The AirTag is an incredibly useful tool for anyone embedded in Apple’s ecosystem, but it does have its downsides. That includes the need to replace the CR2032 coin batteries every 12 months or so.
Even though the Find My app notifies you when an AirTag battery is running low (and a year is a pretty good benchmark for battery life!) I’ve still found myself looking for keys attached to a dead AirTag. Replacing the battery is my biggest problem with AirTag trackers — especially if you have a lot of them — and I know I’m not the only one that’s been affected.
Which is where a $20 gadget called TimeCapsule from the company ElevationLab comes in. It’s a simple solution to extend the life of an AirTag to up to a decade by transposing the power over to a pair of AA batteries.
It’s a good time for this kind of gadget to surface (h/t Android Authority) since there are strong rumors the AirTag 2 is right around the corner. And while Apple’s next version of the tracker will reportedly extend its range thanks to the addition of a new Ultra Wideband chip, we don’t yet know how that’ll impact battery life.
The brains behind the TimeCapsule claim that, when paired with high-capacity AA batteries, users will get “a decade of power” out of a single AirTag — expanding on the original coin cell lifetime by a factor of 14.
And while a single one will set you back $20 on Amazon, you can also pick up two for $30 or four for $40 — which brings the price comfortably down.
The trade-off
Of course the beauty of the AirTag is that it can more or less go anywhere thanks to its tiny size. You can slip one inside your wallet or bag without it taking up much space. The TimeCapsule limits some of that portability.
According to the ElevationLab product page, the rectangular casing is fully waterproof and uses “premium CNC machined screws” as part of its construction. Despite this, it makes the tracker bigger and bulkier as a trade-off against that longer lifespan.
To my mind, this is the perfect solution for adding an AirTag to, for example, a camera bag or a large piece of checked luggage during air travel. You could also potentially mount it to one of the best e-bikes or an electric scooter for location tracking your preferred transport method.
You’ll need to spend a little extra on a pair of decent AA batteries too, but if you’re getting a full decade of support for that investment, it seems well worth it to me.
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