Air India Becomes 1st Asian Airline to Integrate Apple AirTag Location Feature for Baggage Tracking

Air India, India’s leading global airline, has integrated Apple AirTag with its baggage-tracking system and mobile app, allowing customers using Apple iPhone, iPad or Mac devices* to securely track the location of their baggage.

Air India is the first airline in Asia to offer this integrated tracking service to guests.

Air India transports more than 100 million items of baggage annually, with more than 99.6% of items arriving together with the accompanying customer. For the small proportion that does not, due to issues with airport baggage systems, flight misconnection or other factors, this new AirTag integration will help locate items and expedite recovery.

Unload the stress from your baggage.

Air India now offers seamless digital support for your baggage, so you can travel with confidence and peace of mind. This makes us Asia’s first airline to integrate Apple AirTag with our baggage-tracking system, ensuring a worry-free journey.… pic.twitter.com/oEDbe1ccFY

— Air India (@airindia) April 3, 2025

The integration builds upon the easy-to-use baggage tracking feature Air India offers on its mobile app and website, which leverages real-time information available from airports to keep guests informed. For customers who have added their flight to the “My Trips” section of the app, baggage information becomes automatically available soon after the bags are checked-in, as well as on the “Track my Bags” tab of the website. Customers may also scan the barcode on their baggage receipts to initiate tracking.

“At Air India we continue to innovate and introduce cutting-edge digital capabilities as part of our customer-centric approach. As we transform into a world-class global airline, we are excited to offer our guests an innovative option to help locate their baggage in case it does not arrive at the destination on schedule. We are confident that our guests will find the baggage location capability offered using Apple’s AirTag and Share Item Location feature along with Air India’s real-time baggage-tracking system on its website and mobile app quite helpful,” said Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Air India.

How to use the AirTag feature:

• If the baggage, with the AirTag in it, does not arrive at the destination, the guest can report it at Air India’s Baggage Counter at the airport. Air India airport staff will assist in filing a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) for the baggage.
• The guest will then need to generate the ‘Share Item Location’ in the ‘Find My’ app on their Apple device and share the location link with Air India and associate it with the above-mentioned PIR via the Air India mobile app or website:
• Mobile App: The guest can visit the ‘Customer Support Portal’ on the app and choose ‘Baggage’ and then select ‘Lost and Found Check-in Baggage’ and provide the AirTag link there.
• Website: The guest can visit ‘Lost and Found Check-in Baggage’ in the Customer Support Portal page to provide the ‘Share Item Location’ link for their Apple AirTag, along with PIR number. Following this, guests will receive an acknowledgment email from Air India with a link to check baggage status.
• The shared AirTag link is then used by Air India’s authorised airport teams to locate the baggage if it is within airport premises and reunite the baggage with the guest at the earliest.
• For ensuring privacy and security, location sharing will automatically end as soon as a guest is reunited with their bag, or automatically expire after seven days. It can also be stopped by the guest at any time.

*To experience the new Share Item Location feature the guest should be using Apple devices running on iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, or macOS 15.2 or later.

TrackMyPhones Launches Street Lens to Enhance Local Search Experience

Augmented Reality app which shows places around you using your mobile camera and turns your mobile into your travel & shopping guide

Mumbai, 16 March 2021: Navigation was never so easy and the way people travel has changed significantly. Travellers are no more dependent on local people for directions and recommendations. Language is also another barrier in communication between travellers and locals. Today, travellers are highly dependent on digital mediums for navigation which is time saving and easy to use. To enhance local search, Bengaluru based startup, TrackMyPhones Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd. has come up with a unique app called 'Street Lens' to help local explorers, travellers, shoppers and foodies to improve their local search for new places. With Street Lens users can discover local businesses, search food joints, check ratings, read reviews, and make calls and reservations.

Street Lens is an Augmented Reality App that helps people in locating nearby places within the radius of 500 meters to 5 km by just holding the mobile camera in the direction they are heading to. The places are broadly categorized into Close by, Food, Shopping, Transport, Bank, Fuel, Religious, Emergency and Landmarks. One has to just select a category and hold the phone camera (virtual eye) in the desired direction. The app not only shows various places by holding the mobile in the direction one is heading to but it also provides ratings, directions and contact details of the place. The app saves a lot of time by presenting different places in the chosen category and allows the user to discover new places.

How does it work?

Street Lens gives dynamic information about your surroundings such as shops, restaurants, banks, ATMs, gas stations, landmarks, police stations and other points of interest, shown as virtual signs overlaid on or above the buildings.

Street Lens makes finding the best of what's around you as simple and natural as looking down a street. The app uses your mobile's camera display and device's accelerometer to reveal the best shops, restaurants, and other points of interest, so you instantly see what's in that direction. The app will show places and the distance, simply tap a place's icon to get more information and it will give the detailed address and directions using Google Maps. You can also check photos of a place or make a call or just read reviews about it. Users can also share the location with their contacts.

The app shows places in 3 modes -

1. Hold your mobile down and you will see the places around you in Google Map view.
2. Tilt again to portrait mode and you will see the list of places in list view along with the direction to each of those places.
3. Hold your mobile in landscape mode and the app works in augmented reality mode.

You can switch between these modes without tapping.

Unique offering compared to the competitors

Seamless switching from Augmented Reality to Google Maps view to List view without tapping on a button makes the app unique and different from its alternatives available on the internet. Street Lens switches the view based on how you hold your phone making it a more engaging experience. Also, most of the apps display a few places for free and ask to pay to display more than a certain limit while the Street Lens displays the maximum allowed number of places, routes, reviews, all for free.

Users can also call a Hotel / Restaurant and do reservations, call an ambulance, call a shop and much more with just one tap in details view.

Goal and the future of Street Lens

According to TrackMyPhones' founder, Mr. Srihari Karanth, "Street Lens intends to change the way we should travel around. Nowadays, people use smart phones to plan trips, check location information like a map, weather, hotel rooms, cabs, and restaurants. The main reason for using mobile applications is real-time data, geo-location, online booking systems, price comparison facility and on-time booking feature but in the current times it is more about safety precautions, which is our main goal. The app allows users to view details of unlimited number of places, check out routes to the places, see reviews, call and do reservations and much more, for free. We are working on the new updates of the app which will make it future ready and a preferred choice of travelers."

Download at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trackyapps.street_lens

About TrackMyPhones (Tracky Apps):

Founded in 2016, Bangalore-based start-up TrackMyPhones Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd. offers a suite of apps for anti-theft, remote monitoring, women safety, parental control etc. with a host of features like getting location in real-time, monitoring what apps the user have installed recently, keeping a check on kid's online activities by looking at their browser history, call logs, pictures and videos in the gallery, all online.

Bengaluru Startup's Innovation lets you Track Your Dear Ones using WhatsApp

Bengaluru based startup TrackMyPhones, a leading mobile tracking service provider, has come up with a simple innovative solution to trace your dear ones by means of a mobile. Now, one can track their dependents via mobile messenger – WhatsApp, by just sending a WhatsApp message from their phone to the target device.

With security issues becoming a major challenge in today’s world, we are always concerned about our dear ones, whether it’s about our child not returning from the school on time or the security of our old parents travelling alone, the worries are endless. The app helps you locating the phone and tracks it physically by playing a loud siren, vibrating or turning on the flashlight to inform. Additionally, Track My Phone using WhatsApp also notifies about battery charge status.

Expressing his delight over the launch, TrackMyPhones founder Mr. Srihari Karanth said, “Our vision is to help the society by leveraging technology to minimize the vulnerabilities of the cyber-space. After the success of Track My Phone, which helps get details of the phone by sending commands from the website, we decided to launch the app to control mobile via WhatsApp. TrackMyPhones offers more than 20 dedicated apps focused on anti-theft, remote monitoring, parental control, and women safety. We wish to continue working for the benefit of the society."



Co-founder Mr. Shrinidhi Karanth said “Tracking your dear ones especially when they are not technology savvy to share their location is a challenge. You have to call them up and they have to ask people around to know the location when on commute. On another note, during emergencies such as accident, when an injured person or a victim during any mishap is not able to respond through mobile, one can locate them through this app. You can also locate your dear ones’ whereabouts through this app without disturbing them. So, we thought of getting location from the app which is most commonly used and WhatsApp was the first thing that came to our mind."

Furthermore, TrackMyPhones is planning to add more features like getting picture from front and back camera as reply to WhatsApp command to know more specific details. 

Addressing concern over security, Srihari added, “Commands needs to be sent with 4 digit pin. The user must add contacts to the whitelist in the app, only then the app will reply to the commands from that specific contact. Only authorized user will be getting the reply to ensure safety and security.”

The app also works when the command is sent via WhatsApp groups when the group is added to the white list. If everyone in the group has the app installed, then one command will help to get to know the location of each individual as well it can also trigger an alarm to everyone in the group immediately to help or locate them.

TrackMyPhone using WhatsApp allows performing following commands during emergencies:

Help PIN: Sends the list of Commands that can be executed.
Location PIN: Get the Google Map location of the device. GPS needs to be enabled for this to work.
Siren PIN: Rings a loud siren by increasing the volume even when the mobile is in silent mode. Helps track the phone when misplaced.
Vibrate PIN: Vibrates the phone for 10 seconds.
Torch PIN: Switches flashlight on for 30 seconds.
Battery PIN: Get the battery charge status to keep yourself informed about how low the battery is.
App PIN: Replies with App URL, for others to download.

To enhance the product further by getting into B2B space, the company is planning to add WhatsApp Auto-Responder App through AI. Businesses can send automated reply over WhatsApp for frequently asked questions by customers and even initiate further action like raising a ticket for an issue reported, reducing human interaction.

TrackMyPhone’s apps together have crossed 9 million downloads and the number is multiplying rapidly due to the efficient and one-of-its-kind features of the platform.

Find the app on GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allcallapps.trackmyphonesusingwhatsapp

Founded in 2016, Bangalore-based start-up TrackMyPhones (TrackMyPhones.com) offers a suite of apps for anti-theft, remote monitoring, women safety, parental control etc. with host of features like getting location in real time, monitoring what apps the user has installed recently, keeping a check on kid's online activities by looking at their browser history, call logs, pictures and videos in the gallery, all online.

Industrial IoT Startup Syook Raises Fund from Inflection Point Ventures

Bangalore-based Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) startup Sparkyo Technology Pvt. Ltd., which owns and operates Syook, a real-time location intelligence System, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), an early stage investing platform and a sub-initiative of CXO Genie.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to scale up its operations in India, apart from expanding to the Southeast Asian market, reported VC Circle.

Founded in 2016 by Arjun Nagarajan (IIT Guwahati), Saurabh Sharma and Aman Agarwal (IIT Madras), Syook is an Industrial IoT solution that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to generate highly-accurate location data of all your resources, both assets and people, at much lower costs than comparable technologies.

The startup's flagship product, 'Syook InSite', is a real-time location system that allows businesses to visualize their operations. Based on Syook's proprietary Indoor Positioning Engine, it provides information that translates into a positive impact on the bottom-line through productivity gains, safer environments and better compliance.

Founded in 2017, IP Ventures is a sub-initiative of CXO Genie, a networking platform for executives. Its founding members include former Myntra CFO Dipanjan Basu and BookMyShow finance head Mitesh Shah. Currently, it has 250+ angel investors including CXOs and HNIs.

Based out of Gurgaon, IP Ventures' portfolio of investments include Fitso, Intugine and Wishup ammonng others.

To recall, an another Industrial IoT startup, Altizon Inc, had recently closed its series A+ funding round of $7 million, which was led by TVS Motor Company (Singapore) Pte. Limited, the Singapore based Subsidiary of TVS Motor Company Limited, with participation of existing investors The Hive, Wipro Ventures, and Lumis Partners.

Last month, TagBox, a Bangalore-based IoT and Analytics solutions startup catering Cold Chain Logistics supply chain market, also raised $3.85 million in Series A round of funding, which was also led by TVS Motor.

Google Relaunched Its Product of 2009 and No One Noticed

Google on Thursday had announced a new real—time location sharing feature of Google Maps available for both Android and iOS users. Under this feature, users will be able to share their real-time location with anyone and the people they share with will be able to see the location on Android, iPhone, mobile web and desktop.

Not many know that in year 2009 when smartphones were still in their infancy, Google announced something called Latitude. But because of privacy concerns raised by many Google had to shut down Latitude, and it was discontinued on August 9, 2013.



Four years later after discontinuing Latitude, the very same feature is relaunched however the privacy concerns still persist at least in India [source].

This time however, with the relaunch, Google kept its focus on the benefits of sharing location - for example, allowing parents to keep track of their smartphone-toting children - not fear-mongering of how it could go wrong.



Notably, similar tracking feature is already available on other apps such as Glympse, founded by former Microsoft employees, has offered this function for years. Although it isn't as wide-ranging, Apple also offers a tracking option called "Find My Friends" on its iPhone, iPad and Watch.

In 2015, an Ahmedabad, India based filmmaker turned tech-entrepreneur Ritam Bhatnagar had incorporated a startup called wWhere, that aims to solve the daily problem of exchanging locations with people and businesses around. The startup and its app however didn't do well

Meet Roadcast - A Two-Way Tracking App To 'Live-Broadcast' Your Travel Movement

Whenever on your way, how any times have people asked you "Kahan pahunche?". We are sort of an impatient lot and get very anxious while waiting and want constant updates on where the other person is at any point in time. This app is the solution to those nagging calls and messages when on your way with a very simple too to help you out.

THE IDEA

RoadCast is your solution to your travel problem of being bombarded with phones and messages asking about your whereabouts. It is the only two-way tracking platform that is transforming the travel experience for people by connecting them to others. Multiple users can connect simultaneously to their mobile devices and allow instant access to their journey, making it easy to follow each other & let others experience their journey in real-time.

MEET THE MAKERS

The co-founders of the startup are Rahul Mehra, Vishal Jain & Anshul Jain.

Vishal Jain heads the operations and is a chartered accountant by profession & has a strong background in finance with an experience of over 10 years.

 Rahul Mehra, the young talent, who studied mechanical engineering & was formerly working with Ogilvy & Mather as an Art Director, has an expertise in design & technology. He is the face & the main brain behind the branding & communication for the company.

Anshul Jain, who is an IT expert has over 10 years of experience in software development, is the backbone of the technology development for RoadCast

How Roadcast Is Different -

They have a twofold advantage in the market that gives them the edge over others. When it comes to B2C, they are the only two-way tracking solution available for consumers, there is no other such service available in the market as of now.  And if we talk of B2B, again they have a monopoly, as they are the only mobile based solution available for businesses and there is no one to challenge them.

FUNDING

They are currently in the bootstrapped phase.

TARGET MARKET

RoadCast caters not just to individual travels on their way but it also provides a similar service to corporates with its commercial tools for businesses that deal in logistics and transport to track vehicles and employees & schools to track their school transport & allow access to parents for their convenience. Essentially, RoadCast not only lets people share their journeys in real-time with their friends but is also a great tool to make group travel & individual travel safer, more organized & convenient.

PLAN OF ACTION

They have already reached about 1000 downloads on both Android and Apple store. In the B2B market, the company has already joined hands with big brands like Agarwal Packers & Movers, Incessant Strategic Research Firm – the consulting company for Glaxo Smith Klein, Westech Securities Pvt. Ltd. – a New Delhi-based security agency, to name a few & has various big NCR based schools as their prospective clients.
With Roadcast, their aim is to create a one of it’s kind Social Travel app for sharing travel stories & journeys. Share routes, itineraries, pictures, live video streams, blogs & much more.

Meet Roadcast - A Two-Way Tracking App To 'Live-Broadcast' Your Travel Movement

Whenever on your way, how any times have people asked you "Kahan pahunche?". We are sort of an impatient lot and get very anxious while waiting and want constant updates on where the other person is at any point in time. This app is the solution to those nagging calls and messages when on your way with a very simple too to help you out.

THE IDEA

RoadCast is your solution to your travel problem of being bombarded with phones and messages asking about your whereabouts. It is the only two-way tracking platform that is transforming the travel experience for people by connecting them to others. Multiple users can connect simultaneously to their mobile devices and allow instant access to their journey, making it easy to follow each other & let others experience their journey in real-time.

MEET THE MAKERS

The co-founders of the startup are Rahul Mehra, Vishal Jain & Anshul Jain.

Vishal Jain heads the operations and is a chartered accountant by profession & has a strong background in finance with an experience of over 10 years.

 Rahul Mehra, the young talent, who studied mechanical engineering & was formerly working with Ogilvy & Mather as an Art Director, has an expertise in design & technology. He is the face & the main brain behind the branding & communication for the company.

Anshul Jain, who is an IT expert has over 10 years of experience in software development, is the backbone of the technology development for RoadCast

How Roadcast Is Different -

They have a twofold advantage in the market that gives them the edge over others. When it comes to B2C, they are the only two-way tracking solution available for consumers, there is no other such service available in the market as of now.  And if we talk of B2B, again they have a monopoly, as they are the only mobile based solution available for businesses and there is no one to challenge them.

FUNDING

They are currently in the bootstrapped phase.

TARGET MARKET

RoadCast caters not just to individual travels on their way but it also provides a similar service to corporates with its commercial tools for businesses that deal in logistics and transport to track vehicles and employees & schools to track their school transport & allow access to parents for their convenience. Essentially, RoadCast not only lets people share their journeys in real-time with their friends but is also a great tool to make group travel & individual travel safer, more organized & convenient.

PLAN OF ACTION

They have already reached about 1000 downloads on both Android and Apple store. In the B2B market, the company has already joined hands with big brands like Agarwal Packers & Movers, Incessant Strategic Research Firm – the consulting company for Glaxo Smith Klein, Westech Securities Pvt. Ltd. – a New Delhi-based security agency, to name a few & has various big NCR based schools as their prospective clients.
With Roadcast, their aim is to create a one of it’s kind Social Travel app for sharing travel stories & journeys. Share routes, itineraries, pictures, live video streams, blogs & much more.