How To Fix Cannot Set Up This AirTag Error On iPhone
Last updated on December 3rd, 2021 at 01:51 am
Posted in Bug Fixes by Vlad on December 1, 2021
Cannot set up this AirTag
Are you getting the Cannot Set Up This AirTag error when trying to connect an AirTag to iPhone in iOS 15? You click OK and try again but the same thing happens?
Cannot Set Up This AirTag Error
You’re informed that
“Your Apple ID cannot add another AirTag until one or more have been removed.”
However, Apple confirmed that it currently allows users to associate up to 16 AirTags with an Apple ID. You haven’t reached that amount yet, but are still prompting with this AirTag setup error!
How To Fix Cannot Set Up This AirTag
Apparently, resetting AirTag or rebooting iPhone won’t help. Strangely, the AirTag setup issue can be fixed by removing AirPods, adding the Bluetooth trackers and re-connecting AirPods.
An iOS 15 bug can prevent AirTags from setting up to iPhone when AirPods are already connected.
Here is how to:
- 1. Open Settings on iPhone and browse for Bluetooth.
- 2. Tap the ‘i’ icon next to the AirPods name to bring up the settings menu.
- 3. Use the Forget This Device option to remove AirPods from your Apple ID and put them back into the case.
- 4. Next, bring AirTag nearby iPhone and tap on Connect. The setup should not fail this time and the Bluetooth tracker will be added to your Apple ID and become available in the Find My app.
- 5. After you finish adding all AirTags, get the AirPods out of the case and reconnect them to iPhone. Everything should work now!
(Update, December 3)
Apple ID Limitation!
Apparently, an Apple ID isn’t limited to 16 AirTags, but to 16 items tracked with Find My. All devices and items that are tracked in Find My are taken in account! Including people sharing locations!
Michael informs that the he could only get around the Cannot set up this AirTag error by reducing the number of things tracked by the Find My app to under 15 to be able to connect more AirTags. Does this help you?
Have you managed to fix Cannot Set Up This AirTag error? Do you have a better solution? Use the comments section and share your feedback.
Related: Are you experiencing AirTag interferences with car key fob?
I removed my AirPods, and still didn’t work. I turned off my Apple Watch, and it worked then
Thanks for the feedback Rick. That’s interesting. Can you please let us know if you have many AirTags configured with your Apple ID? Close to the 16 limit? Or the issue occurred while adding your first AirTag?
Hey! Set up process not intuitive at all. I had a forget my airpod from the bluetooth settings as well as I had to turn off my apple watch. This is my first airtag ever.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad that you managed to set it up in the end.
Thanks! This worked for me.
Glad it did. Thank you for confirming.
did not work for me
So, turns out my issue was that i had 16+ individual things in my Find My, including people sharing location, other devices, but it let me add the first AirTag but no more. I had to get down to under 15 things tracked on my find my to get it to work, hope this helps someone
Thanks for the follow up Michael. So the limit isn’t 16 AirTags per Apple ID, but 16 trackable items and devices. Thanks for the contribution. I will update the article.
Incorrect. I only have 3 linked devices and it still didn’t work. I also had 2 AirTags that were on my account as well, removed those, tried to add them back and still got the same error. None of these fixes worked for me. Apple died when Jobs did.
Too bad. Have you also tried to unpair Apple Watch (if you use one) as another user suggested, connect the AirTag and pair the watch back?
Thank you! this worked for me, as I am running a little project where I ship apple airtags around the world. 16 airtags is nice to have! thanks for the fix
You’re welcome. Glad we could help!