If you’ve ever cursed at an AirTag’s one-year battery life while juggling keys, luggage and the general chaos of modern adulthood, Elevation Lab has an answer that feels like a small, sensible rebellion: a shrunken version of its TimeCapsule enclosure that swaps the tiny CR2032 coin cell for two AAA batteries and promises years of life instead of months. The new version is roughly half the size of the original TimeCapsule and, according to coverage and the company’s product pages, is designed to keep an AirTag powered for about five years while keeping the tag sealed against water and dirt.

The idea is grimly clever and mechanically simple. Instead of replacing the AirTag’s coin cell as Apple intends, you drop the AirTag inside the TimeCapsule, set the AirTag’s internals on a custom contact, add the two AAA cells, and screw the case shut. That contact supplies power in place of the CR2032. Elevation Lab’s documentation and reviewers say the enclosure preserves the AirTag’s Bluetooth and UWB signals because the case is made from a fiber-reinforced polycarbonate composite designed not to attenuate radio performance. The company also leans on IP69 ingress protection — one of the strictest waterproof/dustproof ratings consumer accessories commonly claim — so the whole thing is meant to live on wet camping gear, luggage and bikes without complaint.

There are numbers attached to the takeaway: the compact AAA TimeCapsule costs $19.99 as a single unit, and Elevation Lab (and retail listings) have bundled pricing that drops the per-unit cost significantly — you can find four-packs priced around $39.99 in the company’s store and major retailers. Elevation Lab and reviewers recommend Energizer Ultimate Lithium cells for the job; the firm specifically points to those lithium AA/AAA batteries because they hold voltage longer and are far less likely to leak if left in place for years — a sensible precaution if you’re planning to forget about the thing for half a decade.

Of course, there are trade-offs. The TimeCapsule adds real bulk and weight: the company and press measurements put a loaded TimeCapsule at around 1.9 ounces (the AirTag is 0.39 ounces on its own), and you’ll be carrying something closer to a tiny bar of soap than the thin puck Apple sells. The enclosure also muffles the AirTag’s little chirp — reviewers estimate the sound’s volume drops by roughly a third inside the case — which matters because the chirp is a functional feature, not a novelty. If someone’s phone flags an unknown AirTag moving with them, the Find My app gives the option to play a sound so the tag can be located; a muffled buzzer makes that more awkward.

That muffling ties into an important safety and ethics note: Apple has built protections into AirTags to reduce misuse — unwanted-tracking alerts, the ability to play a sound on an unknown tag, and periodic firmware updates to make the alert tones more noticeable. Anything you do to reduce the audible volume of a tracker — intentionally or not — can blunt those safety measures. If you’re buying a TimeCapsule to keep track of your own gear, that’s a fine trade for long battery life and waterproofing; if the goal is to hide a device on a person or vehicle, the device’s tamper could mean the sound meant to alert someone is less effective. Apple’s help pages still advise playing a sound to locate an unknown tracker and outline the steps victims should take.

There’s also a practical question about warranties and tinkering. Apple’s support documentation describes replacing the CR2032 coin cell as the supported user-serviceable action, but the company doesn’t explicitly endorse third-party enclosures that replace the battery contact. Elevation Lab’s approach requires removing the AirTag’s back and battery and seating the tag on a contact in the TimeCapsule; that kind of hardware modification could complicate Apple support or warranty claims if something goes wrong. If warranty status matters to you, the safest move is to check Apple’s current terms or ask a support rep before you make a permanent hardware change.

So who should consider this tiny, rugged coffin for your tracker? It’s a tidy answer for people who use AirTags as long-term trackers on things they rarely open — think travel rigs, permanently mounted bike tags, equipment cases, or seasonal gear you stash and forget. For those use cases, five years of battery life and an IP69 seal beats annual coin-cell swaps and the constant anxiety of “did I bring a spare?” On the flip side, if you rely on the AirTag’s click-and-chirp to find things in cushions and jackets or if you worry about safety features being less audible, the extra years may not be worth the compromise.

The TimeCapsule’s existence also highlights a broader point about consumer electronics: often, the simplest bits of user frustration — short batteries, fragile enclosures, and the awkwardness of replacing tiny cells — are the ones third-party makers can solve best. Elevation Lab didn’t try to redesign the AirTag’s software or the Find My network; it simply looked at the AirTag’s weakest link and offered a pragmatic mechanical fix. That’s why these accessories land in the gray area between clever and contentious: they’re undeniably useful for many real people, but they change the device in ways Apple didn’t design for and that can alter some of its safety behavior.

If you decide to buy one, the basics are straightforward: buy the TimeCapsule from Elevation Lab or a reputable retailer, use high-quality lithium AAA cells as recommended, and be mindful of where you attach the boxed AirTag — locations where someone could reasonably hear the chirp are better for safety. And if you’re ever unsure whether the modification is right for a particular use case — say, something involving a person or a vehicle — err on the side of preserving the AirTag’s original exposure and audible behavior. The long battery life is tempting, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the features Apple built to protect people.