Apple’s new AirTag Second Generation

Apple launched a long-rumored new version of their AirTag, which looks identical to the old one. The real difference is on the inside. This tag supports precision finding from farther away. Stephen Robles got his to work up to 120 feet! The AirTag Second Generation also has a louder speaker, and supports precision finding from Apple Watch as I showed in my short this week. This also requires an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 or later with Apple’s second generation Ultra-Wideband chip.

Belkin Wemo services are offline

Now that January is over, Belkin has officially shut down service for their Wemo smart home devices. This actually also shows an interesting detail of how Wemo devices worked that I had forgotten about. Wemo devices setup before February 2026 can continue to work with Apple Home thanks to HomeKit’s local architecture. Wemo devices will no longer work with Google Home or Amazon Alexa as their Wemo integrations required the cloud. If you setup an old Wemo smart plug or needed to reset and re-setup your Wemo devices today, they will not work as you won’t be able to add them to Apple Home.

There are so many great alternatives to Belkin Wemo devices out there today that it shouldn’t be hard to find good replacements when it’s time to upgrade, even if it’s unfortunate you have less of a choice of when that upgrade should happen for Belkin Wemo devices.

Aqara’s U400 Deluxe Kit is now at Apple Stores

I saw this finish at CES, and it looks very nice. At the time, Aqara wasn’t announcing details of when and where it would be sold. Now It’s here at Apple Stores! Beyond the metal finish, the U400 Deluxe Kit also includes a second Lithium-ion battery to swap out of the lock. Each U400 battery has a USB-C port on it for charging, so you could swap out the battery for easy charging. Last I heard, Aqara does not plan to sell the batteries on their own, but you can always charge the lock with a USB power bank or cable using the port on either side of the lock.

This version of the lock appears to be popular, as ship dates for the black version from Apple’s website are already out to March. The brushed nickel version is still available this week.

The U400 adds to Aqara’s line of products in US Apple Stores which also includes Camera G5, Camera G100, Hub M3, and Smart Doorbell G410. I always find what Apple carries as an interesting anecdote. I know they heavily vet the third-party products they sell. That said, I’m still very happy with the plastic shell U400 Aqara sent me that is sold on Amazon. It’s currently $30 cheaper. After three weeks my battery is at 94%.

The Schedule

Last week, I published a video about time-based automations in Apple Home, as well as a short on Apple’s AirTag Second Generation. I will get to replying to your comments soon. Yesterday, I had a lot of good stuff going on with my family.

If you voted for my mother in the Pillsbury Bake Off last week, thank you! She won!

I hope you have a great rest of your Sunday,

Eric