The Apple Watch Series 6 can find family and friends, and its U1 chip supports UWB, but can it locate AirTags, devices, and other items?
Apple‘s new AirTag makes it easy to locate misplaced items with an iPhone, raising the question of which other devices can find these location beacons and, more specifically, whether an Apple Watch can be used to track down keys, bags, and other lost things that have been tagged. After all, the Apple Watch can find friends and family that carry an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Apple’s Find My network covers most parts of the world, working in the background on approximately one billion iPhone devices worldwide to locate people and items. This happens anonymously and uses end-to-end encryption, so location and identity are secure even from Apple. Only the user of the device that is searching can know the location that is revealed and this is only possible with devices they own or when allowed by friends or family. The Find My network may be the best and most secure tracking solution currently available.
An AirTag can be found with remarkable accuracy when searching with a compatible device that has ultra-wideband (UWB) capability. That includes the iPhone 11 and 12. This allows a range and heading to appear on the smartphone’s display pointing directly to the AirTag, even identifying when it’s on another floor. The Apple Watch Series 6 contains an Apple U1 chip, the same as used in the newer iPhone models. While this should allow it to communicate via UWB, Apple hasn’t made this available for locating an AirTag. The Apple Watch SE and previous Apple Watch models don’t have the U1 chip, but do have Bluetooth capability. Other mobile Apple devices, like the iPad and iPod Touch, can ping an AirTag via Bluetooth, causing it to make a cheerful chirping sound to aid in locating it, but the Apple Watch cannot.
What Can An Apple Watch Find?
The Apple Watch has a built-in app that enables locating friends and family, the Find People app. Who can be found is limited to those that have location sharing enabled and that have shared their location with you. With Family Sharing, location sharing is on by default although it can be controlled by the device owner. Only an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch can be used to identify where a person is located when searching with an Apple Watch, but the location of any Apple mobile device can be found, including an Apple Watch, when searching via the full Find My app that is available on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. This is a bit of a surprising limitation from Apple, considering there are Apple Watch models that have cellular capability and GPS has been included since Series 2.
The good news is that the next version of watchOS will have the Find My app and will gain the ability to locate items and devices, as well as, retaining the people-finding skill that it was limited to before. watchOS 8 will be released later this year and a public beta will be available in the next few weeks. It isn’t clear whether Apple will enable using the Apple Watch as a location source. Currently, sharing a location from any device uses the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch that is selected as ‘My Location’ in the Settings app. The bottom line is that an Apple Watch cannot be used to find an item, but later this year that capability will be added via a software update to watchOS 8.
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Source: 24baze
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