What Are Apple AirTags and How Do They Work? | SafeWise

You can use Apple AirTag to track your child, but we don’t recommend it as an “everyday wear” tracker. It’s best as a supplement to a kids GPS tracker or for use at crowded events.

In an April 2021 interview, Apple’s VP of worldwide iPhone marketing Kaiann Drance recommended using an Apple Watch with Family Setup to track children instead of Apple AirTags.3 Although Drance didn’t go into further detail about the pros and cons of using an AirTag for kids, our take is that Apple Watches are more reliable trackers for children because they use GPS.

With an AirTag, your child has to stay within range of devices in the Find My network and needs to stand still (or move reasonably slow) for an accurate location ping. Those limitations don’t exist with GPS—and you don’t want to butt heads with technology when it comes to protecting your child.

That said, there’s one scenario where AirTags provide better accuracy than a GPS tracker: crowded events. GPS trackers can locate someone within about 16 feet of their true location.4 If your kid’s GPS tracker shows they’re right on top of you but you still can’t find them amongst a crowd of people, whip out the AirTag’s Precision Finding feature to learn exactly which direction to go and how far to walk to find your child.

To combat the issue of AirTags failing to track anything in motion, consider teaching your child to respond to the AirTag’s beeping sound. For example, it could mean “stop and wait” or “go to the family meeting place.”

That said, GPS trackers designed for kids have features that help in a true emergency, like SOS buttons and two-way audio. We recommend those purpose-made devices for keeping track of your child’s location on a daily basis.