A new report from The Wall Street Journal has outlined the dangers of using an AirTag for tracking dogs and other pets. Apple has never recommended that people should use AirTags for tracking pets or people, but this new report does show what the dangers are if and when people do. AirTag devices are able to be attached to dog collars and are in theory, a good way for people to track their dogs. However, there can be issues with that.

Two rounds of hydrogen peroxide later…it’s up

Props to @Apple it still works! pic.twitter.com/E7cx1FOfiT

— Colin Mortimer 🌐 (@colinmort) September 20, 2022

Some owners have spoken to The Wall Street Journal this week and reported that they have found cases where the dogs have swallowed the AirTag. Dog owner Colin Mortimer said that he played a sound on the AirTag, heard it ping and it came from his other dog’s stomach. Once the dog had thrown the AirTag up, it was surprisingly still functional.

AirTags run on small CR2032 batteries and if these are damaged in anyway, they can leak and cause serious damage to the pets stomach. There are many strong AirTag collors available on the market that make it extremely hard for this to happen. However, the blame shouldn’t be passed on to Apple has they explicitly recommend to not use these for tracking children for pets.