AirTag vs a real GPS tracker for someone with dementia

It makes sense. An AirTag is inexpensive, has no monthly fee, the battery lasts a long time, and if you already have an iPhone it takes a minute to set up. Slip it into a wallet, a coat or a handbag and you can see it on a map. Plenty of caregivers have done exactly this, and some have found a parent with it.

The trouble is what happens on the day it matters most.

An AirTag contains no GPS receiver and no cellular radio. It never works out where it is. It sends out a Bluetooth signal, and when another Apple device happens to pass close enough to hear it, that device reports its own approximate location to you.^[1],[2]

That means:

• There is no guaranteed update schedule. A new location only appears when someone else’s Apple device goes by.
• Quiet places are weak spots. A busy mall or downtown street will usually update often. A ravine, a field, a trail or a pond at the edge of town might not update at all.
• You may only see where it was. When the network is not detecting an item, Find My shows a last known location, and after a while shows “No location found.”^[2]

Now think about where people with dementia tend to end up. The Alzheimer’s Association says many are found within 1.5 miles of where they disappeared.^[3] Researchers who interviewed Ontario police describe people with dementia as tending to keep going until they get stuck, and being found in places other lost people avoid, such as near water, in marshes, wooded areas and bushes.^[4] Those are exactly the places where there may be no passing iPhone to report an AirTag.

After AirTags were misused for stalking, Apple designed them to be discovered. Apple’s own words are that AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people.^[1]

In practice, that means:

• Other people can be alerted. If an AirTag separated from its owner is moving with someone, their iPhone, and since 2024 their Android phone, can warn them.^[5],[6]
• It can make a sound. An AirTag separated from its owner for a period of time plays a sound when moved.^[6]
• It can be found and switched off. Someone who gets an alert can play a sound, find the tag and follow instructions to disable it.^[7]

For someone living with dementia, the most likely person to get that alert is your parent, on their own phone, and a message saying an unknown AirTag is following them can be frightening and confusing. There is a partial fix. If you share the AirTag with your parent’s Apple Account through Find My, Apple says tracking notifications are turned off for the people it is shared with.^[8] It does not change how the AirTag finds its location, and it does not stop alerts to other people nearby.

Any tracking of an adult raises a real question: does the person know, and do they agree? Where you can, talk about location sharing early, while your parent can take part in the decision, and frame it as a way to keep walking and going out safely. Many people living with dementia accept a watch or a pendant as part of their routine far more readily than a device that was hidden from them. An AirTag hidden in a coat lining solves neither problem well.

A dedicated GPS tracker, or a phone or smartwatch with location sharing, works differently:

• It works out its own position using satellites, so it does not rely on strangers walking by.
• It reports on its own over a cellular connection, anywhere there is coverage.
• It can alert you when your person leaves a safe area you have set, such as home or a day program, instead of waiting for you to check.
• Some add safety features like an SOS button, two-way calling or fall detection.

The costs are real too. Most need a monthly plan, they have to be charged, and they only help if your person wears them. The Alzheimer’s Association reminds families that no location tracking system is 100% accurate, some struggle indoors, and tracking is not the same as having a companion.^[9]

If your parent already carries an iPhone or Android phone every day, turning on location sharing with family is often the simplest first step. If they do not, a cellular smartwatch can work. Apple, for example, lets a family member without their own iPhone share location through a cellular Apple Watch set up on your account.^[10] A dedicated tracker suits people who will not reliably carry a phone or wear a watch.

An AirTag is still good at what it was built for. Clip one to keys, put one in a wallet or handbag that often goes missing, or keep one in the car. As a backup alongside a real tracker, it adds another way to find belongings. It just should not be the only thing standing between your parent and a long, cold search.

For the child version of this question, see can you use an AirTag to track a child who wanders?, and for the wider plan, dementia wandering: how to keep a loved one safe.