While we're here, I have an ask (of anyone). I want the same exact thing you said, except for an outdoor dog on a large property.

I would like a tag that just records its own GPS coordinates locally on-device, every so often, and then when my dog comes home, I can check where she's been.

Does this exist?

They are called GPS trackers or GPS loggers. You can find some that save coordinates to a microSD card and optionally send the location via cellular connection for about 10 dollars on AliExpress.

Any cheap Garmin watch should do the trick

And if you want to spend more, Garmin even makes a range of dog tracking equipment: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/965617

You know honestly? I have thought of using a XOSS cycling computer (https://www.amazon.com/XOSS-Speedometer-Accessories-Waterpro...).

I have used them before on various bikes and they work just fine. Battery life is about 25 hours, it is weather resistant, and then you can sync them after you record an activity. And at less than $30, if it gets lost, it isn't the worst thing in the world.

You could definitely use meshtastic devices to do this

My dog has a Fi GPS/cellular collar. You could just get that and leave it on at night and it would show you where your dog wanders around.

This person specifically wants offline.

I have a TK913 GPS tracker for my ebike, which is configured to send location reports to my server running Traccar[1]. I'm very happy with the setup, it Just Works. I can check where my bike is at any point from the web UI from my phone. It supports A LOT[2] of these cellular-enabled GPS trackers.

[1] https://www.traccar.org/

[2] https://www.traccar.org/devices/

i tried that except damn cat figured out how to take its collar off every time

> but Apple decided to encrypt it.

Yes. As part of a major effort to reduce the abuse potential of AirTags, something that people have been very justifiably demanding.

Ah yes.

The data that is already displayed in my GUI, is now encrypted on my disk that I have full access to. Got it. /s

I think the concern could be that someone other than you might have access to your disk or computer.

Perhaps some people in a uniform could get access to that computer, physically or otherwise, and then have access to lots of interesting location histories from it, and they may not have your best interests in mind.

That's what disk encryption is for.

Apple devices got full disk encryption enabled by default many years ago. Even before Apple Silicon