air tags are finally here and
unsurprisingly apple found a way to use
them to sell
more accessories that's right unlike
most competing trackers on the market
you'll need an attachment to keep this
little mento on your keys thankfully
handing apple another 30 bucks on your
way out of the store
isn't the only option if you have access
to a 3d printer there are already dozens
of free printable queuing attachments on
thingiverse
or if you're willing to spend five or
ten dollars there are plenty of cheap
third-party keyrings online
my personal favorite curing hack is
using a spanish knot to wrap the air tag
in paracord
or even shoelace which you can learn how
to do in this video we'll link below
finally there's the most overkill method
drilling a hole right through your air
tag
we're going to show you how to perform
that delicate surgery today but first a
quick teardown to show you where to poke
opening an air tag is easy just use two
thumbs to rotate
the shiny metal belly counterclockwise
about 90 degrees and you're inside
after that remove the three volt coin
cell battery if you're following along
to drill
stop here you don't need to do any more
disassembly than this
but i'm going to keep going just to show
you what you're trying to avoid the next
layer is held down with plastic clips
and glue
a vise deforms the plastic case so that
we can get an opening pick in the seam
then some prying gets us to the good
stuff in the middle of this pcb donut is
the speaker magnet
originally glued to that layer we just
removed the circuit board is glued in
here on top of a plastic antenna frame
you can see the board and the antenna
frame both have notches in them for the
clips and glue to pass through
that's where we want to drill the best
way to find one of these spots from the
outside
is to use the battery cover clips as a
guide our favorite spot is roughly at
seven o'clock with the tag oriented so
the ce labeling under the battery is
upright
you can see the hole for the battery
cover clip starts at about six o'clock
and ends at seven mark a spot at seven
o'clock here at the very edge of the
gray battery cover below the clip
one final warning before we bring out
the drill attempt this at your own risk
obviously drilling in the wrong place
can cause some serious damage and we
can't guarantee that this procedure
won't cause some long-term damage to
your air attack down the line
basically don't try this at home unless
you're willing to potentially turn your
tracker into a very light paper weight
to get started you'll need a 1 16 inch
drill bit for best results use a special
pcb bit or something with the carbide
tip
you'll also need your power drill some
eye protection and something to hold the
air tag with like a vise
secure the air tag then drill straight
through your mark
after you're done drilling for extra
credit we recommend using some sugru or
a sealant to reseal the two holes you've
made this won't fully restore your air
tags ip67
rating but it will make it less likely
to drown in the crumbs at the bottom of
your backpack congrats on your newly
keyring dare tag
if you know of another way to attach
these things to your keys that we didn't
mention
let us know in the comments below
thankfully i think this one still works