Apple Releases a New iOS Feature ‘Share Item Location’

Apple has released Share Item Location, a new iOS feature that allows customers to find and recover their misplaced belongings by quickly and securely sharing the location of an AirTag or Find My Network accessory with third parties such as airlines. Share Item Location is currently accessible in most locations across the world as part of the public beta of iOS 18.2, which will soon be available to all users as a free software upgrade for iPhone XS and later. Find My is designed with privacy and safety at its core.

The shared location will automatically expire after seven days, be disabled as soon as a user is reunited with their item, and be stopped at any time by the owner.

“Find My is an essential tool for users around the world to keep track of and find their belongings,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “The Find My network and AirTag have proven to be a powerful combination for users while traveling, providing invaluable location information when bags have been misplaced or mishandled. With Share Item Location, we’re excited to give users a new way to easily share this information directly with third parties like airlines, all while protecting their privacy.”

Users can create a Share Item Location link from the Find My app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Recipients with the link will be able to access a website that displays the item’s location on an interactive map. When a new location becomes available, the website will immediately update and display the most recent timestamp.

More than 15 airlines serving millions of people around the world, including Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, United, Virgin Atlantic, and Vueling, will begin accepting Find My Item locations as part of their customer service process for locating. Additional airlines will be added over time.

Apple has worked directly with partner airlines to implement systems for privately and securely accepting Share Item Location, leveraging the hundreds of thousands of Apple devices that many airlines already use. Each link will only be accessible to a small number of individuals, and recipients must authenticate to view it using either their Apple Account or a partner email address.

“We’ve worked closely with Apple to incorporate Share Item Location into our baggage recovery process and are excited to make this feature available to our customers soon,” said David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer. “We know many of our customers are already traveling with AirTag in their checked bags, and this feature will soon make it easier for them to share location information with us safely and securely, helping our customer service agents work more efficiently and giving our customers added peace of mind. We plan to accept Find My item locations in select airports initially, with the goal of introducing the service systemwide in early 2025.”

“While more than 99 percent of checked items make it to their destination as planned, we know how stressful it can be for customers when they don’t. That’s why we’re excited to support Share Item Location beginning later this year,” said Erik Snell, Delta Air Lines’ senior vice president of Airport Customer Service, Cargo Operations, Ground Support Equipment, and Global Clean. “It will provide our team with extra visibility to reunite those items with their owners. This cutting-edge solution, developed by Apple and in partnership with Delta Air Lines, will enable us to locate items more efficiently and effectively.”

“By accepting Find My item locations, we’ll be able to offer additional peace of mind to customers who travel with AirTag in their luggage,” said Annalisa Gigante, head of innovation at IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL. “We’re always testing innovative solutions and enhancing our systems to ensure that checked bags reach their intended destination as quickly as possible, and we look forward to incorporating this solution into our lost baggage processes beginning later this year.”

Furthermore, WorldTracer, the baggage-tracing system utilized by more than 500 airlines and ground handlers at more than 2,800 airports around the world, will incorporate support for Share Item Location, according to SITA, a leader in air transport technology.

“As the leading industry provider for end-to-end baggage management solutions, and with global passenger traffic set to double by 2040, airports and airlines worldwide will face important challenges. This collaboration with Apple will make it easy for airlines that use our industry-leading WorldTracer solution to implement Share Item Location for more efficient baggage management, and will be a huge benefit for passengers,” said Nicole Hogg, SITA’s director of Baggage. “We look forward to seeing this feature adopted across the industry to complement existing tracking tools.”

The Find My network, a crowdsourced network of more than one billion Apple devices, serves as the foundation for Share Item Location. It uses Bluetooth wireless technology to identify nearby missing devices or items and notify the owner of their approximate location. The entire procedure is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, so no one, including Apple and Find My Network accessory manufacturers, can see a device’s location or data.