For me keeping the sound function is a must. I was able to get the thickness down to 4.9mm while keeping the speaker functional by trimming the edge of the white shell away, leaving the glue and the back side of the shell intact. I then removed the magnet driver from the inner plastic battery compartment, dropped the driver into the coil cavity and put a pice of electrical tape over it to hold it in place. Then using a CR2016 battery instead of CR2032, I taped the battery into place using the original contacts, then kept taping to hold everything together. It's a compromise for sure, shorter battery life and significantly thicker than the card configuration. But it's 3mm thinner than the original and no soldering or 3D printing necessary. This fits nicely into the coin compartment of my wallet (I live in Europe so coins are a fact of life), and isn't much thicker than Euro coins. Works great!
This was brilliant. Apple needs to take what you did, probably can make it even a bit thinner and sell it. They also need to then write you a big check.
Why would they write him a check? As if the idea of a wallet sized tracker doesnt exist. There's several on the market, including Tile. Apple wanted to stick with 1 form factor for launch for simplicity, they may have more in the future but that will have nothing to do with this guy's video.
@@c.m.7037- Absolutely. Apples’ engineers will already have been working on credit card depth AirTag PCB’s and rechargeable rectangular batteries in a CC-sized housing with slim lightning connectors. Definitely guaranteed! Personally, I need the CC form factor to for sliding undetected (apart from x-ray), into my luggage case surround (travelling abroad soon), and into a third party laptops’ interior.
I wondered about this sort of arrangement so it's great to see someone with more skills than I have actually do it! I hope Apple offers this factor soon.
Great engineering and a “let’s see if this can be done” attitude is how there are improvements in society. And then again, attaching a tether between the wallet and the trousers can also prevent losing the wallet.
Your video made it possible for me to make my own AirTag card. But I used few of my old membership cards as my outer layer and made it a real sleek design. Thanks a lot for the demonstration. Without this video my AirTag card would not be here with me.
Thank you everyone for watching, commenting and sharing. I'm just starting out on UA-cam so your support is so appreciated and means a lot! If you have a moment to like this video and subscribe, that would help me out alot as well. Thank you! P.S. I've received quite a few comments asking about the speaker. Because the original sound was largely amplified by the actual casing of the Airtag, replacing that with the card version has inevitably resulted in a quieter volume. It is definitely something to keep in mind for future iterations and if you try this out yourself. Edit: I have uploaded an updated version of the Airtag card: ua-cam.com/video/Dze4L1YuJYA/v-deo.html
No it might be because this whole vid is pointless because you can just buy a tile tracker that is better then wasting your money making a tracker that will just break if a drop of water lands on it
@@billyherrington6663 You can, but he didn’t. Tile is limited by the number of current active users, Apple has a clear advantage with the number of potential detection devices.
I disliked it because majority of the video was out focus and it annoyed me so much. I really liked the idea but man at least check what you're filming.
@@IAmZen_007 I know but he does not seem a newbie in filmmaking, so I expect a decent video. I still appreciate the idea but not the execution. You know what I won't like the video but I'll remove the dislike.
Instead of soldering to the board, you could make a press fit connector. I haven't done it since EE lab, but it shouldn't add much depth, and it would simplify the process.
What would be neat is an extended life battery case...holds a larger coin cell or cylinder shaped 3V cell for 7-10 year life as an asset tracker. The airtag electronic half inserts on the end of the now larger plastic battery housing half.
An interesting thought here. You don't *have* to use a CR2032 in this. You could for instance use a CR3032 battery and get double the capacity. Should last 2 years without needing to change the battery.
@@kingheeraYes. The diameter or radius (can’t remember) of a 2032 is indicated in the ‘20,’ and in the 3032 it’s a ‘30.’ Area of a circle scales by the square of its radius. 2^2 = 4; 3^2 = 9. So you get an increase of 9/4 = 2.25 in total power. Worked at a battery store and it’s now inextricable from my brain. (The fact, not the battery. My brain does not have a battery in it. Yet.)
This was an amazing video! Pls keep doing more! This was such a smart idea and surprisingly relatively easy comparing to other products from Apple. You got my subscribe!
The quickest way to make it a bit thinner is just getting rid of the metal part and using tape to hold the battery in place. Also if anyone technically inclined knows if it is possible do deactivate the feature that allows other people to disable my own airtag I would love to know how. Maybe desoldering the nfc coil or something. Its ok if the step also prevents me from acessing the airtag after setup since when its set up I dont need to acess it again. Of course public tracking and finding should still be possible so disableing the bluetooth module is probably not an option.
You could do a cruder version and just encase everything between two sheets of duct tape. That would be the thinnest and most flexible wallet-friendly solution, it doesn't have to look friendly. I'm gonna give it a shot. Thanks for the idea!
I watched your video; GREAT job man, very impressive! For this same reason, I bought a Tile Slim for my Wallet! I imagine sooner or later Apple will come out with a wallet version based on demand!
such a good video but your camera autofocusing constantly drove my eyes FREAKING INSANE please fix it because it makes your video so hard to watch even though I really wanted to see. BTW I would round the edges of the card in a future iteration.
Andrew, could you please also create a shutter release button for the iPhone? It could be very small, attach itself magnetically to the back of the iPhone, work through the Bluetooth, and make taking pictures hundred times easier!
Super idea, really like this video. Good for today's version of Airtag. Next version, I hope Apple do not overglue the device that it cause damage why prying out. However, Apple MUST rethink the design to make it thinner. By the time Apple come out with "version 2", the original one will become a collector's/hacker's item.
@@cjc8434 The difference between us, “bro” is that I have manners, and also thirty years of electronics manufacturing and servicing industry experience under my belt, in both consumer and military fields. No need to be so aggressive, it highlights your immaturity and lack of professionalism.
Manual focus next time? What is the copper ring that got left behind on the plastic case? Should have soldered red to the side of the battery to keep it thin.
Beautiful. But, of course, there is no sound, because you left the copper coil in the AirTag's original case (at about time index 4:00). How hard would it be (I really don't know) to remove this coil without damaging it and attaching it to a back-plate (maybe just a thin sheet of plastic) on your enclosure in order to get sound working?
Hi Shamino0, thanks for comment. So the coil is actually quite hard to remove because it is attached using some adhesive such as CA glue and the heat gun didn’t really help a lot (maybe increasing the temperature would help but I didn’t try). Thank you for this suggestion! It would be an interesting idea to attempt to recover the tweeter capability like you said by attaching the coil to a thin piece of plastic. I might actually give this a try!
One person publishing a UA-cam video does not mean NO ONE else thought of something so blindingly obvious. He’s not discovered particle physics my friend. This is basic stuff.
Certainly a very marketable idea! People want to track things that are flat - wallets as in your demo, but even ID tags, Tablets, Phones! (Yeah, I know, but have a fiend who is always leaving his phone behind - login to Find My on any iPad or computer and see where it is!). So yes, an….AirCard? AirBadge? aIrD? :-) I’d buy it!!!
Cool process, but it sure looks like the way the battery nests, the battery itself adds very little thickness. Considering that your new case doesn’t really have anything but tape on the outside, that accounts for almost 100% of the difference in thickness. You don’t need to put the battery and AirTag side-by-side - just print a different case. Then you will have an equally thin but much smaller AirTag.
Nice work. Why not just leave the pcb and the speaker coil in the case and just wire the battery on the side. The plastic part of the case measures 5.2mm without modification and you don't need to worry about insulation of the pcb...If you wanted to slim the plastic case further, you could just sand down the battery side of the case. Either way I would add some filets or chamfers on the outer edge of the 3d print to reduce the ridge effect on the leather.
The NFC antenna is real easy to break. Be careful when applying heat and lifting board out. Anybody got any ideas on how to encase the board and battery side by side. I'm thinking just soak into an epoxy card
@@TheiTE Apple drives the speaker with a magnet and coil. So it probably won’t drive a piezoelectric beeper. But those are super thin if you can figure out how to drive it.
@@TheiTE a piezoelectric beeper is a very flat self contained beeper. If you could convert the signal being sent to the voice coil instead to drive a beeper it could work. But it could be hard since the audio is not what a beeper wants to turn it on. Something like this 10PCS 35mm Piezo Elements Buzzer Sounder Sensor Trigger Drum Disc www.amazon.com/dp/B073RK8KM3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_BZ90APTCBRB35ZM6BTKR. But again. I have no idea if it would work or how it would affect battery.
Hi Miendo, I don’t think it’s a dumb question as I’m sure the Apple designers have thought through different designs before landing on this one. But my guess is that with the stacking of the battery and the board, they can achieve the size that will be suitable for most use cases (keychain, lanyard, backpack). And maybe the Airtag being a circle complies to their design language (look at their Apple campus).
Came here from 9to5Mac. Hope you start getting some ad revenue. You deserve it
I think not yet, only when he hit 1000 subscribers, here you have a new one
Sadly the channel seems too new, but hopefully soon on other projects. I subscribed.
For me keeping the sound function is a must. I was able to get the thickness down to 4.9mm while keeping the speaker functional by trimming the edge of the white shell away, leaving the glue and the back side of the shell intact. I then removed the magnet driver from the inner plastic battery compartment, dropped the driver into the coil cavity and put a pice of electrical tape over it to hold it in place. Then using a CR2016 battery instead of CR2032, I taped the battery into place using the original contacts, then kept taping to hold everything together. It's a compromise for sure, shorter battery life and significantly thicker than the card configuration. But it's 3mm thinner than the original and no soldering or 3D printing necessary. This fits nicely into the coin compartment of my wallet (I live in Europe so coins are a fact of life), and isn't much thicker than Euro coins. Works great!
This was brilliant. Apple needs to take what you did, probably can make it even a bit thinner and sell it. They also need to then write you a big check.
Why would they write him a check? As if the idea of a wallet sized tracker doesnt exist. There's several on the market, including Tile. Apple wanted to stick with 1 form factor for launch for simplicity, they may have more in the future but that will have nothing to do with this guy's video.
They have already have thought of it. Guaranteed.
@@c.m.7037- Absolutely. Apples’ engineers will already have been working on credit card depth AirTag PCB’s and rechargeable rectangular batteries in a CC-sized housing with slim lightning connectors.
Definitely guaranteed!
Personally, I need the CC form factor to for sliding undetected (apart from x-ray), into my luggage case surround (travelling abroad soon), and into a third party laptops’ interior.
@@c.m.7037 yeah im pretty sure, especially if they want to prevail over tile
Yes, they should write him a check for their own patented technology, that they manufactured and designed.
i loved the cr2032 acronym explanation
If he soldered a tiny speaker driver to the modified AirTag it is going to be perfect.
no need to, just heat from the back and pull up the copper coil, carefully not to rip the connections to the board and you can keep a working speaker
You :- I didn't break anything 😂,
Me:- i break everything when I open anything
He broke the speaker though.
then the product ends up being called ibreak
I didn’t break anything except the speaker
Hehehehehe🤣😂🤣
This video is about to blow up isn't it. Just got here from a techcrunch article.
Oh really? Can you post the link here?
@@andrewngai5215 techcrunch.com/2021/05/06/someone-already-turned-apples-airtag-into-a-slim-wallet-friendly-card/
I wondered about this sort of arrangement so it's great to see someone with more skills than I have actually do it! I hope Apple offers this factor soon.
Rollingsquare had an aircard up coming for presale end of Feb
You did exactly what I wanted to do but didn’t have the skill set to make! Good work
Just buy a card sized tracker from tile then they cost £25 and you don’t need to diy and waste time
@@billyherrington6663 Tile’s suck
@@theogeo14 ye and so does this shit this guy made
@@theogeo14 not when you have a bathroom that needs renovating.
Great engineering and a “let’s see if this can be done” attitude is how there are improvements in society. And then again, attaching a tether between the wallet and the trousers can also prevent losing the wallet.
Your video made it possible for me to make my own AirTag card. But I used few of my old membership cards as my outer layer and made it a real sleek design. Thanks a lot for the demonstration. Without this video my AirTag card would not be here with me.
This chanel is new for me and its already on my favorites list! Great work! Can't wait to see more videos :)
Thanks for the reply!
Thank you everyone for watching, commenting and sharing. I'm just starting out on UA-cam so your support is so appreciated and means a lot! If you have a moment to like this video and subscribe, that would help me out alot as well. Thank you!
P.S. I've received quite a few comments asking about the speaker. Because the original sound was largely amplified by the actual casing of the Airtag, replacing that with the card version has inevitably resulted in a quieter volume. It is definitely something to keep in mind for future iterations and if you try this out yourself.
Edit: I have uploaded an updated version of the Airtag card:
ua-cam.com/video/Dze4L1YuJYA/v-deo.html
Good job Andrew! You made the end product practical juxtaposed to the original wrt wallets ; )
Awesome work!
Andrew, good job. I think the metal circular plate is part of the speaker used to amplify the sound.
Would you be willing to sell this?
Would be nice to connect it to the right solar panel. I'm curious if it loose battery, due to cloud, when it comes back up, is it trackable?
Replacing the battery with a 2025 or 2016 versions might help, as they are 2.5mm and 1.6mm thickness respectively... may not last as long though.
And carry spare batteries in the wallet or in your bag.
you can put multiple of them in parallel, since there is plenty of space on a card.
The people who have given a negative thumb is purely out of jealousy because they can't do it themselves 🤫 Well done!
No it might be because this whole vid is pointless because you can just buy a tile tracker that is better then wasting your money making a tracker that will just break if a drop of water lands on it
@@billyherrington6663 You can, but he didn’t. Tile is limited by the number of current active users, Apple has a clear advantage with the number of potential detection devices.
I disliked it because majority of the video was out focus and it annoyed me so much. I really liked the idea but man at least check what you're filming.
@@NanoMine Sometimes the focus was not 100%, but this is no reason for me to dislike. It's the idea that counts.
@@IAmZen_007 I know but he does not seem a newbie in filmmaking, so I expect a decent video. I still appreciate the idea but not the execution. You know what I won't like the video but I'll remove the dislike.
"Hope I didn't break anything" - I'm a tinkerer as well. I felt this in my soul. Great idea and great video! Thank you!!
Great! Now all I need is an Airtag, knowledge about electronics, pliers, and a 3D printer.
This is fantastic and gutsy effort. This makes more sense than the thicker airtag.
Instead of soldering to the board, you could make a press fit connector. I haven't done it since EE lab, but it shouldn't add much depth, and it would simplify the process.
What would be neat is an extended life battery case...holds a larger coin cell or cylinder shaped 3V cell for 7-10 year life as an asset tracker. The airtag electronic half inserts on the end of the now larger plastic battery housing half.
Use thinner wires it's a must. I think you need to unsolder the coil terminals first. That metal core needs to be assembled with the coil to.
An interesting thought here. You don't *have* to use a CR2032 in this. You could for instance use a CR3032 battery and get double the capacity. Should last 2 years without needing to change the battery.
wait really????
@@kingheeraYes. The diameter or radius (can’t remember) of a 2032 is indicated in the ‘20,’ and in the 3032 it’s a ‘30.’ Area of a circle scales by the square of its radius. 2^2 = 4; 3^2 = 9. So you get an increase of 9/4 = 2.25 in total power. Worked at a battery store and it’s now inextricable from my brain. (The fact, not the battery. My brain does not have a battery in it. Yet.)
@@chud-dot-us-dot-gov oh wow thank you!
This was an amazing video! Pls keep doing more! This was such a smart idea and surprisingly relatively easy comparing to other products from Apple. You got my subscribe!
You should build more of these and sell them for $40 each! Ik I’d buy one
The quickest way to make it a bit thinner is just getting rid of the metal part and using tape to hold the battery in place.
Also if anyone technically inclined knows if it is possible do deactivate the feature that allows other people to disable my own airtag I would love to know how. Maybe desoldering the nfc coil or something. Its ok if the step also prevents me from acessing the airtag after setup since when its set up I dont need to acess it again. Of course public tracking and finding should still be possible so disableing the bluetooth module is probably not an option.
You could do a cruder version and just encase everything between two sheets of duct tape. That would be the thinnest and most flexible wallet-friendly solution, it doesn't have to look friendly. I'm gonna give it a shot. Thanks for the idea!
Great idea! You made it into a really cool unique device, no one else will have one of thoes!
I watched your video; GREAT job man, very impressive! For this same reason, I bought a Tile Slim for my Wallet! I imagine sooner or later Apple will come out with a wallet version based on demand!
i think this the born of new big channel
well, I am quite nervous now
such a good video but your camera autofocusing constantly drove my eyes FREAKING INSANE please fix it because it makes your video so hard to watch even though I really wanted to see. BTW I would round the edges of the card in a future iteration.
Andrew, could you please also create a shutter release button for the iPhone? It could be very small, attach itself magnetically to the back of the iPhone, work through the Bluetooth, and make taking pictures hundred times easier!
Super idea, really like this video. Good for today's version of Airtag. Next version, I hope Apple do not overglue the device that it cause damage why prying out. However, Apple MUST rethink the design to make it thinner. By the time Apple come out with "version 2", the original one will become a collector's/hacker's item.
Well done! Thank you for the How-To.
Wow great work! I need to learn how to solder now.
Awesome video and process break down!
I would PAY you to make me one of these (SERIOUSLY)
I’ll make it for you
SAME
Send me as many AirTags as you want converting - my fee is £30 per tag.
@@unlokia bro i was First and my fee is 20 bucks so go away
@@cjc8434 The difference between us, “bro” is that I have manners, and also thirty years of electronics manufacturing and servicing industry experience under my belt, in both consumer and military fields.
No need to be so aggressive, it highlights your immaturity and lack of professionalism.
A pretty drastic change in width but also a pretty DAM drastic change in length
OMG THE FOCUS
@Andrew Ngai, please do this for Smarttag+
Manual focus next time? What is the copper ring that got left behind on the plastic case? Should have soldered red to the side of the battery to keep it thin.
Isn’t the casing the speaker? So I guess the sound stopped working?
Awesome work. More than I need to deal with. I just opted for a new thin wallet with a spot for the tag.
Absolutely brilliant. This is the form that apple should have gone for. You my friend have found nice product. Patent it fast !!!!
Possible suggestion: thinner wiring
Underrated youtuber!
You lost the speaker and the waterproof features of the Airtag in the process. I am not sure that is such a great trade-off.
not sure how often you go swimming with your wallet, but I might suggest leaving it on the side of the pool - ruins the lines of my trunks 👍
you can make it waterproof doing a resin covering
Woah, Glad to be a subscriber prior to this channel blowing up!
Beautiful. But, of course, there is no sound, because you left the copper coil in the AirTag's original case (at about time index 4:00). How hard would it be (I really don't know) to remove this coil without damaging it and attaching it to a back-plate (maybe just a thin sheet of plastic) on your enclosure in order to get sound working?
Hi Shamino0, thanks for comment. So the coil is actually quite hard to remove because it is attached using some adhesive such as CA glue and the heat gun didn’t really help a lot (maybe increasing the temperature would help but I didn’t try).
Thank you for this suggestion! It would be an interesting idea to attempt to recover the tweeter capability like you said by attaching the coil to a thin piece of plastic. I might actually give this a try!
Nice job man keep it coming wit amazing ideas came here from a news app and also u just got a follower👍
This was so cool... i only worried about the card part but gladly you have a 3d printer
You can add even thinner battery to make it even thinner
Fantastic video! I had this same idea and was glad to find out someone else had already experimented 😄
I’m surprised nobody else thought about this idea until now - it’s brilliant! Incredible work here 👏🏻👏🏻
One person publishing a UA-cam video does not mean NO ONE else thought of something so blindingly obvious. He’s not discovered particle physics my friend. This is basic stuff.
you should use thinner gauge wire
Certainly a very marketable idea! People want to track things that are flat - wallets as in your demo, but even ID tags, Tablets, Phones! (Yeah, I know, but have a fiend who is always leaving his phone behind - login to Find My on any iPad or computer and see where it is!). So yes, an….AirCard? AirBadge? aIrD? :-) I’d buy it!!!
Great work bro! Really amazing! Good job!!
Superb thinking 👍🏻
Cool process, but it sure looks like the way the battery nests, the battery itself adds very little thickness. Considering that your new case doesn’t really have anything but tape on the outside, that accounts for almost 100% of the difference in thickness. You don’t need to put the battery and AirTag side-by-side - just print a different case. Then you will have an equally thin but much smaller AirTag.
I‘m thinking about putting one inside my windows laptop and possibly even powering it from the internal bios battery
With so many teardowns and hacks already on YT, Apple is gonna shut seal this thing in next iteration. Great job anyway!
You Sir are a genius amazing idea
blows my mind apple doesn’t already have something like this because the pcb could be thinner and the battery could be too.
Good stuff my friend you have earned a new sub!
Genius. Don’t let Apple see this. They will
make one haha.
In all seriousness, I do hope they make a card one
Brilliant! Do you know how to simulate the hardware reset process with the isolated PCB?
Very cool! Apple should produce this and pay you royalties!
This is genius
Nice work. Why not just leave the pcb and the speaker coil in the case and just wire the battery on the side. The plastic part of the case measures 5.2mm without modification and you don't need to worry about insulation of the pcb...If you wanted to slim the plastic case further, you could just sand down the battery side of the case. Either way I would add some filets or chamfers on the outer edge of the 3d print to reduce the ridge effect on the leather.
Now you've given me some inspiration for new projects 😅
That’s great to hear!
Nice video! You could wrap it in carbon foil tape to close it without adding too much thickness.
id be willing to bet you could get the thickness down a touch by opting for a cr2016 instead of the cr2032--albeit at the cost of some battery life
Great job
Had same idea, great implementation!!
Great Video, I look forward to more content.
Cool bro you made something useful keep going
This is probably the first ever Apple product with removable battery.
The NFC antenna is real easy to break. Be careful when applying heat and lifting board out. Anybody got any ideas on how to encase the board and battery side by side. I'm thinking just soak into an epoxy card
I just put mine in the coin compartment of the wallet. :D No extra bulge.
Why not just fit a 2012 or 2016 battery and make a thin pressure sleeve?
But you broke the speaker! Isn't there a way to get around with the speaker as well?
The AirTag itself is the speaker, so we’ll have to connect one externally which will add bulk :/
@@TheiTE Apple drives the speaker with a magnet and coil. So it probably won’t drive a piezoelectric beeper. But those are super thin if you can figure out how to drive it.
@@stevefeinstein Yeah, but the body of the speaker which vibrates to produce sound is the AirTag itself.
@@TheiTE a piezoelectric beeper is a very flat self contained beeper. If you could convert the signal being sent to the voice coil instead to drive a beeper it could work. But it could be hard since the audio is not what a beeper wants to turn it on.
Something like this 10PCS 35mm Piezo Elements Buzzer Sounder Sensor Trigger Drum Disc www.amazon.com/dp/B073RK8KM3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_BZ90APTCBRB35ZM6BTKR. But again. I have no idea if it would work or how it would affect battery.
@@stevefeinstein ohk
Can the modified airtag make sound?
Came from Hardwarezone Singapore great job 👏
cool. you should have found a thinner battery with the same voltage.
It’s not a matter of Apple can do it now but will they do it.
Instead of using Apple Wallet, Apple Pay and get rid of wallet, he just made tracker for it, brilliant!
What the fuck - Apple made the tracker, he just dissambled it and connected the wires to a battery. Nothing revolutionary
@@toxicityuser it was sarcastic, mate. Apple is awesome and very few reasons to use such solution.
Instant subscribe!! Bravo! 👏👏 Now i know it might be literally impossible, but can u make a phone thinner. Any smartphone
AWESOME JOB! I came to the internet wondering if it could be made to fit in the location of an SSD slot of a laptop!
Any recommendations for good electronics screw drivers kit? Thanks
Cool that you took it apart and transformed it! I’m only making my own hangers hehe, would not dare to take it apart like that😂.
It’s $30, not $30,000. Youth think nothing of squandering 10x that on beer… so break some AirTags and learn.
i think that you have broken the airtag speaker - but you could easily replace it
Maybe a dumb question, but... Why didn't Apple simply build the board around the battery? AirTags would have been a bit larger, but also half thinner.
Hi Miendo, I don’t think it’s a dumb question as I’m sure the Apple designers have thought through different designs before landing on this one.
But my guess is that with the stacking of the battery and the board, they can achieve the size that will be suitable for most use cases (keychain, lanyard, backpack). And maybe the Airtag being a circle complies to their design language (look at their Apple campus).
Is it possible to to the same with the samsung smart tag ?
I am not sure but he broke the buzzer. So now he can't find the airtag with sound.
It’s also a good disguise
where's the speaker?
Worried about added thickness to a 3 inch thick wallet lol. Nice work
This is really cool. I was really hoping Apple would make something like this.
I imagine people will sell these
Ya I bet some company is working on something like this already
Tile already have card size trackers
Everyone may consider this, but very few actually try. Good!