Some Apple AirTag orders are preparing to ship ahead of April 30 release

Airtag (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Earlier orderers are seeing AirTags "preparing to ship."
Pre-orders began last week with a release date of April 30.

People who were able to get AirTag pre-orders in last Friday are beginning to see them inch closer to delivery. A number of orders are now marked as "preparing to ship."

Pre-orders went live on Friday, April 23 and delivery is expected on launch day – Friday, April 30.

Airtag Preparing To Ship Screenshot (Image credit: iMore)

Anyone who was slow on the update last week found that delivery times soon started to slip, although that very much seems to have depended on which part of the planet you are in. The four-pack of AirTags also seemed to sell through inventory more quickly than the single-item pack, too.

Priced at $29 for one and $99 for four, AirTags are set to be a great way to avoid losing important items like your keys and wallet. However, Apple does say that we shouldn't use AirTags to track our kids, unfortunately.

Apple's AirTag item tracker had been rumored for years ahead of its release. It isn't on its own in the market, either. Many will be asking whether they should buy Apple AirTags or Tile Mate, based on their similar features and asking price.

Item tracking with Apple

Apple AirTag

Seamless finding

AirTag lets you find all of your items right in the Find My app. You can personalize it with free engraving, accessorize it, and replace the battery as needed.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.