New ‘Items’ Tab in iOS 13’s Find My App for Apple Tags Detailed

BY Smidh

Published 20 Sep 2019

Screenshots of “Items” tab in Apple’s Find My app in iOS 13 has been published by MacRumors. The new tab is meant for Apple Tags, a Tile-like tracker on which the company is working on.

Right now, the Find My app has “People” and “Devices” tab and once Apple Tags is announced and released, a new “Items” tab will join the list. It will replace the “Me” tab which will then be shown as an avatar on the map.

Find My Items Tab in iOS 13

From the “Items” tab, users will be able to add ‘B389,’ the internal codename for Apple Tags and use it to keep track of their everyday items. Whenever a tile goes out of the range of the iPhone, the Find My app will send a notification to users informing them about it. They can then tap a button in the app which will lead the tracker to start chiming.

If that does not work and one is still unable to find the tracker, it can then be put into Lost Mode. Then, whenever another iPhone user goes near that tag, they will be shown the contact information of that item owner. The location information of the tag will also be relayed to the original owner of the tag.

Apple will also make use of ARKit for setting up Apple Tags, though it is unclear how. One of the strings in iOS 13 reads “Walk around several feet and move your iPhone up and down until a balloon comes into view” which adds credence to this rumor.

Apple was expected to announce Apple Tags at its iPhone event last week but that did not happen. The company will now likely announce the tags at a separate media event in October where it is also expected to showcase the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. The tags will make use of Ultra Wideband technology and will offer advance location tracking functionality for iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro users as it comes with Apple’s new U1 chip.

[Via MacRumors]