Yes, luggage
We can’t deny that AirTags are great for tracking your luggage as you travel. When I asked our staff what they used their AirTags for, this was the most common answer. “I feel physical relief at seeing that my checked luggage is at the same gate as me when I board a plane,” said writer Joshua Lyon. However, if you do use an AirTag this way, be warned that your phone might ding every time you leave the house, telling you that you’ve left your luggage behind.
Parents and kids on the go
Parents on our staff chimed in with the different ways they use their AirTags to keep track of their kids and their parenting essentials.
For parents who rely on a travel stroller, especially when taking flights, using an AirTag can help you figure out where it’s ended up. Using an AirTag on a stroller is especially great “for international flights, where it might not be waiting for you when you exit the plane,” said Elise Czajkowski, who wrote our guide to travel strollers. (On a trip to Frankfurt, her family wasn’t reunited with their stroller until the baggage carousels.) Stroller manufacturers are taking notice: Our upcoming top pick, the Uppababy Minu V3, has a pocket designed to hold an AirTag.
The AirTag pouch on the Uppababy Minu V3 travel stroller is hidden once you close the snaps. Elise Czajkowski/NYT Wirecutter
An AirTag is also good for instances where lots of similar strollers are left in the same area, such as in a park, as you can use it to confirm that you’re taking the right one home — or to figure out where yours is after an accidental swap.
Other parents keep AirTags in their children’s backpacks or sports gear to help keep track of their kids’ stuff (and their kids) at parks, summer camps, sporting events, on the way home from school, and more.
Can’t-leave-the-house-without essentials
Before walking out the door each day, you might find yourself tapping your pockets while whispering “wallet, phone, keys.” Plenty of our staffers rely on their AirTags to keep track of their wallet, keys, and bags, using their phones to locate these items when they can’t find them.
Editor Jennifer Sullivan recently discovered, thanks to her AirTag, that she had accidentally thrown her keys into the recycling bin; it saved her hours of continued searching. Jenn had actually once toured the recycling facility where her keys ended up, which meant she knew what the place looked like inside. “I know it would be completely useless to attempt to find them there,” Jenn said. “Instead, I just bought a new AirTag, AirTag keychain, and replaced all my keys.”
Left: Jenn’s AirTags provide her with live updates. Jennifer Sullivan/NYT Wirecutter Right: Checking her Find My app, she discovered that her keys had made it all the way to the recycling plant. Jennifer Sullivan/NYT WirecutterYour on-trend winter coat
When it’s bitterly cold out, a mound of winter coats at a party is to be expected. However, unless you have a unique coat, yours might be hard to find in that pile.
“My teenage daughter and all her friends live in a fashion monoculture, and they all wear the same exact big black North Face puffer,” said editor Rory Evans. “You’ll never guess what happens — the jackets get taken home by someone else, either accidentally or on purpose.”
Now, her daughter tucks an AirTag in an interior pocket so she can track her jacket.
The ever-elusive TV remote
Frequently lost to couch cushions and tossed about the living room, a TV remote is the ideal candidate for an AirTag, though attaching one to a remote is a challenge. With a little creativity, and a Wirecutter-pick 3D printer, writer Kaitlin Mahar and her partner printed a holder that could fit both their Chromecast remote and the airtag.
Kaitlin 3D-printed a sleeve that fits on her TV remote and has a slot at the bottom for an AirTag. Kaitlin Mahar/NYT WirecutterA two-wheeled ride
Bicycles aren’t cheap, and having one stolen can be devastating. Several of our staffers attach an AirTag to their bike to keep track of it.
You can keep one stashed under the saddle of your mountain bike, like outdoors editor Christine Ryan does. She also uses one with the travel bag for her bike, when she’s taking it on a trip. In our guide to gifts for cyclists, we recommend the Raptic Link + Lock, a carabiner-style lock that can hold an AirTag, which gifts writer Samantha Schoech uses for her electric bike.
And the AirTag has proven to be a worthy companion for editor Jon Chase in tracking and recovering his stolen ebike. “Late one night, I found my trusty cargo ebike had been nabbed from a bike stand — it’s our family truckster, so this was devastating,” he said. “But I had backup — an AirTag secured in a stick-on container mounted under the rear rack.” Since his phone was dead, he asked his wife to use Apple’s Find My app to quickly locate the bike a few blocks away, locked to another bike stand. With a multi-tool and a little elbow grease, he sawed a tiny bit of the bike’s metal basket, and his bike was free.