How to Find AirTag With Your Android Phone

While AirTags are very useful to keep your belongings from getting lost, they can double down as quite malicious stalkers as well. So, in case you have that eerie feeling someone is stalking you, listen to your intuition and do a quick scan for stray AirTags. You can do so even if you have an Android phone. Android has a native functionality to do so, as well as a dedicated app from Apple itself to make use of. To help you out, we have listed how to find AirTags with your Android phone, so let’s begin!

Find AirTags Using Native Android Functionality

Back in Google I/O 2023 itself, the tech giant had announced that Android would be getting a native way to detect unknown trackers. We now see it on every Android device, and you can easily manually search for trackers or get alerts when one is following you. Here’s how:

Manually Scan for AirTags

• Head over to your Android phone’s Settings panel and select the Safety and emergency tab.
• Then, from here, tap on Unknown tracker alerts.

• Next, underneath the Manual scan panel, tap on the Scan now button and your Android phone will start looking for AirTags around you.
• Then, select the Apple AirTag if it shows up, and select the Play sound button. You simply have to track the location of the sound to find the AirTag, and that’s it.

During our testing, while the tracker did show up, we had a tough time getting the tracker to play sound like this. It worked the first time, after which it stopped doing it entirely. We tried it with a couple of AirTags and the problem persisted. The feature does require a bit more polish and efficiency to work as intended. Once it reaches that point, it will certainly be an absolute lifesaver.

Track AirTags Via Alerts

In addition to manually scanning for AirTags, if an AirTag follows you for quite some time after being separated from and out of its actual owner’s Bluetooth range, you will get tracker alerts. By default, we noticed that the feature is turned on.

If it isn’t, you can easily check and toggle it on from the Unknown Tracker alerts page that we mentioned in the above section. Next, when you receive a tracking alert, tap on the notification and it will show you the exact location of the AirTag on the map. Here, tap on Play Sound to locate it, and that’s it.

However, do note that these alerts only work with and detect Apple AirTags.

Find AirTags on Android Using Tracker Detect App

Apart from the native way of tracking AirTags, you can also get some third-party help. Tracker Detect (Download, free) is one of the best Android apps to do so. Besides, since it’s from Apple itself, you can take a leap of faith and not be disappointed. Once you have downloaded and installed the app from the Google Play Store, here’s how to go about it:

• As soon as you open the app, Agree with the Terms & Conditions to move on and tap on Scan on the next page.

• Then, hit Next on the next page and tap on Allow to give the app permission to detect nearby devices.
• You will be taken to the scanning page again, where you will need to hit Scan again.

• If an AirTag has been apart from its owner for over 15 minutes or so and out of the connection range, the app will detect it as an Unknown AirTag. Tap on the device(s) that show up.
• You will have a 10-minute window to Play sound and locate the AirTag. And, that’s about it.

Just like with the native method, the sound-playing functionality was glitched out for us and after a feeble beep, we didn’t hear more from the AirTag. If you do manage to find it, if your Android phone has NFC, you can learn more about the tracker by tapping on the Learn About This Item Tracker option. This will let you know the AirTag’s serial number as well as its owner’s phone number’s last four digits.

Most importantly, as soon as you find such a stray AirTag, remove its batteries to make it stop tracking you and sending data to its owner. To remove the battery, simply make the AirTag steel side up. Then, press down on it and rotate it anti-clockwise to open the metal cover and battery.

Looks like Android still has a ways to go to actually find Apple AirTags. While it can detect it, if the sound-playing functionality doesn’t work, there’s no way you will actually be able to locate it. So, the tracker alert is your best hope since you get a map view of the tracker too.

With that being said, we hope these methods work better for you than they did for us. Do let us know if it did in the comments down below. While you’re at it, if you have any further queries, drop them as well.