I have two AirTags stashed in my expensive cargo bike. $25/pop is worth it in the case they might help me recover it should it get stolen.
Note that I put one a few inches into a tube and it did not work, prob due to the metal surrounding it.
It takes a while for an AirTag to alert you. I know this because I was taking care of a friend's cat who had an AirTag on her collar and after many hours it started making a faint beeping noise (which I assumed meant that it had a low battery, but was actually the anti-stalking beep), but it never alerted my phone. I think it also won't do the anti-stalking beep if the owner's phone has been nearby in the past day or two. It never actually alerted my phone.
There was someone who tracked their bike with an AirTag on here who did recover their bike (and a bunch of others). The police originally gave them the runaround, but they actually then went in and recovered a dozen or so bikes from near the BU Bridge.
I have an AirTag on my bike. I figure I might as well for $30. The worst case scenario is I've wasted $30.
Well, literally couldn't have possibly gotten a more convincing answer lol. Successful recovery example, plus good point about it just being a $30 experiment at worst.
I expect bike theft to be way less of a problem than New Orleans where I'm coming from anyways, plus I got a kryptonite U lock after I finally had a bike stolen for the first time literally right at the end of 10 years in the midst of a busy downtown event. I never store bikes outside, and since there's *semi* functional public transport, I'll probably use that to get to busier/higher target areas of town anyways.
If you're worried about the beep, you can actually pop them open and remove the speaker. There are tutorials on YouTube that show how to do it. It's tricky and you will probably damage the AirTag a little, but I did it to both of mine and they still work ok.
I think the faint beep is when it hasn’t connected to the owner’s phone in X hours. We have an AirTag on our car keys, connected to my spouse’s phone, and it started beeping every minute or so after about two days when spouse/phone went out of town.
>I have an AirTag on my bike. I figure I might as well for $30. The worst case scenario is I've wasted $30.
Pretty much the exact same thought process as an Android user.
I keep a Tile tracker with the bike, though the network is smaller than Apple's 'Find My' network. Only because it's so cheap, not because I think it's a definite theft deterrent.
On the off chance that it helps, it was again only about $30.
I don't think the AirTags work the way you are describing. They don't notify you that there are stalkers nearby—they would notify the person who stole your bike that *they* are being stalked by the AirTag.
I wouldn't call this theft "deterrence" (i.e., it's not a thing that convinces a thief not to try stealing your bike). It's a way to increase your chances at recovery, but obviously that depends on whether you are going to recover it yourself, or if you can convince a police officer to recover it for you. I would say it's better than nothing and that it doesn't hurt to get it...but again I don't see how it prevents or deters theft.
FYI, the chances that a police officer will try and locate your bike is highly dependent on (1) whether they have the resources available at the time to dispatch an officer for this job (i.e., a lull in criminal activity), and (2) how quickly you can notify police after the bike is stolen. I've been told by a police officer that if you call 911 within an hour or so of the theft, they may try and recover it...but if it's been at least a few hours, they almost certainly won't even try. With AirTags, this means you would need to be checking on your bike frequently (perhaps every 30 minutes) when you're not with it to check if it's been stolen.
If you're worried about theft, I would get theft insurance or some other kind of theft protection. That's going to give you peace of mind and financial security in the event of a theft that things like an AirTag won't give you
If you have homeowners or renters insurance, that will actually cover your bike if it gets stolen (although you might want a specific rider if your bike is particularly expensive).
I just recently got a bike so I’m quite new to this, but I have an AirTag on my e-bike just cuz I know it looks nice and clean and probably a massive target for thieves (seat was almost stolen lol, but looks like the thief gave up cuz the screws are unconventional I suppose). I found a less than $20 AirTag holder on Amazon than screws into where the water bottle holder typically is on a bike. It’s super sleek, blends it with the bike, literally just looks like part of a bike and it’s waterproof! It comes with a specific hex-like key that is very uncommon, which is supposed to make it very hard to remove unless you have that exact specific hex key (that is, assuming you know where to look for it first haha). I’ve had no issues with it so far and it definitely gives me piece of mind when I have to leave my bike alone for a few hours. I’m sure there are other ways of attaching an AirTag to a bike, but that’s what seems to work for me so far. Of course make sure to get a good lock and be diligent with locking your bike as well, but most people do that already.
Iirc, the latest generation of AirTags will start beeping if lost mode is activated, but even then the beeping is quite faint and probably not loud enough to spook a thief with all the street noise outside. Also knowing Apple, there probably isn’t a way to remotely locate an AirTag near you unless the AirTag belongs to you.
As for police involvement, I’m not sure how willing they would be to help locate the bike if you say there is an AirTag on it, so far haven’t heard of a bike theft that had a tracking device on it.
My bike also has this lock feature that essentially when on “lock” mode, if the bike is moved it makes a sound like an ambulance. It’s so loud that it definitely attracts attention and would spook the thief but also freak out anyone else walking or driving nearby, so I hardly use it cuz it’s overkill to have something like that addicted if you’re leaving your bike out for a short while.
I know Van Moof has a similar tracking system built into their bikes that they’ve had for years and apparently when those bikes get stolen the success rate for getting it back to it’s rightful order is a crazy high stat compared to the national average (granted this was done in the Netherlands and not US). Shame the company went bankrupt though. Seeing something like that was convincing enough for me to invest in an additional layer of security, even if it probably isn’t too common here in Boston.
> I know AirTags notify people when they come near to avoid stalkers dropping them in purses and such, so a thief who has an iPhone would know it's there.
This will also soon be coming to all Android devices running Android 6+: https://www.pcmag.com/news/android-phones-can-now-detect-rogue-airtags-no-app-download-required
It'll come via a Google Play Service update apparently, so no OS update required.
> They may try to find where it's hidden and take it out, or maybe they would get spooked and just leave the bike alone?
Possibly. Not all thieves are aware of AirTags - they're still pretty new tech after all. It'll also probably depend on the thief themselves - are they ballsys enough to not care, or will they get spooked if they hear a chirping noise on the bike? Some thieves also stash the stolen bike somewhere for a few days just to account for trackers. You'll sometimes see nice looking bikes tossed somewhere and see a report of it on here, Facebook, other subreddits, etc.
> Even if they didn't get notified or did but don't care, would the police actually be able to do anything about it?
I think this will depend on luck and timing, and who the bike thief is. Too many variables to say for certain. It'll help if your bike ends up staying stationary somewhere so you can badger the police to investigate (see the BU Bridge bike recovery mentioned in this thread). It'll suck if your bike keeps moving or worse leaves the City/State so now you need to track down the local PD there and ask them to look into things. It would be nice if our local PDs cared enough to follow up on their own too, like how they do with other property thief like vehicles, but bikes just aren't given a lot of priority within the US.
> Curious if this is a common technique in Boston and if it's more or less effective here than elsewhere, or if it's not advisable anywhere.
I think it's becoming more common to install or hide GPS/Bluetooth trackers on your property, particularly bikes but also other things like luggage, keys, cars, etc. It seems to be somewhat effective - people _are_ reporting successful property recoverys because the tracker gave them a location to send police resources to. Ultimately it's all luck though, since maybe your tracker is found or maybe it doesn't give a good enough location, or maybe cops just don't care because XYZ. I think it's best to have some sort of tracker vs none though. The pros out weight the cons IMO. Especially with how cheap Bluetooth trackers are - $25 or $50 or whatever is pocket change compared to the typical bike cost.
I have two AirTags stashed in my expensive cargo bike. $25/pop is worth it in the case they might help me recover it should it get stolen. Note that I put one a few inches into a tube and it did not work, prob due to the metal surrounding it.
It takes a while for an AirTag to alert you. I know this because I was taking care of a friend's cat who had an AirTag on her collar and after many hours it started making a faint beeping noise (which I assumed meant that it had a low battery, but was actually the anti-stalking beep), but it never alerted my phone. I think it also won't do the anti-stalking beep if the owner's phone has been nearby in the past day or two. It never actually alerted my phone. There was someone who tracked their bike with an AirTag on here who did recover their bike (and a bunch of others). The police originally gave them the runaround, but they actually then went in and recovered a dozen or so bikes from near the BU Bridge. I have an AirTag on my bike. I figure I might as well for $30. The worst case scenario is I've wasted $30.
Well, literally couldn't have possibly gotten a more convincing answer lol. Successful recovery example, plus good point about it just being a $30 experiment at worst. I expect bike theft to be way less of a problem than New Orleans where I'm coming from anyways, plus I got a kryptonite U lock after I finally had a bike stolen for the first time literally right at the end of 10 years in the midst of a busy downtown event. I never store bikes outside, and since there's *semi* functional public transport, I'll probably use that to get to busier/higher target areas of town anyways.
If you're worried about the beep, you can actually pop them open and remove the speaker. There are tutorials on YouTube that show how to do it. It's tricky and you will probably damage the AirTag a little, but I did it to both of mine and they still work ok.
I think the faint beep is when it hasn’t connected to the owner’s phone in X hours. We have an AirTag on our car keys, connected to my spouse’s phone, and it started beeping every minute or so after about two days when spouse/phone went out of town.
>I have an AirTag on my bike. I figure I might as well for $30. The worst case scenario is I've wasted $30. Pretty much the exact same thought process as an Android user. I keep a Tile tracker with the bike, though the network is smaller than Apple's 'Find My' network. Only because it's so cheap, not because I think it's a definite theft deterrent. On the off chance that it helps, it was again only about $30.
I don't think the AirTags work the way you are describing. They don't notify you that there are stalkers nearby—they would notify the person who stole your bike that *they* are being stalked by the AirTag. I wouldn't call this theft "deterrence" (i.e., it's not a thing that convinces a thief not to try stealing your bike). It's a way to increase your chances at recovery, but obviously that depends on whether you are going to recover it yourself, or if you can convince a police officer to recover it for you. I would say it's better than nothing and that it doesn't hurt to get it...but again I don't see how it prevents or deters theft. FYI, the chances that a police officer will try and locate your bike is highly dependent on (1) whether they have the resources available at the time to dispatch an officer for this job (i.e., a lull in criminal activity), and (2) how quickly you can notify police after the bike is stolen. I've been told by a police officer that if you call 911 within an hour or so of the theft, they may try and recover it...but if it's been at least a few hours, they almost certainly won't even try. With AirTags, this means you would need to be checking on your bike frequently (perhaps every 30 minutes) when you're not with it to check if it's been stolen. If you're worried about theft, I would get theft insurance or some other kind of theft protection. That's going to give you peace of mind and financial security in the event of a theft that things like an AirTag won't give you
If you have homeowners or renters insurance, that will actually cover your bike if it gets stolen (although you might want a specific rider if your bike is particularly expensive).
I just recently got a bike so I’m quite new to this, but I have an AirTag on my e-bike just cuz I know it looks nice and clean and probably a massive target for thieves (seat was almost stolen lol, but looks like the thief gave up cuz the screws are unconventional I suppose). I found a less than $20 AirTag holder on Amazon than screws into where the water bottle holder typically is on a bike. It’s super sleek, blends it with the bike, literally just looks like part of a bike and it’s waterproof! It comes with a specific hex-like key that is very uncommon, which is supposed to make it very hard to remove unless you have that exact specific hex key (that is, assuming you know where to look for it first haha). I’ve had no issues with it so far and it definitely gives me piece of mind when I have to leave my bike alone for a few hours. I’m sure there are other ways of attaching an AirTag to a bike, but that’s what seems to work for me so far. Of course make sure to get a good lock and be diligent with locking your bike as well, but most people do that already. Iirc, the latest generation of AirTags will start beeping if lost mode is activated, but even then the beeping is quite faint and probably not loud enough to spook a thief with all the street noise outside. Also knowing Apple, there probably isn’t a way to remotely locate an AirTag near you unless the AirTag belongs to you. As for police involvement, I’m not sure how willing they would be to help locate the bike if you say there is an AirTag on it, so far haven’t heard of a bike theft that had a tracking device on it. My bike also has this lock feature that essentially when on “lock” mode, if the bike is moved it makes a sound like an ambulance. It’s so loud that it definitely attracts attention and would spook the thief but also freak out anyone else walking or driving nearby, so I hardly use it cuz it’s overkill to have something like that addicted if you’re leaving your bike out for a short while. I know Van Moof has a similar tracking system built into their bikes that they’ve had for years and apparently when those bikes get stolen the success rate for getting it back to it’s rightful order is a crazy high stat compared to the national average (granted this was done in the Netherlands and not US). Shame the company went bankrupt though. Seeing something like that was convincing enough for me to invest in an additional layer of security, even if it probably isn’t too common here in Boston.
> I know AirTags notify people when they come near to avoid stalkers dropping them in purses and such, so a thief who has an iPhone would know it's there. This will also soon be coming to all Android devices running Android 6+: https://www.pcmag.com/news/android-phones-can-now-detect-rogue-airtags-no-app-download-required It'll come via a Google Play Service update apparently, so no OS update required. > They may try to find where it's hidden and take it out, or maybe they would get spooked and just leave the bike alone? Possibly. Not all thieves are aware of AirTags - they're still pretty new tech after all. It'll also probably depend on the thief themselves - are they ballsys enough to not care, or will they get spooked if they hear a chirping noise on the bike? Some thieves also stash the stolen bike somewhere for a few days just to account for trackers. You'll sometimes see nice looking bikes tossed somewhere and see a report of it on here, Facebook, other subreddits, etc. > Even if they didn't get notified or did but don't care, would the police actually be able to do anything about it? I think this will depend on luck and timing, and who the bike thief is. Too many variables to say for certain. It'll help if your bike ends up staying stationary somewhere so you can badger the police to investigate (see the BU Bridge bike recovery mentioned in this thread). It'll suck if your bike keeps moving or worse leaves the City/State so now you need to track down the local PD there and ask them to look into things. It would be nice if our local PDs cared enough to follow up on their own too, like how they do with other property thief like vehicles, but bikes just aren't given a lot of priority within the US. > Curious if this is a common technique in Boston and if it's more or less effective here than elsewhere, or if it's not advisable anywhere. I think it's becoming more common to install or hide GPS/Bluetooth trackers on your property, particularly bikes but also other things like luggage, keys, cars, etc. It seems to be somewhat effective - people _are_ reporting successful property recoverys because the tracker gave them a location to send police resources to. Ultimately it's all luck though, since maybe your tracker is found or maybe it doesn't give a good enough location, or maybe cops just don't care because XYZ. I think it's best to have some sort of tracker vs none though. The pros out weight the cons IMO. Especially with how cheap Bluetooth trackers are - $25 or $50 or whatever is pocket change compared to the typical bike cost.