After the great airline luggage disaster of 2022, in which hundreds of thousands of suitcases were delayed in arriving alongside their owners for up to days or even weeks, you might have considered permanently attaching an AirTag to your bags. An AirTag may not make the airline move faster, but it can inform you as to the whereabouts of your luggage.
Moment makes a few different models of adhesive-mounted AirTag cases to consider for this purpose: the Curved Surface Mount for AirTags, a flexible silicon case (left in photo above); and the Hard Shell Mount for AirTags, a slightly smaller rigid case (right in photo above).
These mounts slip the AirTag in under their bump through a cut-out slot on the back. The back is covered with an adhesive with protective paper. Sticking the mount to a surface covers the cut-out.
The Curved Surface Mount offers a little less protection than the Hard Shell Mount, but its dark matte black makes it nearly invisible against a black background. Pick the Curve Surface Mount for stealth and the Hard Shell Mount for greater resiliency for situations that call for a more rugged solution.
The back of Moment’s mount has a slot for inserting an AirTag. The slot is concealed when the mount is attached to a surface.
Moment
Because of the slot at the bottom of the Curved Surface Mount and Hard Shell Mount, Moment doesn’t offer an IP water-resistance rating, although an AirTag has an IP67 rating, meaning up to 30 minutes of immersion at depths of up to 3.3 feet (1 meter). However, the company says the two are “watertight” when stuck onto a surface. That requires the surface to be non-porous and that you get a tight seal of the adhesive all the way around. That should offer additional protection on top of the AirTag’s built-in barriers.
While this design makes sense from a simplicity and cost standpoint, I’m concerned about how hard it will be after 6 to 12 months to remove a Curved Surface Mount or Hard Shell Mount, both of which use 3M VHB adhesive. 3M says the adhesion becomes stronger and more permanent over time. So consider whether you might damage a surface that’s not a solid or heavily bonded material when you need to remove the mount to replace the AirTag’s battery.
Moment includes two additional die-cut adhesive stickers giving you an additional year or two to use the mount after replacing the AirTag battery. After that? You’ll need to find your own adhesive, as Moment doesn’t list a way to order more.
Author: Glenn Fleishman, Senior Contributor
Glenn Fleishman’s most recent books include Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, Take Control of Calendar and Reminders, and Take Control of Securing Your Mac. In his spare time, he writes about printing and type history. He’s a senior contributor to Macworld, where he writes Mac 911.