Can you put an AirTag on a cat? What UK owners should know

An AirTag has no GPS and no SIM card. It sends out a Bluetooth signal, and iPhones, iPads and Macs that pass nearby report where it is to the Find My app.

In a busy street the location can update often. But cats tend to wander through back gardens, fields and sheds, and often at night, when fewer people are walking past with iPhones. Then the location can be hours old.

When you're close, you can make the AirTag play a sound, and a recent iPhone can point you towards it. That's the part owners find most useful: tracking down a cat who's hiding nearby.

• The first AirTag weighs 11 grams and the 2026 model 11.8 grams, before you add a holder. Each is 31.9 mm across and 8 mm thick.
• That's a lot more than a lightweight ID tag: a QR code cat tag like PetTag weighs about 4 grams.
• Choose a holder that sits flat against the collar, and check your cat can eat, drink and groom comfortably once it's on.

Cats Protection says the safest collars are quick-release (snap-open) ones, which pop open if they catch on something, so your cat doesn't get hurt or stuck. It advises against elasticated collars, and warns that bells, discs and other accessories can get caught. You should be able to slide two fingers under the collar. Our guide to whether your cat should wear a collar has more.

There's a catch with an AirTag: a good quick-release collar is meant to come off. If it snaps open in a hedge, the Find My app leads you to the collar, not your cat.

An AirTag doesn't tell a finder who your cat belongs to. You can put it in Lost Mode with your phone number, and anyone who holds a phone with NFC against it then sees your message. But most people who find a cat look for a tag with a number on it, or take the cat to a vet to be scanned for a microchip. Few think to tap a small plastic disc.

So pair it with ID a finder can use straight away. A QR tag opens your cat's profile with any phone camera, with no app, so a neighbour can message you. And keep your cat's microchip up to date: in England, cats must be microchipped by 20 weeks old.

• AirTag: no subscription and about a year on a coin battery you replace yourself, but you need an iPhone or iPad, and it only updates when an Apple device passes nearby.
• GPS cat tracker: shows where your cat is live, wherever there's mobile signal, but it needs charging and usually a monthly subscription. Our guide to tags, microchips and GPS trackers compares them.
• QR tag: no battery and nothing to charge, and anyone who finds your cat can reach you with any phone. It doesn't show you where your cat is.
• Many owners use more than one: a microchip always, a light tag a finder can use, and a tracker if their cat roams far.

We make QR pet tags, not trackers, so we've stuck to what Apple and Cats Protection say. AirTag is a trademark of Apple Inc., and PetTag isn't connected with Apple.