---
title: "Resetting an AirTag"
url: https://perrotta.dev/2025/02/resetting-an-airtag/
last_updated: 2025-02-17
---


**Problem statement**: somehow I messed up my AirTag. It wasn't being updated
any longer. "Last seen NN days ago".

So I deleted it from my Apple account. It's the
[universal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2FB1P_Mn8) way to fix issues,
right?

So far so good.

However, I couldn't pair it up again. It wouldn't work no matter how many times
I tried to remove its battery, nor how many times I'd swap its battery for
another one. I gave up for a couple of days (weeks?).

Then I realized that my iPhone kept notifying me that an AirTag had been
following me. Huh?! I thought it was referring to the AirTag of the friends I
was travelling with.

That kept occurring even after the trip was over. Then I had a sudden
realization: duh, it's my own AirTag. And yet, it's not showing up in "Find My".
Somehow it got stuck in a odd state that iOS was thinking it was someone else's
AirTag.

At that point I got an epiphany: is it possible to "hard reset" it, just like a
router? It turns out the answer is
[yes](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102577):

> Here's how to reset your AirTag:
>
> 1. Press down on the polished stainless steel battery cover of your AirTag and rotate counterclockwise until the cover stops rotating.
>
> 2. Remove the cover and the battery.*
>
> 3. Replace the battery.
>
> 4. Press down on the battery until you hear a sound. This sound means that the battery is connected.
>
> 5. When the sound finishes, repeat the process four more times, removing and replacing the battery, then pressing down on the battery until you hear a sound. You should hear a sound each time you press on the battery, for a total of five sounds. The fifth sound is different from the previous four. This indicates that the AirTag is now ready to pair.
>
> 6. Replace the cover by aligning the three tabs on the cover with the three slots on your AirTag.
>
> 7. Press down on the cover.
>
> 8. Rotate the cover clockwise until it stops rotating.

Upon following the above procedure, the fifth time yielded a different sound.
Then, almost immediately, my iPhone prompted me to connect to it.

The more you learn.