As part of the iOS 18.2 public beta, Apple just introduced a big upgrade to the Find My feature that lets you share an Air Tag location with others. The new feature, called Share Item Location, could let you share the location of lost luggage with an airline.
That's great, but you'll need to remember to charge up your AirTag before traveling so you can utilize the feature.
The Share Item Location addition, which Apple revealed in a press release, will create a link with the Find My app on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. You can then share that link with someone where they can click it to pull up a map that will show the location of a missing item. You can manually turn off sharing or the link will "automatically expire after seven days."
According to Apple, if the item moves, the map will get updated and will display a timestamp from the last time the item was detected as moving.
"Find My is an essential tool for users around the world to keep track of and find their belongings,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. "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.”
According to Apple's announcement, for those who have iOS 18.2 beta access, Share Item Location is available "in most regions worldwide." However, if you have an iPhone X or later, Apple says that the update will come out "soon."
In addition to introducing the feature, Apple is teaming up with 15 airlines, including Delta, United, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada and British Airways. Apple claims that the airlines will be to "privately and securely" accept links from fliers. Supposedly "access to each link will be limited to a small number of people, and recipients will be required to authenticate in order to view the link through either their Apple Account or partner email address."
The ability to share with airlines is not immediately available, though Apple says it will launch in the "coming months." Presumably, they may want to release it for the peak holiday travel season, or Apple is waiting to get past the holidays to test the feature in the wild with less strain on the feature.
It was also announced that SITA, a baggage tracking company, will implement Share Item Location into its luggage tracking system.
