How to set up an AirTag with an iPhone

2 min read · 7 steps · Updated 3 October 2026

Short answer

Pull the tab out of the new AirTag and hold it next to your unlocked iPhone. Tap Connect when the animation appears, choose a name such as Keys or Backpack from the list, and tap Continue to link it to your Apple Account. After Done, the AirTag shows in the Find My app under Items.

An AirTag is a small tracker that you attach to keys, a bag or a suitcase. It has no GPS of its own. It is located through the Apple devices of other people nearby, anonymously, which is why it also works far from home and why the battery lasts about a year.

Menu names are from recent versions of iOS.

Step by step

  1. Check the iPhone

    The iPhone needs a current iOS version, Bluetooth and Location Services switched on, Find My turned on, and two-factor authentication for your Apple Account. The second-generation AirTag needs a recent iOS version.

  2. Activate the AirTag

    Take off the wrap and pull out the plastic tab, which connects the battery. The AirTag plays a short sound.

  3. Hold it near the iPhone

    Unlock the iPhone and hold the AirTag beside it. A setup card appears. Tap Connect.

  4. Name it

    Choose a name from the list, such as Keys, Wallet or Luggage, or tap Custom Name to type your own and pick an emoji. Tap Continue.

  5. Link it to your account

    Tap Agree or Continue to register the AirTag to your Apple Account, then tap Done. It can only be linked to one account at a time.

  6. Find it

    Open the Find My app and tap Items. Tap the AirTag to see it on the map, play a sound, or use Find, which on recent iPhones points you to it with an arrow when it is close.

  7. Turn on the useful extras

    In the same screen, switch on Notify When Left Behind to be warned when you walk away from the item. Lost Mode lets you leave a phone number that a finder can read by holding a phone to the AirTag. You can also share the AirTag with family members.

Good to know

If the setup card vanishes: press the side button to put the iPhone to sleep, wake and unlock it, and wait about 15 seconds near the AirTag.

If it will not connect at all, the battery may be flat. It is a standard CR2032 coin cell: press and twist the steel cover to open it. Some cells with a bitter child-safety coating do not make contact.

One Apple Account can hold up to 32 items in Find My.

AirTags are for finding things, not for tracking people. iPhones and Android phones warn their owners when an unknown AirTag travels with them: AirTag found moving with you: what the alert means and what to do.

Related: how to find a lost iPhone and how to find lost AirPods with Find My.

In short: Pull the tab, hold the AirTag next to the unlocked iPhone, Connect, choose a name, Continue, Done. Then Find My, Items. Turn on Notify When Left Behind.

Sources
  • Apple Support: How to add an AirTag to Find My (101602)

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