Apple also wants airlines to avoid losing your luggage. On Monday, the tech giant announced it’s partnering with several airlines to provide its “Find My” and AirTag technology on checked baggage.
Dubbed Share Item Location, the new iOS feature will help users locate and recover misplaced items by easily and securely sharing the location of an AirTag or Find My network accessory with third parties such as airlines.
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Users will be able to generate a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their Apple devices. Recipients will be directed to a website that will show the location of the item on an automatically updated map.
The shared location will be disabled as soon as a user is reunited with their item. It can also be stopped by the owner at any time. The shared location will automatically expire after seven days. Additionally, access to each link will be limited to a small number of people, and recipients will be required to authenticate to view the link.
“The Find My network and AirTag have proven to be a powerful combination for users while traveling, providing invaluable location information when bags have been misplaced or mishandled,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, said. “With Share Item Location, we’re excited to give users a new way to easily share this information directly with third parties like airlines, all while protecting their privacy.”
WhICH Airlines Will Participate?
More than 15 global airlines will begin accepting Find My item locations as part of their customer service process for locating mishandled or delayed bags in the coming months. Aer Lingus, Air Canada, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Qantas, United, and Virgin Atlantic are among the airlines signed on for the service. More airlines will be added over time.
Additionally, SITA, a leader in air transport technology, will build support for Share Item Location into WorldTracer, the baggage-tracing system used by over 500 airlines and ground handlers at more than 2,800 airports around the world.
“We’ve worked closely with Apple to incorporate Share Item Location into our baggage recovery process and are excited to make this feature available to our customers soon,” David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer, said. “We know many of our customers are already traveling with AirTag in their checked bags, and this feature will soon make it easier for them to share location information with us safely and securely, helping our customer service agents work more efficiently and giving our customers added peace of mind. We plan to accept Find My item locations in select airports initially, with the goal of introducing the service systemwide in early 2025.”
The feature is currently available worldwide in the beta version of iOS 18.2. It will soon be released as a free software update for users with an iPhone X or later.
