this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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Hello selfhosted community,

I need a privacy respecting alternative for an Apple AirTag. I recently bought my first expensive bike and i would like to know where it is, as it will be used by multiple people.

I know gps service costs something and I am willing to pay for it but I do not want any location data ending up somewhere it shouldn’t.

Thank you.

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[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

AirTags work because there is a huge network of apple devices registering BT beacons. Meshtastic isn't really viable unless there are other nodes around on the same channel, as you mentioned.

I have tried to use two LilyGo t-echos to GPS track my dog. Range is really poor in the mountains, so I basically couldn't see the collared device unless it was within 100 to 150m away, which isn't really helpful.

In a bigger urban area, more nodes didn't help unless I was on the default channel, so same problem again, this timeline extra emf pollution.

Meshtastic is a great idea, but use cases are really limited.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The default channel is usually populated enough and I think nodes relay other channels using lora too.

My range to the next node is 7 miles.

AirTags work but chirp and thieves know to dump them.

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My range to the next node is 7 miles.

Lucky you. I've got max about 900m (about half mile) by putting a node up on the mountain near me, and that was intermittent and message transmissions were delayed between 5 and 10 min.

Like I said, great if it works. Not a whole lot of good use cases, and op's is not a good use case.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Tracking inventory is literally one of its primary use cases.