AirTag issues

[MikeFromMesa]

This is similar to another post I saw, but enough different that I am posting it separately.

About 18 months ago I bought an AirTag to keep in my car so when I get lost being a tourist I can find my way back to the car. The problem is that I recently traded the phone in and its replacement is not an Apple phone. Given that I thought I would reset the AirTag and attach it to my wife's iPhone, but that has not worked.

I reset the AirTag but when I tried to tie it to my wife's iPhone 12 it told me it was linked to my AppleID (which is different from my wife's AppleID) and phone number, that number being from my old iPhone 12. Apple Support told me to unlink it by going into the AppleID account online, selecting devices and unlinking it, but when I did that I could not find the AirTag listed, so there was nothing to unlink. So the question is, is there some way to link the AirTag to another number? Or do I just need to buy another AirTag?

 

[IWT]

AirTag IS linked to your Apple ID.

Here is an explanation of how to change this to another Apple ID (your wife in this case).

If an item or device is connected to another Apple ID – Apple Support (UK)

If you try to set up an Apple device, such as AirPods, an item such as AirTag or another Find My network accessory, and see a message stating that it’s paired to another Apple ID, the device or item needs to be removed from that Apple ID before you can pair it with a new Apple ID. The previous...

support.apple.com

Or another way:

How to reset your AirTag – Apple Support (UK)

Find out when you need to reset your AirTag and how to do this.

support.apple.com

Ian

 

[MikeFromMesa]

AirTag IS linked to your Apple ID.

Here is an explanation of how to change this to another Apple ID (your wife in this case).

If an item or device is connected to another Apple ID – Apple Support (UK)

If you try to set up an Apple device, such as AirPods, an item such as AirTag or another Find My network accessory, and see a message stating that it’s paired to another Apple ID, the device or item needs to be removed from that Apple ID before you can pair it with a new Apple ID. The previous...

support.apple.com

Or another way:

How to reset your AirTag – Apple Support (UK)

Find out when you need to reset your AirTag and how to do this.

support.apple.com

Ian

Thanks for the links, but I already tried doing that. I have now reset the AirTag 3 times and each time tried to add it to my wife's iPhone. All 3 times it tells me that the device is linked to my old AppleID and phone number. Each time I opened my AppleID account and tried to remove it as a device, but each time I could not find it listed.

I have now checked with Apple Support twice. Yesterday they gave me the instructions you just gave me and told me that would work, although it did not. Today they told me that there is no way to link it to a new phone and I would have to buy a new AirTag.

The one really odd thing is that I have an old iPhone XR logged into the same AppleID account as my previous iPhone 12, but I can not add it to that phone either. Same problem. The AppleID is the same, but the phone number is not. I have thought about swapping out the SIM card so the old phone has the same number as is registered with the AirTag and then try to remove it from the account, but have been waiting for someone who might have a magic solution.