How Apple AirTags Use Strangers' iPhones to Track Locations (A System Design Breakdown)

How does a coin-sized tracker with no GPS, no SIM card, and no cellular connection find your lost keys anywhere in the world? In this video, we break down the system design behind the Apple AirTag and the Find My network, and why it works so well without any tracking hardware of its own.

We cover how nearby iPhones act as anonymous relay nodes, picking up the AirTag’s Bluetooth Low Energy signal and uploading an encrypted location to Apple without their owners ever knowing. We also look at the