Your bag didn’t come off the carousel, but your tracker says it’s sitting at another airport. Until recently, that information mostly helped you, not the airline. Now both iPhone and Android let you send a live location link straight to the airline’s baggage team, which gives them something better to work with than “it’s a black roller.”
How it works on iPhone: Share Item Location
Apple added Share Item Location to the Find My app in iOS 18.2. You pick your lost AirTag (or other Find My accessory), create a link, and give it to the airline. Staff open a web map that refreshes on its own and shows when the location was last updated.
A few guardrails are built in. The link expires after seven days, it stops as soon as you’re reunited with the item, and you can turn it off anytime. Apple says people who open the link have to sign in with an Apple Account or a partner airline email, and that “access to each link will be limited to a small number of people.”
As of a January 2026 count by MacRumors, 36 airlines accept these links. US carriers on that list are American, Delta, United, JetBlue and Breeze. Southwest wasn’t on it. Airlines keep joining, so check with yours if it’s not listed.
How it works on Android: Find Hub
Google added the same idea to its Find Hub app in March 2026. You select the lost tag, tap “share item location,” and paste the link into the airline’s app or website. Like Apple’s version, the link expires after seven days, you can stop sharing anytime, and it shuts off once your phone sees the item is back with you.
The airline list is shorter for now. Google named AJet, Air India, China Airlines, the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and SWISS), Saudia, SAS and Turkish Airlines, with Qantas coming later. No big US airline was on Google’s launch list, so US flyers with Android trackers may still have to describe where the bag is the old-fashioned way.
The tracker itself
- Price: Apple sells the second-generation AirTag for $29 for one or $99 for a four-pack on its own store, as of October 2026. Retailers often discount them.
- Battery: It uses a replaceable CR2032 coin cell that Apple says lasts more than a year, and your iPhone warns you when it’s low.
- Compatibility: The second-gen AirTag needs an iPhone on iOS 26 or later.
- Checked bags: The FAA said back in 2022 that small trackers like AirTags are fine in checked luggage. The coin cell holds far less lithium than the limits for checked baggage.
What to do before your next flight
- Put the tracker inside the bag, not on a luggage tag where it can get ripped off.
- Check that it shows up in Find My or Find Hub before you leave home.
- If the bag doesn’t show up, file the report at the airport first and get your file reference number.
- Then create the location link and add it to the claim through the airline’s app, website or desk, whichever they ask for.
- Stop sharing once the bag is back, if it doesn’t shut off on its own.
Our take
If you check bags even a few times a year, a $29 tracker is one of the easiest travel buys to justify. Location sharing makes it more useful, since before this the most you could do was read coordinates to an agent over the phone.
Just keep your expectations realistic. A tracker tells you and the airline where the bag is. It doesn’t make anyone put it on the next flight any faster, and the location only updates when a nearby phone on the network picks it up. In a quiet back room, that can mean a stale ping. The real win is ending the “we’re still searching” back-and-forth when you can see the bag sitting at the transfer airport.
Who can skip it? If you fly carry-on only, a tracker matters much less, though some people still like one for a bag that gets gate-checked. Android users flying mostly on US airlines get less out of the sharing feature right now, but the tag still shows you where your bag is.
Related on Points Capital: Shred Your Boarding Pass: What the Barcode Reveals · iPhone Lockdown Mode for Travel: What It Blocks and When We Use It · Apple’s iPhone Duo Is eSIM-Only Worldwide: What International Travelers Need to Know
Sources: Apple Newsroom, MacRumors airline list (January 2026), Google: Find Hub luggage sharing, Apple AirTag, Apple Store AirTag pricing, Afar on the FAA’s AirTag guidance, Engadget on AirTag battery rules.
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