AirTag helps Australian photographer recover over $7000 worth of stolen gear

AirTag is a cost-effective and simple way to retrieve stolen or lost items. One Australian man just found this out over the weekend as he searched for $7,000 worth of stolen photography gear.

Graham Tait, a Sydney, Australia-based photographer was traveling when over $7,000 worth of gear was taken from his car in the parking lot of his hotel.

Tait told 9News, “my car was broken into whilst we were travelling in the Flinders Ranges last night and they took a laptop bag and camera – both of which had AirTags fitted.”

For those who aren’t familiar, AirTag integrates with Apple’s Find My App. AirTags can be used to locate items that are lost or stolen by the owners of their iPhone, iPad and Mac. It debuted one year ago and has been critical in helping many Apple users find their lost items since.

Fortunately for Tait AirTags were attached to some of his items. He then opened the Find My app and found the location of his stolen gear. Fortunately, after calling police, he was able to recover everything, including a wallet, camera, laptop, and GoPro.

You can purchase an in a single-pack AirTag for $29 or a four-pack for $99. If you order from Apple, you can have the AirTag engraved with letters or an emoji for free.

AirTag’s been in the news

While there has been negative publicity about AirTag being used to stalk, Apple is taking steps against it. Recent changes have brought a privacy warning for new AirTag users. A message pops up on your device saying that AirTag is meant to track belongings, not humans, and that law enforcement can request your information tracked to your Apple ID.

Recent reports have also suggested that there may be a phantom AirTag, leading users to assume an unidentified AirTag might be among them. However, a new firmware update provides an audible alert when an unknown AirTag is on you, making it easier to find.

9to5Mac’s Take

It’s nice to see Apple users around the world get good use of their AirTags. In the case of Graham Tait, a small investment in these trackers helped him save lots of time, money, and his precious gear. This is truly what the AirTag was meant to do – track your lost or stolen items using Find My. While AirTag only debuted one year ago, it’s certainly has more improvements to make in order for this to be a perfect (and safer) tracker. AirTag’s status in a year will be fascinating to check and see what it has accomplished.

For those of you who use AirTag, how have they worked for you? Has AirTag helped you find any lost or stolen items?

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