from bouncing around while driving.
They sell AirTag holders that have double sided 3M tape to mount it places a thief would have a have time finding
I just wanted to let you know that I have watched this informative video, a you tube video, that you have made, and it carefully thought me how to, exactly do what I need I need to do, which is to properly and carefully hide my tracker, that is a airtag tracker, which is made from apple company, that works with my iPhone, here on this earth and ….
Just remember you need to be able to get that AirTag about a year from now and change the battery out so do make it too difficult to remove. 👍
A magnetic box affixed to the outside of the car is just large enough for both the emergency set of keys AND the AirTag. Assuming the thief was not aware the box was there, that is. The magnetic box (and being outside the car) all but kills the sound even with the speaker intact (unless I happened to be parked in a very, very quiet insulated garage perhaps). It also means I have a an easily-accessible AirTag on the go to put from my car onto something temporarily more important like a bag or a piece of equipment.
Will the magnet interfere with the transmission of air tag?
@@kandyceshrum6326 I have not observed this to be an issue at all. Perhaps the magnet impacts the speaker that makes the beeps slightly, but I am not hearing those anyway. The Bluetooth functionally works seamlessly, including the low battery warnings and other alerts.
To be clear for anyone reading, the AirTag is being placed on MY OWN car for two major potential reasons: 1. To possibly help me locate the car in the unlikely but not impossible event it is stolen. 2. Keeping an AirTag on hand is great if I am using any other bag or supply that I want to keep an eye on and forgot to already place on one. This could be an ID badge, wallet, etc…
One thought, make sure you can take the AirTag out again from where you’ve hidden it so you can replace its battery when it’s flat.
Great Video thanks for the detailed information I just bought a 4 pack I will probably put 2 in my car in different places just to screw with the car thief 😂also better chance of pinging either side or ends of the vehicle I’m thinking put one in the outside plastic mirror would probably be a great spot and one in a more difficult to find location.
If it lets the criminals know they are being tracked I don’t care more than likely they will get out of the vehicle as soon as they know it’s there. If there are 2 hidden tags then they won’t hang around hopefully they leave the vehicle before damaging it
That’s a really good idea! If you put 2 or more air tags in the vehicle you can at least scare the thieves by having one play the alarm and the other(s) silent and hidden in a different location. The thieves might quickly abandon the vehicle if they think they’re being tracked instead of taking it somewhere further away.
Better to use a Tile and an AirTag than 2 Tiles or 2 AirTags
Best advice I could offer up is:
1. Yes, remover the speaker!
2. Use a fresh battery! (Also make a reminder of your phone/calendar/whatever to replace the battery in 11 months, don’t just test it!).
3. When you do hide the tag, use a piece of 3M double-sided tape and ensure the hiding area is cleaned first.
4. Check you are still receiving the signal at frequent intervals!
I think a nice thing to do would be adding a different bigger battery with a charging module. Every time the car starts, the battery charges.
As the owner of a few AirTags, the one obvious thing that comes to mind…..is that the AirTag will advertise to another apple iPhone, that it’s been tracking you as an unknown device.
Yes exactly what I thought
If it's hidden good the robber would never find it (if with the notification)
is there any way to circumvent this? it’s super annoying
The fact that new iPhone tell you if an air tag is tracking you is that the person stealing the car if they see this message on their phone they will worry and abandon the car thinking it’s hot
How about making the air tag speaker mute or not . I think Steve would approve 😊
Easier just stick a blob of Blue Tack to both sides of the AirTag. It suppresses the sound about 90% so unlikely to be heard.
Thanks for the epic hack fellow FJ owner! Like the unique way you painted you bumper wings and center strip 👍 👌
My car was stolen 1 month ago, I wish I saw this video earlier. Thanks for the tutorial
Wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Seeing is not doing or foreseeing, so don't sweat it. 😉 And I hope you've reported it and the cops will find those bastards and your car. 🙏✌
@@em0_tion lets be honest and not lie to people, it WOULD have helped most definitely but yes its ok, its the past. Lets look to the future
I see that you haven’t uploaded much videos. I’m subscribing to your channel just to encourage you to upload more content. You have more than 1000 subscribers now and you can monetize the videos.
You explained the steps in detail and so I would like to see more helpful videos from you. 👍
Thanks for the comment, I will
Love your positive comment .
The first part was helpful, thank you. I bought a fixture to use that helps you hide the air tag. So, I'm going to try and find a secret area to place it in the car.
5:19 👈🏼😂 The moment that He exposed his airtag location !! 🤣
You will get much more frequent updates if you place it right under the wind screen. Some cars such as Ford Focus have an easily removable cover where you can put it under so it sits right at the front.
It's not necessary, these tags can be picked up from 250 to 300 ft away by other phones, a 5-ft shorter or longer distance won't make a difference, what makes the difference is that it's not obstructed by metal panels so don't put it under your hood or inside a door.
@@alienlatino2945 my whole car is metal.
@@johnf.hebert1409 Even the windows? Show me a pic.
Thx. for the video, that was great info. Can you tell me if i can use this to track my Cat.? I have an outdoor cat and i was thinking of putting this in his collar in case he gets lost. Will it work?
Great video. My car was stolen and I'm going to place one in my new car. Thanks for the tips!
The person stalking me has put this or a similar tracker on my car. Now I know where to look. Thank you.
Order magnetic cases for the AirTags! Ordered two and they are very strong and waterproof
Hello James ! --- At the end of your video, at about 5:05, witch app do you used to locate your AirTag ? --- Thanks ! ✌
"Find My" app, it's standard on all Apple devices which have a SIM card.
Bro let me be the first, that's the best Toyota they ever made, that FJ Cruiser is sweet. I hope they bring it back, pretty please bring it back Toyota
Thanks for the tutorial James. Nice looking FJ BTW 👍🏼 And a great idea to hopefully find your vehicle if it gets stolen.
Or you can put it in the engine compartment which is noisy and will hide any noise coming from the airtag. I put mine in a small freeze bag with two small rare earth magnets and attached inside the fender away from the hot engine components. Batteries work better when warm so on a cold day, the airtag will benefit from under hood heat.
And to your point, if you tag someone elses vehicle, the police will track it back to you by registration and IP address
Nice FJ!! I used to have one and loved it!!!!👍😎👍
if i'm not mistaken, newer cars have gps tracker installed in them already. you just have to download your vehicle app to your phone and viola.
Thieves know how to disable vehicle specific GPS systems.
How does this guy literally have the same exact voice as ChrisFix. I had to double check the channel when the video started.
I use a magnetic key holder which you can attach underneath the cars chassis to be completely undetectable.
No one discusses this but Apple actually use every iphone on this planet as a tracking device to locate an airtag. Now there must be a fine print somewhere where i sighned up for this, but I feel this is a huge breach of trust and privacy.
Cellphones itself are in breach of trust and privacy
@brivt, stop being paranoid. No one cares what you do in your daily life, no one cares about your "privacy". You're not that important. Humans need to work together and that goes for their devices too, plus this doesnt use any of your data
Rubbish! Locating an AirTag via iPhones that are passing by is simply using the i-network that all Apple devices belong to. There is no breach of trust and privacy. An AirTag sending out an "I'm lost" broadcast signal is little different from your iPhone searching for an AirDrop recipient. If you are paranoid about trust and privacy, ditch your cell phone.
Thanks for the info. But how can you locate the vehicle if the AirTag has a 30 foot range? Never used it so I’m just asking.
Nice looking FJ! Thanks for the tips using the Airtag, I will install one in my motorcycle.
Thx for the great tutorial. Removed 3 speakers flawlessly :D
Short and sweet, straight to the point. 👌
You can also paint the AirTag black or color it with black a Sharpie. Since so many parts of the car are black or concealed in shadows, a black AirTag would be harder to spot.
God forbid Apple just give us an update with an option to turn off the speaker ughh cmon Apple you didn’t think of this ???
Install 2 units to serve as decoy 😉
people seem to think they finally found the ultimate way to stop thieves stealing cars but please someone explain to me what stops the thief from carrying a portable Bluetooth jammer to actively jamm the airtags signal and maybe a bluetooth sniffer to find out if the car has an airtag in the first place? come on people a 30usd silly device isnt gonna stop any thief who knows what he is doing. it may stop junkies though
JUST A WARNING: my airtag stopped working after I carefully removed the speaker
Chipolo One Spot is better for this as it doesn't have UWB so no pinpoint.. You only know there is one nearby. You can crack it open slightly to slip in a peice of masking tape to disable the piezoelectric speaker. Also you will actually see the battery remaining something I don't understand why apple removed from the airtag. I just use airtags for smaller things where pinpoint makes sense.
it has to be high up on a window etc so you can get a good signal out for max tracking
Stalkers thank you just as much as the others who teach how to disable the speaker.
My car was stolen twice in the same year..they tore apart the car looking for anything I could’ve hidden..all of the spots mentioned were torn open except for the lights. Be careful.
geez, a lot of work these thieves went through. What car did you have?
Thanks for the information. I was hoping one could remove the speaker and it would still work.
Apple's latest update enables finding the device enables finding the AirTag using the proximity tracker. What might be a better approach is using the AirTag as a decoy then install something like ATUVOS tag, with its speaker removed, it is also compatible with Find My but it doesnt reveal the distance locator only notifies you that a tracking device is present.
5:19 It's hidden in the back of the drivers side.
LMAO
Great video. How long does a battery last?
yearish
What distance does the tag work to find the stolen car? 100 km? More? Less? Have you tried that? Is there a possibility to stop the engine with the app?
Would it get picked up more by other people if it wasn't surrounded by too much metal? So the inside the Roof or pillars would be good?
Also an AirTag case that looks like a car key would be good for keyrings, or even in case someone finds the AirTag in a Car, they might keep it in case they find your "second car".
Nice video, thanks.
I just bought four airtags, but won't need it in my car, a Subaru Outback. It has StarLink which works fantastic, right down to a few feet anywhere. I probably will toss one in it just for playing around with it and learning, though.
My Outlook is not subscribed to $tarlink ... does that matter?
A very well made video! Thank you Sir 🙌
Excellent, excellent video!
Glad you liked it!
Thank you very much. If you block the airtag too much will that interfere with the signal and how far can a tracker go before you lose the signal or do you ? If someone takes it out of state can you still find it assuming they haven’t found the tracker
Yes you can. Crossing state lines doesnt matter. Crossing international boarders also wont make a difference
The best I've seen is to remove the shark fin antenna on top if your car, there is plenty of room for an airtag, then reinstall the shark fin and seal with silicone caulk.
Up to which distance you can track your vehicle. Is their any range for this device ?
33 feet from any iPhone that comes near it which is a long distance, enough for tracking
What about the notification that pops up on the thief’s iPhone saying an air tag is in the vicinity
Cover your vin at the base of your windshield. Thieves can copy it and get access to your car. This is for newer vehicles.
Good to know
Well, let’s see… It’s either in your fuse box or under your window buttons since those are the only two places that you actually took apart.
Great tip on taking it apart to preserve the clips though! 👍🏼
naa, window buttons been broken, it it was easy to pull it up just for show, and fuse box... well its just a simple clip on door, but good guesses, thanks for the comment.
@@james_gatlin Dang broken window buttons! 😂
Is this for just an iPhone, or does it work all phones?
most cellphones will alert if the tracker is near you, and not in connection with its host. meaning, if your celphone isnt near that tag, its going to throw an alert to anyone with a smartphone. yes, even android. there are manual and automatic scans, and they are performed constantly.