How To Disable Apple AirTag Speaker Sound | Voltlog

High quality PCB Services pcbway.com Join me in this video where we take a closer look at how to disassemble an Apple Air Tag without destroying it and how to disable the annoying sounds it makes.
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#Apple #AirTag #speaker
So first of all what is an Apple Air tag? Because there might be some people that haven’t heard of this. It’s this small coin sized device, powered by a CR2032 battery, it features a Ultra Wide Band & Bluetooth radio connectivity in there, due to the apple U1 chip, which is capable of both low power data transmission but also measuring of the time it takes for these radio waves to bounce back which can be translated into measurement of distance with a precision of 1cm within a limited range.
Now because Apple built its own Ultra Wide Band chip, the so called U1 chip and because it operates a fleet of roughly 1.8 billions of iphones globally you can imagine how it makes sense for them technically and financially to sell such a tracker because it doesn’t need to transmit too far before it’s been picked up by one of those 1.8 billion iphones that are active globally. So every time this little tracker is within range of an iphone, the phone will pick-up its signal and will report back to the mothership with the air tag serial number as well as the GPS position of the phone at that time. And this happens transparently, you don’t even know it and while you can turn this feature off if you wanted, the setting is buried deep and it affects things like how you connect to other apple products so you wouldn’t really want to have it disabled.
Another feature of the Air Tag is that it contains a small speaker which is capable of playing sounds, it can be triggered from the Find My app and you can see how this can be useful for locating your stuff, like when you lose your keys and they are under a pillow or something.
So people started using these things to track their keys, their personal belongings like a bicycle, a car, a suitcase during travel, whatever you own and legally have the right to track. But bad people also started using these to track other people which is illegal so following up on those cases, Apple decided to introduce a new feature and now AirTags will play a sound without any way of stopping that, wherever they’ve been connected to the same iphone for several days in a row. As you can imagine this is the case when someone is trying to illegally track you by placing one of these in your car or purse, because the airtag will only be connecting to your iphone which is always with you.
So here is what you’ll need, just a utility knife and with some careful prying, you should be able to disable the speaker with minimal damage to the air tag. It’s best if you use a beefy utility knife, with a strong blade which would prevent it from snapping in the process. I’ve seen a bunch of other videos showing you how to take it apart but they almost always use excessive force, which breaks the little clips holding the case together. What I’m gonna show you allows you to open this without destroying it.
So first step is to remove the battery and then hold the airtag in this position. There are 3 clips holding it together and the enclosure is a very tight fit. But you should expect the clips to be roughly at these positions which I’ve marked on the case. So by prying with the knife blade at exactly those positions you are able to unclip the retaining clips one by one without destroying them.
Once you have it opened, we get a clear view of the speaker which is composed of two parts. The coil and the magnet. The simplest way to disable the sound is to remove the magnet, you can pry it open with the knife as it’s only held in place by some light adhesive. And at this point you can put the airtag back together. And if at any point in the future you want to restore the sound you can just place the magnet back in the same position.
One mention here is that a speaker coil even without a magnet, still makes a very small amount of noise, it’s something that if you have good hearing you can only hear in a quiet room by placing the air tag next to your ear. Certainly not something you would hear from 1-2m away in a normal environment. But if you consider that sound to be audible and you want it completely removed, you would have to gently disconnect one of the coil contacts which would completely disable it. I don’t find that to be necessary but I thought I’d mention it.

[@redchip8547]

Thank you. I have a motorcycle and sometime my brother takes my motorcycle and he got notification on airtag I was affraid of if someone steals my bike and get the notification and then disable the airtag.

[@genericwannabe]

Skip to 4:36 to see the content you came for.

[@dablet]

my hero!

[@LunaticTheCat]

Thanks for the video. My dad has a highly desirable old Toyota pickup that we're going to put an Airtag in, and I want to make sure that any potential thief won't be able to find the tag by making it ring after they get a notification telling them they're being tracked by it.

[@dougwbenson]

4:47 when the video gets good.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Unfortunately, the iPhone also shows messages now. So the thieves know that they are tracked. I am not sure if this hack still is useful (I found our two stolen e-bikes with these trackers). Maybe somebody knows the timing of the sound and the messages?

[@voltlog]

That is true! But the message is less likely to be shown because from what I have noticed using my own trackers, so far no message has been shown to my two iphones, even though on a daily basis they are next to the trackers for several hours. I think, the number of iphones in the wild is so large that from time to time, tracker connects to a different iphone which resets the counter for when the message needs to be shown. In practice, in order to get the message the theoretical thieve would need to have an iphone, be close to the tracker for 3 days in a row, without any other iphone getting close to the tracker within that time frame. Which is a slim chance of happening. Sound however is much more likely to be played and heard.

[@FlyingShotsman]

I have no experience with these things; just asking a question to clarify my understanding. Do they beep or does the message appear on your iPhone if the tag and iPhone are in proximity for enough time, even if both devices are registered to the same Apple account? It would seem like a waste of battery and an annoyance if your own tag and phone kept alerting you. It only makes sense for the alerts to occur if the tag and iPhone are registered to different Apple accounts, unless you specifically send a beep request via "find my..."

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@voltlog I did not know the time it takes. I only know that I get regular warnings on our bike tours with my wife that I am followed by a "foreign iTag" ;-)

[@murk1e]

@@voltlog It won’t show on your own trackers as… they are your own. If you have someone else’s AirTag travelling with you, that is when the alert shows. It is to prevent someone using an AirTag to stalk someone. It’s not infallible, but it is another line of defence.

[@dariusanderton3760]

the random beeping is expertly timed to happen at the most annoying times. :)

[@waynestevenson8890]

thanks for the video! the newer airtags have a lot more adhesive around the speaker. when I opened the airtag the speaker was on the circuit side not the cover. with some magnifying glasses i was able to remove the glue and the speaker without damaging the coil, just in case I have to or want to put it back later.

[@hansmeiser2232]

Dont explain airtag. Just do what you promise on the title

[@paulcrocker4157]

Very useful, thanks. I used a Stanley blade works well, followed your instructions and only broke 1 clip out of the 3 so not bad and still attached secure after and my speaker was in the bottom white section but I removed it, put it back together and it’s working fine without sound 🙂

[@reeeeeeeee8775]

😮

[@Kgoutdoor]

I took mine out and it’s still making sound. Lol

[@P-Bizzy]

Another reason I use Tile (and have for years). My car key do not beep at home while I’m traveling away from home.

[@kinocchio]

I removed the magnet and heard the sound still playing. I would like to disconnect it completely but I am afraid I will damage it.

[@norcalnewsnetwork]

Can we demagnetize the magnet without opening it to stop the speaker from working?

[@Daot888]

Why should i remove the speaker what purpose?

[@out2burn]

Thanks for the instructions.

[@tekink8143]

Have 2 year old modified AirTags and they were low on battery. Tried replacing them and now my phone won’t recognize them. These tags are older gen where they were glued to center on the board and not on the lid. Now they are useles. Think Apple changed things with recent iOS updates.

[@zaclionakis9822]

yes , and this is valid also for new ones. Just bought a pack of 4 new airtags. I modified 3 of them using different methods, 1 by removing the cover, 1 by drilling the speaker and 1 by dremmeling the plastic from above the speaker and removing using a small blade. All worked for a few minutes and then they just stopped. I reset all found them again with my phone but again the same happened......so its definitely apple

[@dariusanderton3760]

recently one battery completely died and I had to replace it. My phone no longer recognized the airtag, but I was able to reconnect it as if it was a brand new airtag all over again, and then everything was fine.

[@THATHATSALLFOLKS]

Took coil out of all of mine. They work fine

[@gingerwebuk]

I got it apart without breaking the clips, took the battery out put it all back together and the Airtag hasnt worked since !

[@tyntyn10]

Mine either. They must’ve been updated

[@LesRed]

You’re only meant to only take the tiny speaker out not the battery. Put the battery back in.

[@Tim_Small]

I suppose it would be possible to connect a resistor in place of the coil to evade detection? I was wondering if they could detect the magnet removal in software with back-EMF sensing (this would also detect a resistor), but I'm guessing probably not. Maybe an alternative (but non-reversible) technique would be to fill the interior of the tag with silicone or ms-polymer sealant / adhesive?

[@voltlog]

I was also thinking about a resistor in place of the coil but truth is, they probably just have the coil driven through some output stage, maybe discrete one or integrated, doesn't matter really but my point is that it likely doesn't have any diagnostics on the output driver or any ADC pins connected to that because it really doesn't make sense from a design point of view to include something like that. So I doubt they are really able to detect that.

[@AlbertoRodriguez-jv8dy]

Bro. I know what an airtag is. Be true to the title and tell us how to disable it

[@andrewrance]

I'm finding the Airtag is still making sounds after completing this process (it is significantly quieter) hence I suspect this isn't a speaker and likely more of a resonator.

[@debbiehennessy3738]

Supper glue it maybe

[@debbiehennessy3738]

Or hot glue gun to stop it from springing

[@AM-nm1oe]

Thank you so much i put one on my dogs and when they move too much it chimes

[@yuriytytych8367]

Thank you ! Awesome !

[@AndreasRP.]

I did this and tried to test the sound via the app, the AirTag no longer makes any sound. Now I can install it in my car and any potential thief won’t know there’s an AirTag.

[@user-oh5ne2ki5q]

yes,but if he has an Iphone he will get a message,that “Airtag somewhere nearby to you”

[@iCozzh]

@@user-oh5ne2ki5qwill most likely ditch the car

[@LesRed]

@@user-oh5ne2ki5qThe notification on phone will hopefully motivate them to quickly abandon the car when they cannot find the AirTag.

[@kingmejames1]

Could you just demagnetize the magnet??

[@DeniseDavila-u2j]

I’ll save yall time just fast forward to 4:00

[@steubens7]

does the tag stop working if the speaker connection itself is broken? that's something you can do with a drill in a couple seconds

[@jaro6985]

It still works if you cut the speaker wire. Yes you could drill, but you'd need to very precisely locate the drilling location.

[@steubens7]

@@jaro6985 it's completely dead space around the coil leads, that's a huge area

[@jaro6985]

@@steubens7 the coil itself is maybe 0.5mm wide, then 1 or 2mm to the PCB which you don't want to touch. Fairly easy with CNC, but could be hard by hand.

[@steubens7]

@@jaro6985 literally just drill below the E in EMC, any further to the right and you hit the magnet assembly but you're right in the void with the speaker wire termination. use a bigger drill if you want to reach in with a pick. you're not using a cordless drill here, you're using a pin vise or just the bit, literally can't miss it. there's nothing to short, even

[@dariusanderton3760]

instead of a drill you can also silence the airtag by hitting it several times with a hammer. JK

[@FriendSanjay]

This video could have been of 3 minutes keeping in mind its title

[@shaggydawg5419]

1 minute is enough. Could've been 10 hour too if he starts from the time he wakes up, had breakfast, shower, work, come home, grocery shopping etc etc till he turns in for the day.

[@JoshuaXiong]

7:07 I thought of this also detecting that the speaker is missing.

[@martinreicher7553]

On brandnew airtags this doesn't work. Apple glued both plastic tabs near the battery contacts so it is not possible to open it without damage. Yes, they are glued/welded, you can't even remove the rest of plastic after the tabs got broken

[@ckm-mkc]

Dremel?

[@mohsinfarhat7385]

I just did this with a new AirTag and it worked, not sure what you’re talking about

[@mohammedumarsiddiqui1944]

@@mohsinfarhat7385 the airtag stopped working for me when I took out the speakers

[@beefbmx]

Honestly theives would’ve been the original ones to figure this out so to everyone worried about them knowing. Trust me they do because they figured it out first. I would do this to track my car. Wouldn’t want a theif being able to locate the tag would you?

[@covrtdesign5279]

The exact reason I am doing this now. I have an extra last generation airtag and it would always chime as soon as I got in the car. Kinda defeats the purpose if I want a hidden tracker.

[@kendallhendricks8599]

Put in 2 or 3 in your car and hide them well.

[@mrbrad187]

Are You sure that’s not the battery and that’s why there is no sound? Sure looks like the battery!

[@mudchute4dlr]

Why does it start so fucking late IT STARTS ALL THE WAY AT 4:38

[@user-ct8my8rv9c]

Stopped near the 4 minute mark, endless talking and never getting to the actual point of the video. Lame.

[@mervinprone]

It’s too bad you have to manually disable this, my father has dementia and is constantly losing his wallet and he doesn’t have an iPhone so it has to be linked to a family member but he lives in a care home so it’s far enough away that it would beep constantly. If the wallet ever got lost or stolen then it could be easily located if he contacts us. But Apple only seems to think about criminal activity and not flexibility of the devices.

[@kendallhendricks8599]

Use a micro screw driver people. This dude almost sliced his fn hand!

[@michaelanderson1897]

0:00

[@cubehire3653]

If your Air Tag is within Bluetooth range, it will play a sound. This is used to let Air Tag users know where their Air Tag is. You don't want to remove the speaker as this would cripple this function.

[@pinecedar180]

I think most people here are trying to turn this into an effective anti theft device that wont alert the thief.

[@dariusanderton3760]

there is also a feature called precision finding, available on iPhone 11 and later. If you are within several meters of the airtag this feature will tell you the distance and the direction where the airtag is. So if your airtag no longer beeps the precision finding will help you find it.

[@LuigiBrotha]

Depends on the use case. I want to use it to track my cat. It would get scared by the sound I'm afraid.

[@dfd7227]

@@LuigiBrotha lmao same

[@serenityjewel]

It also tells thieves they have an apple tag tracking them. I'm using it to track my purse or my car so I don't want a thief to be alerted about the tag.

[@TheGijzzz]

You are doing it wrong, in fact it is super simple. First remove the lid and the battery. Then fill a lemonade bottle with hot water.(this is just for heating purpose) Hold the airtag with the grey battery compartment against the hot outside of the hotwater bottle. (Best keep your hand on it to transfer as much heat to it as possible)Now the glue will soften. When you made the glue warm and soft, put the metal lid back on the airtag and close it. Now use a flat knife and put it between the metal lid and the airtag and and carefully put a little power on it going round. You will see the grey battery compartment wil loosen. Carefully go round and it wil come loose without any damage

[@TheGijzzz]

Afther this when it is open, remove the speaker ( it also might be glued to the print instead of the lid but it also can be easily and carefully come loose with the use of the utility knife by removing the glue . And when done you can close it like nothing has happened without the speaker case. When done right no damage at all. The glue Apple uses becomes soft when heated.

[@TheGijzzz]

Done it this way eight times never failed and never any damaged airtags. Good luck with this info Consider making a new tutorial?

[@literarywho3065]

@@TheGijzzz im gonna try it g reporting back when im done

[@LearnElectronicsCanada]

My concerns are from the opposite side. There seems to be this trend that these tags are being used for tracking people, by placing on Cars... slipping in purses/pockets. The IPhone notifies you when you are being tracked by a tag that is not owned by you. The only way to locate the tag is by AUDIO, if you show these people how to disable the audio you're taking that feature away from the victim/potential victim. (I realize it works in reverse for stolen items, but personal security over item theft I'd say) This isn't a video I'd post. Why make it easy for them.😀

[@AttilaAsztalos]

By your logic, lock picking videos (among many, many other things) should not be posted either. And that's 10000% wrong, full stop.

[@voltlog]

There is always two sides to this type of story.. Personally I support spreading information for honest people.

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

Calm down, leaf.

[@steubens7]

if it's a matter of being easy, surely apple should discontinue selling them

[@tel5857]

We are digitally tracked by people every day anyway. Road cameras, store cards ,electronic payment and so on.

[@PunkySpunky]

this is bad video because stalkers could use this to track anybody

[@pinecedar180]

Or people could use it to track their stolen items.. duh?

[@Kfjsb668]

Vid starts 4:40