How do I remove my Airtags without an Apple device?

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Level 1

9 points

How do I remove my Airtags without an Apple device?

Firstly, Airtags are excellent which is why I want to solve this issue.

I used to have an iPad and purchased a set of Airtags. One was given to my daughter (iPhone) and I registered the other three to my Apple ID. I no longer have the iPad but I forgot to remove the Airtags from my account before it was gone. I now have an Android tablet and can easily access my Apple iCloud account but when I select Find My and enter my password it tells me that there are No Devices and that I need to do this on an Apple device.

Q1. Is there a way to access my Apple account and remove my Airtags without having an Apple device?

Q2. Can I access my account on my daughter's iPhone, remove the tags and then have her log back in to her account?

I would really appreciate any help that you can give. Many thanks.

Posted on Jul 17, 2023 12:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Chattanoogan

Level 7

25,628 points

Jul 17, 2023 1:33 AM in response to crashbarrier

Air tags are sorta tricky to explain, so please bear w/ this somewhat lengthy explanation / answer:

1) They are indeed registered to your AppleID but they are not seen as “Devices” on your AppleID.

2) They are seen ONLY as “Items” in FindMy on your Trusted Devices.

3) They can NOT be viewed in “FindMy Online” ( at https://icloud.com/find )

4) They can only be Added or Removed using FindMy on a Trusted Device.

5) If the AirTag is not in the immediate presence of the “Removing Device” when it’s removed from FindMy … the AirTag will subsequently need to be reset before it can be re-paired.

So … direct answers to your Qs:

A1) No

A2) A Heavily Caveated Yes. Doing so would require 1) Completely erasing your daughter from HER phone 2) Making the phone “yours” 3) Removing the Airtags from your AppleID, 4) Completely erasing YOU from her phone, and 5) Restoring “her” account to her phone from a backup.

I would NOT recommend this course of action for an “in-service” iPhone for this relatively “small” matter

= = = = =

There are changes coming in iOS 17 to enable AirTag sharing.

There might be changes to the AirTag management capabilities described above.

We honestly don’t know anything beyond what is briefly sketched-out here:

iOS 17 makes iPhone more personal and intuitive - Apple

Hope all this helps.

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Answer 2

crashbarrier Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 17, 2023 1:47 AM in response to Chattanoogan

Hi Chattanoogan,

Thank you for such a comprehensive reply. Based on what you have said rather than risking life and limb messing with my daughter's phone I will pay a visit to an Apple store and, if I can, log into my account on a device there, do what I have to do and then log out/remove my details from the machine. I'll ask one of the assistants to help me do this.

Thanks once again.

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Answer 3

Jul 17, 2023 2:42 AM in response to crashbarrier

Sounds like a reasonable plan:

Do be aware that the borrowed device will need to be FULLY setup as YOUR device AND fully “wiped” afterward.

This might require some “kind and gentle coaxing” on your part w/ the staff.

Additionally, presumably your ‘droid (or other readily-reachable number) is set as a “Trusted Number” to allow receipt of the required SMS 2FA Verification Code ???

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