Apple AirTags and the Apple ‘Find My’ service are great tools to help you keep track of your personal items like keys.
They harness the global network of Apple devices to act as agents that relay location information back to you about the location of your item.
While Apple does allow other developers to harness the power of their ‘Find My’ network, the network is intended for consumer tracking, which means that it can’t be used effectively for commercial asset tracking.
One of the main reasons for this is that every item that’s tracked needs to be part of a single-user account, and tracking information can’t be shared across multiple users.
Say, for example, your company has 100 tools which need to be tracked. You could purchase 100 AirTags and attach them to your tools.
You would be the only person who would receive alerts and be able to view information about your assets, and for most businesses, that’s not going to cut it.
However, this approach might work for you if you were a sole proprietor (say the independent refrigeration engineer who loans a fridge to a family and wants to keep tabs on it).
A further limitation of the AirTag is that it only provides a single user with location information.
No other information can be stored regarding the asset.
If you wanted to manage asset information, including information such as Asset Make to Serial Number to Repairs to Warranties, and User Guides, it would be necessary to purchase a second software.
Since AirTags are unable to integrate with other software, this approach would be difficult to make work for efficient and cost-effective asset management.
Another limitation for the commercial use of AirTags is their poor battery life; they need to be replaced yearly.
If a batch of batteries ages out at the same time, visiting the different work sites to replace a battery can be inconvenient and time-consuming.
AirTag batteries aren’t waterproof either, so if they inadvertently get wet (if the tool and tag were left out in the rain, for example), the battery will again need to be replaced.
So, if you’re looking for an inexpensive option to simply locate an item, AirTags are the way to go.
They’re certainly a must-have gift for kids going to college to help when they misplace their backpack, keys, or wallet, as they inevitably will.
For every commercial customer, however, tracking and managing fleets, tools, or equipment should be achieved with industrial-strength trackers and software, such as GoCodes.
