The Steam Deck is nothing short of revolutionary, letting you break free of your gaming PC to play on-the-go. Unfortunately, braving the big outdoors with your shiny new handheld comes with the worry of losing it, even though it’s quite a bit chonkier than the Nintendo Switch. If you don’t mind diving under the hood and have a certain Apple device lying around, there’s an easy way to ensure you never lose your portable PC should you accidentally misplace it.
Armed with just a screwdriver, Redditor Mikerfx (via PCWorld) found some space to slip an Apple Airtag underneath the Steam Deck’s right grip without interrupting the rear R4 and R5 macro buttons. No sanding, no soldering, no problem. This is all thanks to Valve’s upgradeable and repair-friendly approach, keeping the device more in line with PCs than consoles.
Originally designed to locate personal items like keys and bags, Apple’s Airtag is a low-profile tracker that’s around 32mm in diameter and 8mm thick, meaning it’s not too much bigger than a button on an overcoat. It’s noticeably smaller than alternatives from Tile and other competitors, making it one of the only options if you want to stick it inside your handheld.
It works much like other trackers, letting you hook it up to your smartphone, boot an app, and see the location of your device. But as fun as this mod is, it comes with a wealth of caveats.
A fellow Redditor asked me about placing an Apple AirTag inside my SD. Its possible and this video shows where it can be placed. However I wont be needing an AirTag in my SD,so this was an experiment. Also I placed the AirTag upward to avoid any interference and be aware of the daughter board chips. from SteamDeck
First off, you’ll need to run an iPhone with a U1 chip to get the most out of the tech – that’s an iPhone 11 or newer. Anything older and you won’t get the full range of features. Android users have it even worse, as smartphones running Google’s operating system don’t even have access to the Find My app.
Since our Steam Deck review highlights that the handheld is a work-in-progress and already has Bluetooth and WiFi built-in, there’s every chance Valve could add a similar feature natively via an update. Otherwise, chalk this up as an entry in our wishlist for the Steam Deck 2, which Valve’s co-founder has already confirmed.