Item tracker for the changing bag, the pram and the rest

What should I tag first?

The bag, not the contents. One tag inside the changing bag covers the nappies, the wipes, the spare vest, the muslins and the bottle in a single go, and the bag is the thing that gets left behind as a unit. Tagging individual items inside it is how you end up with five tags and a full drawer of dead coin cells.

After the bag, the two worth considering are the pram or buggy, because it gets folded into car boots and left in hallways that are not yours, and your own keys, which in the first six months develop a habit of going missing at the exact moment the pushchair is loaded.

Where does the tag actually go in the bag?

In a zipped internal pocket, not loose at the bottom. Loose, it migrates under everything else and muffles the sound; in a zipped pocket it stays put and stays audible.

If the bag has no internal pocket, thread a key ring through the tag and clip it to the inside of the strap where the lining is stitched. A 36 millimetre square tag adds about ten grams, which you will not notice next to a full bottle.

Avoid the outside of the bag on public transport. A tag hanging off a strap on a busy bus is a tag that can be pulled off.

Can I attach one to the pram?

Yes, and the strap loop or the shopping basket frame are the two sensible places. Use a key ring rather than tape, and put it somewhere a toddler cannot reach it, which in practice means the underside of the frame rather than the handle bar.

The thing to check before you do is water resistance. A pram lives outdoors in this country. A tag sealed to IP67 handles rain, a spilled beaker and a walk home in a downpour; an unsealed one does not.

Can my partner see it too?

On an iPhone, yes. Item sharing arrived in iOS 17 and lets you give another person access to a tagged item, so their phone can see it on the map and make it play a sound. For a changing bag handed between two adults several times a day, this is the feature that matters most, and it is the one people are surprised to learn exists.

Two practical notes. The person you share with also needs an iPhone or iPad, because the network being used is Apple's. And you can remove access later, which matters if the bag is loaned to a grandparent for a week.

Is it safe to have a tracker near a baby?

The tag itself is a low-power Bluetooth beacon, no different in principle from the phone already in your pocket, and it is sealed. The genuine risk is mechanical rather than radio: it contains a CR2032 coin cell, and swallowed coin cells cause serious internal injuries.

So the rules are simple. Keep tags where a child cannot reach them. Check that the battery cover is closed properly after any change. If a tag ever comes apart, retrieve both halves before anything else.

That is also why tags belong on the frame rather than the handle, and inside a zipped pocket rather than in the open.

What should I not tag?

The child. Item trackers are built for objects, and they are overheard by whichever phones wander past, whenever those phones wander past, perfectly adequate for a nappy bag and entirely wrong for a person. Products designed for knowing where a child is exist, they are a different category, and they are what you want if that is the question you are asking.

Tag the bag, the pram and the coat. Supervise the person.

Setting one up in five minutes flat

1. Open the Find My app on your iPhone, tap Items, then Add Other Item.
2. Hold the front of the tag until it chimes, and confirm the pairing when the card slides up the screen.
3. Name it something you will recognise at four in the morning. "Changing bag" is right. "Item 2" will cost you ten minutes one day.
4. Turn on Notify When Left Behind for that item, so your phone speaks up as you walk away from the café rather than as you reach the bus stop.
5. Share the item with the other parent, and check that their phone can ring it before you rely on it.

How the Homing Tag suits a changing bag

Size and sealing are the two things that decide this, and the Homing Tag is built for both: 36.3 by 36.3 by 9 millimetres, about 10 grams, IP67 against rain and spills, with the key ring hole moulded into the shell and two rings supplied so there is nothing else to buy.

It joins Apple Find My as an Other Item, which puts it on the same map as your iPhone and lets you share it with a partner on iOS 17 or later. Indoors it is the speaker that does the work, up to 100 dB, triggered from as far as sixty metres, which carries through a stuffed bag under a pile of coats. Outside Bluetooth range, passing Apple devices refresh the position quietly and encrypted, so nobody else learns anything.

The honest limits: no Ultra Wideband, so there is no arrow for the final few metres, and no Android compatibility whatsoever, iOS 14.5 or later on an iPhone or iPad. The CR2032 lasts up to two years and is replaced with a twist of the back.

A box holds two tags at under £15 with free UK delivery, which covers the bag and the pram in one go. Have a look.

Moving house with a small child in tow? That checklist is here.