Apple AirTag 2 – second generation, 2025 – What to expect

Bloomberg reports Apple could launch AirTag 2 in April 2025 alongside a 4th-generation TV 4K (or HomePod). But what are the likely improvements to an already good product?

1st gen Singles: $29 MSRP, £25 rrp or Eu29

1st Gen 4-Pack: $99, £85 or Eu99

Often discounted. Free engraving from Apple

What is Apple AirTag?

AirTag is an excellent and popular product used to find suitcases and occasionally to stalk cars or people.

Often now sold below the official price, AirTag offers good value – what’s $25 compared to the loss of an entire suitcase?

Apple AirTag is a great ‘item finder’ and a mediocre tracker which leverages everyone’s iPhones via the FindMy network. If there is no iPhone near your AirTag, you can’t locate it, and it has no GPS capabilities. AirTag selectively uses NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy, and Ultra WideBand (UWB) to be found and identified over various distances; the vast size of its iPhone network and the Apple FindMy network are superior to competitors’ Finding Networks.

Let’s remember that AirTag uses a CR2032 coin cell battery, which determines its size and the likely size of its replacement. To be clear, FindMy chips are tiny and 3rd parties have incorporated them into plastic the size of credit cards and even into bike power meters, making them hard to find by thieves. The AirTag has its current size only because it has to accommodate the battery.

Apple AirTag – History

Let’s briefly look at the history. This hints at Apple’s next steps for AirTag 2.

• Launched: 20 April 2021.
• Firmware: updates to the software inside AirTag
  • 3 June 2021 – changes the period when it plays a sound when separated from the owner
  • 26 April 2022 – Changed the sound to identify an unknown AirTag
  • 10 November 2022 – anti-stalking measure to identify an unknown AirTag travelling with you by using Precision finding
• Software: updates to FindMy Accessory capabilities on your iPhone
  • December 2021: “Tracker Detect” app added for Android. AirTag recovery aided by Android phone owners.
  • March 2023: Enhanced Precision Finding capabilities on U1-enabled iPhones
  • AirTag sharing with up to 5 people was added to iOS 17.
  • iOS 18.2 (currently beta) shares a FindMy AirTag link with airlines or police. Likely Q1.2025 public release.

The clear trend is that Apple wants to maximise its FindMy network size and capability without compromising security. It actively wants to eradicate stalking and illegal activities wherever possible but wants to make legitimate finding as easy as possible with whoever is best placed to find your AirTag

Apple AirTag – Relevant Tech Details

• AirTag 1 uses a Bluetooth Low energy setup in Bluetooth 5.0
• AirTag 1 does not use the S=2 or S=8 coding schemes with Low Energy Coded Physical Layer (LE Coded PHY). This omission conserves energy at the expense of range.

I’ll try to put some context to that important techy gobbledegook!

Changes to Bluetooth 5.x

At launch, Apple chose not to give AirTag its maximal range, favouring a longer battery life. Since then, the Bluetooth standard has improved, allowing increased range and new battery conservation features.

• Bluetooth 5.0 (2016) “LE Coded PHY” was introduced, enabling extended range at the expense of data throughput. The range can be 240 meters outdoors and 40 meters indoors.
• Bluetooth 5.3 (2021) optimizes the “LE Coded PHY” for better power management and interference handling (by channel hopping).
• Bluetooth 5.3 (2021) also adds direction-finding (Angle of Arrival and Angle of Departure), improving location accuracy.
• Bluetooth 5.4 (2023) adds optimizations for IoT devices and broadcast capabilities.

Apple’s Stalking Problems

How should Apple know if your Airtag is used legitimately or for stalking?

The difficulties are worsened by cunning actors removing the speaker, making a well-hidden AirTag nearly impossible to find.

Apple AirTag 2

Putting all that together, the potential for improvements in Apple AirTags is relatively limited, mostly centring around improved finding performance and increased anti-stalking abilities.

• Size – The size and format will be identical or similar.
  • A CR2032 battery will still power it, so its size will be slightly larger than a CR2032.
  • Apple could sell new size formats like credit cards. I doubt it. 3rd parties will continue to incorporate the FindMy chip in their products – e.g. NOMAD and 4iiii.
• Bluetooth Low Energy – will be updated to either 5.3 or 5.4
  • Discovery: 240m outdoor ranges might be possible
  • Discovery: Improved indoor ranges might be possible with your iPhone
  • Discovery: Leverage Apple’s new UWB 2 abilities
  • Discovery: Smart home devices using Thread/Matter may also leverage the directional finding of AirTag 2 devices.
• Components & Efficiency Improvements
  • New iterations of tech tend to use slightly more energy-efficient hardware components. When combined with the Bluetooth improvements above, modest improvements in the battery life of AirTag 2 over AirTag 2 might exist.
  • Apple will make it impossible for nefarious actors to remove AirTag’s speakers.
• Sharing
  • Any improvements to sharing abilities will occur on the iPhone, not inside the AirTag. AirTag 2 will have no new sharing abilities unless Apple restricts the availability of new features to AirTag 2.
•  Customisation
  • Expect more personalisation of AirTag features, such as the sounds they play when lost or the icon that Apple will engrave when you buy one.
• Appearance in FindMy
  • Hope for greater precision showing the location of your AirTag in your home in the FindMy (Accessory) section of iOS.
• Expect AirTag to be findable with a 3D location in Apple Vision headsets.

Timing

The first generation was released in April alongside TV 4K…a new TV 4K is also overdue!

A new format HomePod is rumoured for mid-2025.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple aims to release a second generation AirTag 2 in mid-2025, code-named B589.

Take Out

AirTag 2 will remain a visually similar product whose only improvements reduce its ability to be used as a stalking device while updating Bluetooth and UWB capabilities to become a better-performing finding device.

There will be minimal benefits waiting for a new version.

1st gen Singles: $29 MSRP, £25 rrp or Eu29

1st Gen 4-Pack: $99, £85 or Eu99

Often discounted. Free engraving from Apple