How to reset your AirTag

May 13, 2024

If you do it right, it's a simple process

The Find My network is one of the biggest perks of the Apple ecosystem. With it, you can track the last known location of practically all of your Apple products. You can quickly and easily see on a map where your iPhone, AirPods Pro, or Apple Watch is, often in real time, and for tracking anything else, you can set up an Apple AirTag.

But while Apple gear like a Mac or an iPad is easy to factory reset if you want to sell or recycle it, AirTags, having no buttons or touchscreen, aren't so cut and dry. There are a couple of ways to reset an AirTag, though one is simpler than the other. Here's how.

If you have a compatible Apple device handy and it's signed in to the same Apple ID as the AirTag you're looking to reset, resetting your AirTag is a simple operation.

Apple Support notes that you can only complete these steps from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. It isn't possible to reset an AirTag from the macOS Find My app or the Find My web interface accessible at icloud.com. The screenshots in this section are from iOS, but the process looks the same on iPadOS.

Following these steps when the AirTag you want to reset isn't directly accessible to your device removes the tracker from your Apple ID but does not factory reset it. If this happened to you, follow the steps in the next section to reset your AirTag.

This process unpairs the AirTag from your Apple ID, and if the tracker is nearby and powered on, resets it to factory settings. If you removed an AirTag from your account while it wasn't nearby or purchased a used AirTag that wasn't properly reset by its previous owner, follow the steps below.

It's also possible to factory reset an AirTag using only the AirTag, but it's a longer process with more steps.

An AirTag must be removed from its associated Apple ID before it can be paired with a new account. If you're resetting your AirTag, complete the steps described in the previous section first.

Assuming the AirTag has been removed from its previous Apple ID, it's now ready to be set up again on a new account.

While AirTags and the Find My network, in general, are big reasons for Android enthusiasts to envy the Apple ecosystem, we're not entirely without alternatives. Check out our handy guide on how to find your lost Android phone, tablet, or Wear OS watch using Android's Find My Device feature. If you're still not convinced, we also have a list of things you'll hate about switching from Android to iOS. Apple might have AirTags, but at least Android has functional notifications.

Taylor was an amateur phone nerd for the better part of a decade prior to joining Android Police in 2018, where he's since authored more than a thousand articles about all things Android. Taylor serves as Gadgets Editor, and you'll see his byline on editorials, reviews, comparative buyer's guides, and technical explainers, as well as the occasional piece of breaking news. He's got soft spots for personal audio, wearable tech, smart lights, and mobile photography. There's a good chance he's carrying a Pixel phone right now. In his time away from AP, you'll probably catch Taylor hanging out with his two dogs, playing Xbox, or out shooting with his beloved Fuji X-T20. Send him memes and fan mail at [email protected].