Is it possible to create a type of airtag that you can see in real time? reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HooSGamer · 2023-12-31 15:54 Is it possible to create an "AirTag" that lets you know where you are in real time by working with mobile data or frequency or something like that? Because I'd like to detect my tag wherever it is without any distance limits, what would it take to create one? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Malossi167 · 2023-12-31 16:03 Just use a smartphone and some tracking app. It already contains all the necessary hardware. One of the main issues here is battery life. Locating you all the time and keeping and using a data connection is rather power intensive. For this reason AirTags do not have either of those but in exchange, they last for months while only needing a coin cell. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Old_Bug4395 · 2023-12-31 16:13 Context helps here, what are you trying to track? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HooSGamer · 2023-12-31 16:19 I already edited the post ---------------------------------------------------------------------- fhigb-Jin-ny · 2023-12-31 16:19 Fingers crossed that it’s not stalking…. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Old_Bug4395 · 2023-12-31 16:28 I'm sure you've heard this before, but I would recommend keeping your cat indoors.... As for tracking it, there's all sorts of cat-tracking collars and collar attachments, or there's devices pretty much designed for this sort of thing that connect to a cellular network, but you would have to keep up on the battery life of these devices. I don't really know of a good self hosted solution for this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Haliphone · 2023-12-31 16:28 You can buy little air tag style trackers off temu/aliexpress. Presuming you could get the info from one of them to report into your own services? (I have no idea what I'm talking about) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- preclowski · 2023-12-31 16:39 Gps tracker with mobile connection. 5$ on aliexpress ---------------------------------------------------------------------- quinyd · 2023-12-31 17:06 A phone running OwnTracks will show you real time location. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- speculatrix · 2023-12-31 17:17 LORA wan? https://youtu.be/EAQI2ZSmxPU ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Vogete · 2023-12-31 17:42 There is tech to do this, but battery life usually suffers a lot. There are cheap gps trackers with internet connection, but they don't last years on battery. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- yakadoodle123 · 2023-12-31 17:52 >I'm sure you've heard this before, but I would recommend keeping your cat indoors Why? I fully support letting the cat decide what it would like to do. My cat can come and go 24/7 and she loves running about outside, playing on the grass, playing with a neighbouring cat, pouncing on leaves which blow about in the wind. I couldn't imagine trying to take all that away from her! Yes there is a risk she will get stolen / run over / or something else but for the amount of fun I see her having I think it's worth the risk (assuming that's my call to make). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- agent_kater · 2023-12-31 18:04 Get a dedicated cat tracker. I did teardowns of some and some serious engineering went into them to get them that small, lightweight and having decent battery life. That said, the battery still only lasts a couple of days tops. I have the most experience with the Tractive brand and I like their form factor. They require a subscription but this is true for *all* trackers that are small enough to be carried by a cat. Make sure you use a safety collar. Much better losing the tracker than losing the cat. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BoringMode91 · 2023-12-31 18:15 Not sure why you are being downvoted. Leave your cats inside people. They are super destructive to the [environment.](https://www.npr.org/2020/04/18/820953617/the-killer-at- home-house-cats-have-more-impact-on-local-wildlife-than-wild-preda) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Decent-Fennel-8877 · 2023-12-31 18:21 Cats kill huge amount of birds where i live. They are also responsible for the extinction of many species. Also they get pregnant just by being outside and spam the neighbours with little cats. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redoubledit · 2023-12-31 18:24 Where the fuck do you live. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- youmeiknow · 2023-12-31 18:51 I believe it does need a Sim to work, isn't it? Just making sure. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- preclowski · 2023-12-31 18:51 Yes, it does ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bakkone · 2023-12-31 18:52 Many operators offer cheap data Sims connected to your ordinary plan.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dystopianr · 2023-12-31 19:26 So are humans ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bluasoar · 2023-12-31 19:37 He isn't wrong.. I don't care what other people wanna do with their pets as long as it doesn't have an impact on me, but this has been looked at pretty extensively and outside of just the impacts the cat can have on the local wildlife just the overall risk of them being hit by a car, attacked by another animal whether it be a dog, cat, coyote etc. I keep my guys strictly indoor now that I have my own cats. Growing up we used to have outdoor cats and they definitely came home with Rats, Squirrels, Fish and any other rodents they could get their paws on. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7070728/ https://www.ethosvet.com/blog-post/the-dangers-of-outdoor-cats/ https://ecologyforthemasses.com/2019/10/07/outdoor-cats-are-a-problem/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redoubledit · 2023-12-31 20:02 That is called nature. If you have something against a carnivore animal like a cat brings home animals I really hope you live as a vegan. Because for that one mouse your cat brings home in a day, a human probably kills a few dozen animals just for pleasure. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Annual-Night-1136 · 2023-12-31 20:18 Yes, you can! Short answer is create your own tags that broadcast as frequently as you want. Use this: https://github.com/seemoo- lab/openhaystack ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bluasoar · 2023-12-31 20:19 The articles clearly talk about more than just the cat eating wildlife which tells me you didn’t bother to read them.. I don’t care to argue over something as small as keeping a pet indoors. If you wanna let your cat run around outside have at it. i’ll keep mine indoors. Happy New Year! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Old_Bug4395 · 2023-12-31 21:33 people on the internet hate it when you tell them it's bad to let their cats out lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Old_Bug4395 · 2023-12-31 21:35 your cat getting flattened by a car is not natural, cats are also not native to many of the areas they exist in. be smarter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redoubledit · 2023-12-31 22:00 haha :D you know very well where I was getting at. If you *actually* didn't, the hint is literally in the next sentence. <3 I think I have to dial it down a lot to compete with the people in this comment thread.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CC-5576-05 · 2023-12-31 22:15 A gps tracker with cellular data would do the trick. Battery life probably won't be great depending on the duty cycle you set for the gps measurements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vivkkrishnan2005 · 2023-12-31 23:23 You need to understand how Apple Airtags work - they piggyback off the Apple iPhones/iPad devices themselves. Hence, the tag is not doing much, just sending Bluetooth transmissions while the Apple network, is doing the rest. In short consider it as crowdsourcing information. Considering it's a cat, ideally you should get one of the those 2G watch like trackers which I am sure will be available on collar also. But I don't think you can self host it. Instead as others have suggested, a small Android phone would be able to do what you need.