What type of batteries are compatible with AirTags?
AirTags use a button cell. Specifically, they use the model CR2032, a standard within lithium batteries. This battery is one of the most used in computer motherboards, clocks, wireless buttons for home automation devices such as those from Ikea, and motion sensors.
These batteries can be purchased at virtually any electronics store, or even at the checkout counter of any supermarket. As usual, if you buy them one at a time, the price will be substantially more expensive than buying packs of several units.
What you should keep in mind before buying a battery for your AirTags
Changing the battery to an AirTag may seem quite simple —we will explain it to you below—, but there are not a few users who complain on the Internet saying that they have carried out the operation and have not succeeded.
Batteries are generally products with some danger. Lithium ones, for example, can explode if we try to open them. The alkalines of a lifetime can cause us enormous burns with their acid. And button ones like the CR2032 are extremely dangerous if they fall into the hands of small children, as they can put them in their mouths and choke on them. For this reason, many manufacturers cover their batteries in a very bitter product. They call it “child protection”, and the goal is that if a child puts the battery in their mouth, they will quickly spit it out due to the horrible taste.
Well, many owners of AirTags followed Apple’s steps to replace the battery in their pagers to the letter, and concluded that they followed Not working after replacing the button cell. After much debate on forums, where there were quite a few users who had the same problem, several came to the conclusion that this bath of bitter substance prevents the AirTag from working properly.
Since August 2021, Apple’s own official website has warned of this phenomenon:
«CR2032 batteries with a bitter coating may not work in AirTags or other battery-powered products, depending on the alignment of the coating in relation to the battery contacts.».
Although Apple warns of this fact, no type of list of compatible battery models has been officially published so as not to harm any manufacturer. Therefore, you will have to check on the packaging which batteries do not have this substance to ensure that they will work in your AirTag.
Step by step: Change the battery of your AirTags
Previous step: check the AirTag charge
If you are not sure whether or not you need to change the battery, checking it is very simple. You have to do the following:
- Open the app’Search‘ on your iPhone.
- Go to the tab ‘Objects‘.
- Look for the AirTag you want to check and click on it.
- tap on it battery icon that appears below the name of the AirTag.
- Being a battery, the device will not tell us a percentage. If the voltage is enough, the battery will be fully displayed. If, on the other hand, the battery charge is low, a message will pop up warning you that you must change the battery of the device.
Replace the AirTag coin cell battery
Once you have your new battery, perform the following procedure:
- Place the AirTag on a table, with the steel side up.
- Beam pressure on both sides of the logo of apple apple.
- Rotate counterclockwise until the cover stops. If the surface slips, you can try wearing gloves.
- Remove the metal cover carefully.
- Insert the new lithium button cell (3 volt CR2032 standard). The bright side must stay towards up. You will hear a ‘click’ when you place it correctly.
- Put the metal cover back on. To do this, you need to make sure that the three tabs are aligned with the three slots on the AirTag itself.
- Now turn the cover on the clockwise.
Once this is done, go through the process again. check the battery status of the AirTag using your iPhone.
Before finishing, do not forget to remove the spent battery from the middle, as well as the rest of the batteries in case you have decided to buy them in a pack. Remember that these batteries do not have the bitter coating, so it is an added danger if you have small children at home.
As you may have seen, replacing the battery of your AirTags is not a mystery, but you have to take into account the small detail of the coating, which can mean that, at first, the device does not work.