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A frustrated AirTag owner accidentally discovered the hidden debug mode in the screen interface that displays “Find My” when the “Exact Find” feature is enabled.
Precise Search is a feature that displays specific on-screen instructions for users to locate a nearby AirTag. iPhones with a U1 chip, including the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12, can use the feature, which combines camera input, AR, sound, ultra-wideband wireless technology, and haptic feedback to help locate the tracker. The Hidden Mode overlay, which appears after four-tapping the item's name in the Precise Search interface, displays real-time diagnostic and technical information about the feature's operation, including accelerometer and gyroscope coordinates, haptic feedback, screen resolution, tracking animations, and more. Reddit user "cyem" stumbled upon Hidden Mode after becoming frustrated with the performance of his AirTag. writes this:
My experience with AirTags so far hasn't been great - the first one that came out of the box failed to pair four times in a row when it was on the phone. Now that it's finally connected, anything outside of 2 feet away shows up as a weak signal and when I do get a signal, there's never an arrow. Funnily enough, in my frustration, I tapped my name about five times and found what appears to be a hidden developer mode. Even more interesting, the arrow underneath actually seems to work - just not in normal mode.
AirTag debug mode is currently accessible to everyone
Debug mode is available in the public versions of iOS 14.5 and iOS 14.5.1 and is also available in the current iOS 14.6 beta. It's unclear whether the debug options will be removed from shipping builds. To try AirTag debug mode yourself, simply bring the AirTag within UWB range and launch "Exact Find" from "Find My." Then tap four times on the heading that displays the object's name.
But beware: There doesn't seem to be an easy way to completely reset the debug menu after the controls have been changed. Most likely, Apple will remove access to this menu completely in a future iOS version. Nevertheless, it's an interesting look behind the scenes to see how Apple engineers refine the design and behavior of system functions. (Image: Apfelpatient)
