Apple’s AirPods are wireless Bluetooth earbuds and one of the best in the system currently. The variant available is the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.
To connect your AirPods to your devices you’d need to spot them via Bluetooth.
This would be required that the paired devices have to be somewhere without your vicinity for your pairing to work. In terms of tracking, when your AirPods are connected to one of your Apple devices, you can absolutely track down their location.
This is so if it happens that your AirPods have been removed from their case but are still within Bluetooth and the paired device’s proximity. Additionally, you can only track if they have enough battery power and are still on.
The Find My app is what you can use to locate your AirPods. It also allows you to play a sound to help you find the exact location they are at, if you lost them in a small group, like home or other close-ranged places.
If your AirPods happen not to be connected to the internet, the Find My would only display their last known position and would not provide other tracking options.
Can someone track me with an AirPod?
Unless you’re using stolen AirPods, no one can track you with an AirPod. The find my app is used alongside the Bluetooth connection to find AirPods that have originally been stolen.
This means you can track someone else using an AirPod only if the AirPod was originally yours and is linked to your device and your iCloud.