A new video puts Apple’s new AirTag tracking device up against a few competitors — and a drug detection dog.
Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern put Apple’s AirTag to the test against a few of it competitors, including the Tile Pro and the Samsung Smart Tag to see which tracking device works best for lost items over three challenges.
Stern, however, added in an x-factor to the comparison as well — a drug detecting dog.
“Attach a $29 Apple AirTag to your stuff and you can use your iPhone to locate it when it goes missing,” reads the video description. “WSJ‘s Joanna Stern put the new gadget up against a drug-detection dog and other lost-item trackers, like the Tile Pro, in a series of indoor and outdoor challenges.”
In the first challenge, Stern used a fanny pack and had someone hide it inside of her house, attaching an AirTag, Tile Pro, and a Smart Tag. In order to get the dog to search for the fanny pack, its handler inserted an artificial scent pouch inside of it. Stern found the fanny pack in a little over 5 minutes, using the Find My app to effectively locate it. She also found the fanny pack with the Tile Pro and Smart Tag, which she found to be a bit louder than the AirTag.
The dog? He found the fanny pack in one minute.
The second challenge involved hiding the same fanny pack somewhere on a street, which she went to search for from just a couple blocks away. She found the fanny pack easily using the AirTag.
The dog found the fanny pack at just about the same time as Stern.
For the final challenge, Stern attached the AirTag to the dog (to simulate a lost dog) alongside a $150 Whistle Go Explore collar, which uses cellular networks to locate a lost dog. She found it easily with the Whistle, while stating that the AirTags “held their own” due to longer battery life.
Check out the entire video above.
