Better Than AirTags For Stolen E-Bikes and Vehicles | How to Remove Atuvos Speakers

In this video I explain why I think the Atuvos Tag, which uses the Apple Find my network, is actually better for tracking stolen items than the AirTag.
Atuvos Tags: amzn.to/48qgGrS
It has to do with Apple rolling out the find nearby feature for any iPhone 11 or newer. This feature used to not be available if you were not the owner of the tag, however, anyone can scan for an airtag near them, and then choose to use the find nearby option to get within mm of the tag.
If you are trying to hide a tag in your car or somewhere in your e-bike, your only hope is that a thief does not scan for them, or eventually find them. The find nearby feature of AirTags makes it nearly impossible to keep your tag's hiding place a secret.
This is where the Atuvos, shine! Follow the video to see just how to protect your items!
We are part of the Amazon partner program that awards us a commission at no cost to you if a purchase is made via any link we provide.

[@Matthew-ut2dc]

Update May 2024. Great video. The design has slightly altered. To remove the case (after removing the battery) slide a knife into the join between the inner and the outer case, and slightly push out the middle of each of the 4 sides (the outside case has a tab that engages into the inner body). Just pushing a knife down (carefully!) should do it. I used a sharp & thin kitchen knife. As someone suggested, after removing the screws (using the smallest screwdriver in my precision screwdriver set) I heated up the item with a hair dryer and then used the negative terminal in the battery compartment to gently push the board and seal out in on unit. The seal was not be damaged at all this way. As someone else suggested, I left the speaker in but just used tape to cover the two mesh looking contacts on the rear of teh circuit board labelled "Buz 1" and "Buz 2" to isolate the speaker.

[@erikjules4219]

Great video! I ordered 4 and customized them easily thanks to you!

[@wjiang7455]

Great. Thanks. Just a bit change. 1) simply put a piece of file on top of speaker, so you don't have to remove it 2) the sticky sealing ring: I keep it on, just use the thin precision flat screen drive to lift the sealing ring a bit and then remove the PCB board

[@gallagher68]

That is exactly what I was going to say, it solves the water resistance issue too. The speaker is 'vented' to the outside and is the barrier, but when removed, it is no longer a barrier to moisture.

[@PassengerInMortality]

Hi, what do you mean by a "piece of file?" What is that?

[@bill6040]

I’ve had my car stolen 3 times this year and I just bought a new bike, so theft is very much on my mind these days. This is a great idea, thanks for the video.

[@VoltVlog]

Sorry to hear that! My truck was stollen a couple months ago, on my son's birthday. Which launched me and my friend (the second member of this cannel) into testing out a variety of tags and their features to find out what worked. We're still on the hunt for the best solution, but these Atuvos tags without the speaker are doing a pretty good job in our testing.

[@internetcancer1672]

"3 times this year" how does that happen? What your area do you live in, is it bad crime, or are you just unlucky?

[@MrSGL21]

@@internetcancer1672 some place that votes democrat thats for sure. i live in one of the worst neighborhoods in a deeply red county and the worst i've dealt with is two stolen bikes, and 2 years ago i stopped someone from killing a dog, he had a gun, i had a gun, they elected not to find out i'm much better with a pistol than they are.

[@fulesmackofule]

@@MrSGL21 wtf. is it in africa or haiti?

[@GadgeteerZA]

Very good point made about UWB being an easy way for criminals to find and eliminate your tag.

[@zane___k7333]

Not really. The tag only alerts people "IF" the iPhone detects that the tag is following someone who isn't the owner.

[@GadgeteerZA]

@@zane___k7333 it may be an issue for me then as the AirTags I own, do alert for following when with me, as I no longer have an iPhone. Really wish Apple would realise not everyone who has an AirTag is still an iPhone owner.

[@nitinkumar29]

Thanks for the guide! I have put cello tape on the speaker and it is working fine without tone so mission successful :)

[@ljackattack]

Great video, helped a lot!

[@tomaskingsley2542]

Couple updates on instructions so you don't have to damage the speaker and can always undo the process: First, thanks for the video..was able to block the speakers in my Atuvos tags yesterday! The beeps at 3am from being in my luggage while travelling were too much. It's not too hard, takes 10 mins to do the first, and 5 mins to do each after. 1. Open with your finger nail or something plastic you can slide around the outside. Remove battery. 2. There are quarter inch gaps in the middle on each of the 4 sides (not the two bigger gaps by the button). Slide in super tiny flat head, and pry the opposite way you would think (bring the screw driver toward vertical) just a bit until the clip lets loose, and then pry very slightly the other direction (screw driver back toward horizontal) slightly so that it will stay unclipped. Repeat for 2-3 more sides until you can open it. 3. Unscrew the 3 tiny black phillips screws, keep them safe. 4. To the right of the keyring hole, carefully peel back 1/4 inch of the black rubber seal (you can hit it with a blow dryer for 5-10 seconds and it damages the seal slightly less). There is a little semi-circle missing from the circuit board there, so you can put your tiny flat head in and gently lift the circuit board out. Just mind the seal as you pull it out. 5. Get some thin tape (it's only a watch battery so any type of tape will do, I used green painters tape) and cut a little square just big enough to cover the "buzzer +/-" terminals that are on the back of the circuit board. 6. Reassemble carefully. Make sure the metal battery contacts fit in correctly. Don't forget the screws in the circuit board. You do have to apply quite a bit of force to get it all to snap back together, but it will go. 7. Go in the Find My app and try to Play Sound. Let me know if anyone needs any help!

[@hanopt8872]

well i forgot to put the screws back in, but it still works..:D

[@hanopt8872]

I think the point about not removing the whole black rubber is the most helpful one

[@WILDKAMERAD]

Thank you for the vid.

[@mariorossi5649]

nice video! Thanks

[@VoltVlog]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for the encouragement!

[@christophschwarzherz5909]

What about Tile? I put a Tile tracker in my luggage and was able to track it across the country - even when my connecting flight was delayed , I could see the luggage was in the connecting airport for the duration of the layover.

[@weeweed86]

How do you know if it's on or off with the speaker removed....?

[@OuyaWoelders-hi9bn]

you can put a piece of tape on the speaker to disable it so if you still want it, you can.

[@jasonbrindamour903]

I have never had to turn my speakers up so far in ANY video I have watched in about 10 years of KZbin!

[@markfs]

I used one of these to follow a relation's luggage to japan. It reappeared at a transit airport. It was detectable in the luggage in the hotel room intermittently, when the relations went out sight-seeing. Obviously, the connection will depend on where the room is and hotel staff. It obviously wont be detected in airplane storage. I could message my relations and tell them which hotel they were staying at. The whole thing was impressive.

[@Saudi4Arabia]

Can i get the history of the locations of the eufy?

[@tommo4k]

Do you think if you carefully and slowly drilled through the case directly into the speaker, just enough to render it inoperable, you could just fill the hole with resin and be done with it? It didn't look like there was anything but plastic between the speaker and under the battery.

[@wholereflections9129]

I would watch this

[@jamesherman1350]

Does this brand of tracker alert nearby cellular devices of it's presence?

[@davidbroadfoot1864]

You didn't watch the video. Did you.

[@markfs]

I've take the battery cover off and I was going to cover the speaker....but I cant see the slots in the plastic cover which goes over the circuit board. It seems to be built differently from the type shown in the video. I wonder if there has been a design change to make the speaker modification harder to do.

[@ljackattack]

No, just those slots are a bit more inside now. If you know where to dig, it still cracks open pretty easily. If you want to get the circuit board out, you can also gently push on the battery connector stub (after taking the screws out, of course) instead of prying. It then comes out with the rubber attached.

[@markfs]

@@ljackattack I found that the battery cover comes off with a small screwdriver lifting it using the slot and lifting it. The remaining half can then be split off by using the inside edge of the keyhole by cutting the internal seam with a blade (hard to explain). The half will lift and then the whole thing will come off by going to the next corner and lifting it there. I could basically take it apart in about 20 seconds.

[@markfs]

@@ljackattack I did find that once I removed the loudspeaker, I could no longer reset the atuvos or turn it off. The button appeared not to work. This happened on two units. I counted to 15 to give it time to reset

[@vladimir0rus]

You could try to broke those piezoelectric speaker throw the hole. Another option is to short Buz contacts on PCB.

[@Fraggle2024]

I have an iphone xs (10). Is that why I’m struggling to connect?

[@Fraggle2024]

I just bought this from Amazon but it doesn’t connect to my iphone XS (10), even though I’m on the latest ios setting. This video says it only works for above iphone 11, wheres Amazon says all models?

[@King-Arthur-The-First]

When dealing with things held with adhesive it’s better to warm the thing up first

[@MoonerBros]

From my understanding, Apple tag uses iPhone user network to find the item. 3rd party tag (such as Atuvos) is utilizing the Bluetooth. How can it be track if E-Bike/CAR is out of range? Sorry for the silly question.

[@VoltVlog]

These Atuvos tags actually contract with Apple to piggyback on their iPhone system. In my testing they notify and update information almost simultaneously as the AirTags. They key difference is that the Atuvos do not have the functionality of using find nearby.

[@dcpschillinger]

Isnt it possible to just disconnect the speaker by taping it? The process seems time intensive.

[@tomaskingsley2542]

Yes it's possible, but the speaker contacts are deep inside, so you still need to do 90% of the work. I posted instructions in a different comment :)

[@agentcarbunkle]

So my understanding of these devices is that they work by bluetooth and that if your car / bike is out of range of your phone bluetooth 30 meters. It can ping from any ones iphone that is walking by or in its vicinity. Is that correct? So if a thief puts their phone a rfid pouch and avoid getting you car / bike near another phone you wont be able to find it?.... It would be pretty hard to avoid other peoples phones if you are in traffic near pedestrians i think?... just thinking that if its on a car it might want to be on the out side of the vehicle so it has the maximum chance of getting a ping off someone's BT.

[@zane___k7333]

I own a galaxy smart tag. 2. Range is about 150 metres. With no obstruction Because it uses bluetooth low energy. But it doesn't tell you where the tag is. Just the tag is around "Until" it gets a UWB lock, which in my testing max range is about 24 metres. Then with in a close range you can make it ring. It doesn't really matter if the thief turns their bluetooth off, because it would ping off aomeone elses phone.

[@marketingweb5939]

Does this product use the same technology as AirTags to track its location? AirTags update their location when an iPhone passes by. Does this product work in a similar way?

[@AWriterWandering]

Yes. It has everything except the precision finder.

[@marketingweb5939]

@@AWriterWandering thank you have a great week

[@calebwooldridge242]

I'm glad I own a 30 year old car that has built in theft deterrent, check engine light and less than an 8th of a tank of gas.

[@poolmonkey]

Manual transmission is also a very good anti theft feature.

[@ElitePhotobox]

Sellotape to cover the speakers contacts would be easier !

[@davi1]

do these still alert an iphone using thief they are being tracked?

[@davidbroadfoot1864]

You didn't watch the video. Did you.

[@Matthew-ut2dc]

The answer is yes they do notify the thief, but it is much more difficult to find the tag. I just bought an air tag and now realise it is not of any use as a car tracker as the thief can pinpoint it on the car (might be OK in the engine bay if there is somewhere to hide it). The idea is that the thief will ditch your car before they find the tag. Its is however quite likely they will cut your seats up first looking for it as that is where most people hide trackers.

[@tipprich]

Always hid the tag behind panels that require tools to open.

[@andyking957]

would use alcohol + lifting wit the blade to dissolve the adhesive of the speaker...

[@vladimir0rus]

Actually it is possible to create an AirTag clone tracker which will be not detectable by phones automatically (iPhone will not notify you). So it there are significant demand it is possible to start manufacturing.

[@TheXone7]

Yeah, right...

[@vladimir0rus]

​@@TheXone7 I see you a bit skeptical. But imagine you have 15 AirTags with you and every one of them send 1 beacon every 15 minutes. So we have a beacon every minute but every unique AirTag sends beacon only once and after 15 minutes changes own ID (as defined in docs). Will your iPhone detect this?

[@marksjourneytothephilippin9574]

Does this warn them that they are being followed like apple AirTags do?

[@VoltVlog]

Yes, a thief who takes your car or bike will be notified that a tracking device is traveling with them if they have an iPhone. This is why it is critical that you remove the speaker, and hide the tag in a location that will actually take work to find it and remove it. This is easier done on a car/truck than an e-bike, however, I do believe I've found a great location on my bike that is pretty hard to access/very few individuals would even think of checking or know how to access it. The major advantage is that "find nearby" is missing. So, they will only know that the device is somewhere on the bike/car. Which, again is why removing the speaker is very important. If the speaker is still there, it doesn't matter how good the hiding place is. They'll navigate right to it.

[@joer8386]

@@VoltVlog You never mentioned where in the e-bike you found that is the perfect hiding spot.

[@piksnapper]

Maybe take out the battery and slowly drill a hole through the speaker.

[@internetcancer1672]

PRO TIP: You can just open it and put kapton tape over the speaker to block the electrical contacts, rather than prying it out. Also how's the battery life?

[@Ichijoe2112]

Wouldn't have been more economic to have just used some Electro Tape, to cover the Exposed half of the Speaker instead of destroying it, and nearly slicing up a finger, or two?

[@fulesmackofule]

You really have to remove the beeper physically, there is no configuration for that from software?

[@bahhaziz]

Range?

[@agentcarbunkle]

When your personal bluetooth on your phone is out of the 30 meters range. It then relies on the iphone network (Other people with iphones) in its vicinity to send a bluetooth ping to the tag then back to the cloud for a gps location. So it needs someone with an iphone to walk past it or be within 30 meters. That is my understanding of how this works, could be wrong though?

[@meekopal2369]

An AirTag, even if the speaker is removed, could be easily located by thieves using a precision finder. I believe Apple should add an option so that once an AirTag is reported lost, any iPhones that the AirTag is not registered to would be incapable of locating it. This way, the unit would continue to signal its location to the rightful owner. However, a potential concern arises: what if criminals exploit the same option? It's not my responsibility to provide Apple with ideas to enhance the security of their products for the benefit of end-users. They have talented people with bright minds and gets huge amount of paychecks to address such challenges.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

We can hardly HEAR you !!!

[@bahhaziz]

You don't have to remove the speaker 🤷🏻‍♂️ just cover it with scotch tape to prevent connection

[@misteraon]

I’d probably just put tape over the exposed portion of the speaker/transducer instead of removing.

[@krns1617]

And everything because of "data privacy". I have to laugh at people who during the COVID-craziness gave voluntarily all their data and now are so worried about things like data privacy or confidentiality. And the bad thing, these people would do this any time again. Yet, they are worried about a hidden AirTag...

[@choppergirl]

These would be worthless for recovering a stolen vehicle. Bluetooth range just is not very far... 30 feet. I suppose if a thief stole your car and hid it in a place... only 30 feet from you? More likely, it's 50 miles away by now... or more. Once your vehicle leaves where it's parked, as far as these things are concerned, it's gone for good. You want a Moto Mini that uses cell network.

[@joer8386]

What is a Moto Mini. I tried searching and cannot find information on it.

[@choppergirl]

@@joer8386 its a gps theft tracker for motorcycles the size of a pack of cigarettes that uses the cellular network. If you are away from it with your key fob and it detects motikn, it will call you and then you pull up the app to track it, with an update rate as high as every five minutes. Something like $250 plus first year included then about $70 per year after that.

[@choppergirl]

@@joer8386 sorry it's called the monimoto. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWqoo6eLo9yngacsi=8j0mGoigyIKuppIo

[@choppergirl]

@@joer8386 Sorry the correct name is Monimoto GPS tracker

[@joer8386]

@@choppergirl oh ok. Thanks.

[@BryantAvant]

So dumb that anyone can. track an air tag. I get the spying thing and maybe tell someone that their being tracked but don't tell them exactly where it is.

[@shakester2010]

Audio level is very low.

[@Karll541]

lol

[@kendallhendricks8599]

Don’t use a blade. Get a micro screwdriver so you don’t slice open your hand!!! So dumb and dangerous.

[@anoyakashi8775]

if it is from Samsung, only last for one month.

[@bertlzansinger]

I´d personally refrain from using sharp tools on plastics. Absolutely unnecessarily leaving visible marks.

[@MrEnky007]

I agree! How dare he leave scratches on a piece of plastic. Each time he's gonna change the battery, he'll be reminded of his poor life choices. I personally hope he will reflect on that matter and change his ways to become a better version of himself.

[@getstew]

It's really not a "guy."

[@VoltVlog]

Thanks for the help!

[@somanyaccounts982]

Air tag notifies you and gives you the location to remove it. Pointless then! 🙄