Tracker Never Walk Away From Your Stuff Again
The enquiry
- How nosotros picked and tested
- Our choice if you have an iPhone: Apple AirTag
- Flaws but not dealbreakers
- Our selection if you have an Android phone: Tile
- What to look frontward to
- What near privacy and security?
- The competition
How nosotros picked and tested
Over the past few years, we've tested more than a dozen Bluetooth trackers. The major players in this category are well known. But to make sure nosotros didn't miss any, during our enquiry for a previous version of this guide, we turned to Amazon and Google. The latter search turned upwardly some bully comparative reviews from Tom'due south Guide, The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Wired, and Yahoo.
Hither'south what we look for in a great Bluetooth tracker:
- Network size: Most Bluetooth trackers can employ other phones that have the tracker's app installed to silently and privately search for your lost objects. The more than people who employ a platform, the better your chances of recovering your lost stuff.
- Precision finding: Once you know the general location of your lost tracker, narrowing downwards exactly where information technology'south hiding is the central to finding it. Trackers use a combination of physical speakers and digital apps to help you locate your belongings.
- Size: A tracker that's too obtrusive to deport around with yous or to attach to the affair yous want to track is useless. Smaller and lighter is amend.
- Range: The longer the range, the farther you tin be from the tracker and still be able to find your lost particular.
- Volume: If y'all're virtually your tracker but can't hear it, that's no good. Despite having little space for a speaker, some of these tin get quite loud.
- Other features: A replaceable battery isn't absolutely required, but it'due south a big plus. We also prefer trackers that can trigger an alarm on your phone. An app that is easy to navigate and updates location data quickly is of import likewise.
Prior to the 2021 introduction of Apple'south AirTag, the near important test we conducted was to determine each tracker's potential range—how far away from the tracker nosotros could move a paired smartphone earlier nosotros lost the Bluetooth connectedness. In 2019, we tested the range in Wirecutter'southward 190-foot-long part in Long Island Urban center, New York. We set each tracker on a shelf, triggered it to ring, and so walked away with our paired iPhone while noting the distance using a measuring bicycle. Once the tracker's smartphone app showed the tracker equally out of range—or nosotros physically hitting the wall—nosotros recorded the altitude. We repeated this test at to the lowest degree five times per tracker and calculated the boilerplate distance for each across the measurements. Because AirTags leverage a much larger network and are more precise once you're in range, nosotros however test the effective distance, but it's not every bit important.
Our pick if you have an iPhone: Apple AirTag
Our pick
If you use an iPhone and want to track your stuff, Apple'due south AirTag is hands the best option. Compared with the competition, this tracker has two singled-out strengths that make information technology our top option: The AirTag utilizes Apple'south huge network of devices to help in finding the surface area where you left your lost item, and precision tracking makes information technology easier for yous to locate the exact spot. Taken together, these two features hateful you're more likely to find what you're looking for with the AirTag than with whatever other Bluetooth tracking arrangement.
Apple isn't the showtime company to utilize a oversupply-finding network for tracking purposes, only with a billion devices, its network has by far the largest number of devices that tin can expect for your stuff. Since 2019, Apple's Detect My app has used Bluetooth in every iPhone, iPad, and Mac that'south on the network to passively and anonymously notice lost iPhones, Macs, and even contacts who share their location. At present AirTags can use the same organization to written report the location of any item yous adhere them to. In applied terms, this means if you lot exit your AirTag-equipped keys at the coffee shop, for example, every bit long as someone there at some point has an Apple device, the keys' location will be reported to y'all (and the person with the iPhone or other Apple device who identified it volition never know). Although Tile's trackers work the same way, they do so on a far smaller scale—it'southward much more than likely that the customer sitting ane table over has an iPhone than a Tile.
The other key feature of the AirTag works once y'all know your tracker's general location. Similar the iPhone 11 and 12 series, AirTags support a wireless connexion known as Ultra Wideband, which allows for precision locating at relatively brusque distances. Once you're in the general vicinity of your AirTag (say, the coffee store where yous left your keys), you can tap the Find button in the Find My app. The app then shows you the direction and distance to the AirTag in question, and your phone vibrates as yous get closer and allows you to play a sound to assistance in your search. In our testing the AirTag'due south tracking signal took a moment to lock on, just once it did we were thoroughly impressed by the system's accuracy.
Compared with Tile'south trackers, AirTags have a much shorter Bluetooth range. Apple doesn't state whatever specific figures, but we institute that the tracker maintained a connectedness to our exam iPhone for just thirty feet or and then. On the face of it, that doesn't sound smashing, just wandering around your office or domicile looking for your keys isn't that dissimilar from using a Tile with a 100-foot range. And nosotros think Apple tree's much, much larger crowd-finding network and precision locating are more of import factors, since that'southward what will brand it more likely that you'll recover stuff you've truly lost.
With its sleeky, white plastic forepart and metal back, the AirTag looks and feels a lot similar a pivot-dorsum button y'all might put on a jean jacket or backpack. The diameter is a petty larger than a quarter, and the tracker is actually about a millimeter or ii thicker than many iPhones, although its curved pattern makes it experience thinner. You have the choice to add together custom engraving when you order from Apple tree, with up to four characters (letters and/or numbers) or selected emoji; if you buy the four-pack, you can become different text on each. Noticeably absent-minded is any sort of attachment machinery such as a key-ring hole or adhesive back. Instead, you have to buy an actress accessory. Of grade, Apple sells a handful of its own, and plenty of third-party companies sell all sorts of designs, likewise.
If you lose an AirTag (or an item containing or attached to one), you lot can use the Find My app or enquire Siri to trigger an audible alert from the AirTag. The tune plays for almost half-dozen seconds, with a repeating series of beeps. We found both the tone and the volume sufficient to help usa observe the AirTag when it was hidden around our testing space, comparable to what we've experienced with Tile trackers. If your AirTag is cached under a pile of clothes, for example, you may not hear it, but the tone should otherwise exist aural as long as you're in the aforementioned room.
Cheers to Apple tree's control over both the hardware (the iPhone or iPad and the AirTag) and the software, the setup process to activate a new AirTag is foolproof. When you unpack a new AirTag and identify it next to your phone or tablet, a pop up appears on your screen, much like when y'all're pairing a set up of AirPods or an Apple Watch. Once you tap Connect, you lot can set a name for the AirTag and register it to your Apple tree ID. There are no settings or menus, and the unabridged process takes nether a minute. Tile's setup isn't whatsoever more hard, only you do need to manually launch the Tile app first, which is an extra step.
You rail and manage your AirTags in Apple'southward Observe My app, where you tin can come across the location and options for each tag. Yous tin besides rename or remove an AirTag on this screen, with the latter option resetting it completely, unpairing it from your Apple ID and allowing someone else to utilize it as if it were new. Up to 16 AirTags can exist connected to an account.
One surprising but much-appreciated feature: Each AirTag runs on a removable, user-replaceable battery. It'due south the but Apple-designed product to make the process easy. When the bombardment runs low (Apple tree says you lot should wait nearly a twelvemonth out of information technology, roughly the same as a Tile bombardment), the Find My app notifies you, and you can bandy in a new CR2032 battery past twisting off the AirTag's metal back, removing the old battery, and popping the new one in. Even with this accessible pattern, AirTags are IP67 rated, so they should survive existence under i meter of h2o for up to 30 minutes, although Apple tree warns: "Splash, water, and dust resistance are not permanent weather condition and resistance might decrease as a result of normal vesture."
You can tap any relatively contempo iPhone or Android phone against an AirTag, which will trigger a website showing the serial number of the tracker and instructions on how to disable information technology (by removing the battery). The wireless connectedness that happens here is the same kind—near-field communication, or NFC—that lets you lot tap an iPhone or Apple Watch virtually a store's payment terminal to use Apple Pay. In this case, NFC serves to place lost goods attached to the tracker, or to help you determine whether someone might be using the AirTag to track you without your knowledge. If the AirTag has been set to lost way, the owner'south phone number will appear on your screen so that you can call them to return their lost particular.
In fall 2021, Apple updated the AirTags's firmware to include separation alerts, which notify you if y'all exit your keys behind, for case. This is a common feature amongst Bluetooth trackers, simply it was omitted when the AirTags start launched. It's very well implemented here. You can toggle the alerts on and off per device, and y'all tin set exceptions—say, if y'all don't demand to be alerted every fourth dimension you leave home without your AirTag-armed haversack—with pocket-sized, medium, or large separation radiuses, depending on the sensitivity level you need.
Flaws only non dealbreakers
Different Tile'south trackers (and some others), the AirTag doesn't have any style to band your phone if it's nearby. So if information technology's your iPhone that's lost, you lot'll have to rely on the Notice My app on another Apple device to detect it.
There's no mode to share an AirTag with another person because the tracker can be associated with only one Apple ID, even if you lot use Apple tree'south Family Sharing plan. If you share a set of keys with a partner or roommate, for instance, only one of you will be able to rail them in the Find My app.
Because AirTags don't accept any way to attach to your stuff directly, the bodily price is college than the price of the tracker itself, unless you programme on simply tossing 1 loose into a bag or pocket. Apple's primal rings and loops all cost at to the lowest degree equally much as a single AirTag, effectively doubling the price (not to mention the company'due south $300 to $450 Hermès models, which we are linking to only so that you believe us). Plainly, you can save quite a bit past buying from a third-party accessory maker. We'll be testing some holders shortly and including a few of our favorites in an update to this guide.
Our pick if yous have an Android phone: Tile
Our choice
AirTags don't work with Android phones, but that doesn't hateful not-Apple folks don't take a good tracker selection. Tile'southward Bluetooth trackers, including the Tile Mate (2022), the Tile Slim (2022), and the Tile Sticker (2022) (also available packed together in the Tile Essentials packet), are the adjacent virtually popular, so they accept the second-largest oversupply-finding network. They also offer impressive range and alert volume, and are sized and shaped in more convenient ways: You tin can put a Tile Mate on a keychain without buying an extra holder, slip a Tile Slim into your wallet, or attach a Tile Sticker to whatever flat surface.
If your Tile is out of Bluetooth range, yous can view a map displaying its location the last fourth dimension your telephone fabricated contact with it. If your phone is no longer at that location—or if you're worried that information technology won't be—you lot tin can mark the item every bit lost, which invokes Tile's oversupply-finding feature. Tile tells us it has sold more forty million trackers. That doesn't mean all of them are currently active, and a big portion likely aren't; early on Tile trackers didn't accept replaceable batteries, which meant the entire device had to be replaced annually. And so the total number of Tile units that make up its crowd-finding network is a tiny fraction of Apple'south. According to the visitor'due south figures, however, "millions of items" are institute daily, and of those marked every bit lost, Tile says 90% are found.
AirTags come in but one round, push button-like design, simply the Tile line offers more options. The Tile Mate has the most full general-purpose design, with an opening in the top-left corner that lets you attach a keychain, lanyard, or similar tether. It'south a round-cornered foursquare that'southward around 1.49 inches across and 0.28 inches thick—smaller than a matchbook. The Tile Slim is designed to slide easily into a wallet; information technology's in the shape of a credit card, and at 2.5 millimeters, information technology's as thick as three of them. The Tile Sticker is roughly the size of five quarters stacked, and the small, circular tracker sticks with adhesive to whatever you lot want to track. This makes the Sticker a proficient option for anything that doesn't have a key ring or tether, and considering this tracker is so small, yous can adhere it in a discreet spot.
In our distance test, all four Tile variations offered impressive range. We placed them at one end of Wirecutter'due south 190-foot-long office, and all remained connected to our phone equally we walked to the other end. We were able to hear them chirping from that far, too, which means you'll likely be able to hear them in most houses or apartments (190 feet is more than double the length of a basketball court).
While the previous-generation Tile Mate ran on a user-replaceable CR1632 lithium bombardment, the newest edition has a sealed-in bombardment that'due south supposed to final for upwards to three years. Tile insists that the tracker is recyclable at the end of its life, merely we tin't help only encounter this as a step astern in terms of hardware longevity. Unfortunately, neither the Tile Slim nor the Tile Sticker use a replaceable battery either, though Tile says their batteries also last for up to three years. (The Tile Pro has a replaceable bombardment that should concluding you almost a year earlier you lot'll need a new ane.) The entire Tile lineup is rated IP67, then each tracker is protected against dust and should survive beingness submerged in water upwards to 1 meter deep for up to 30 minutes.
The Tile Mate, the Tile Pro, and the Tile Slim now take QR codes on the dorsum that read, "Scan me if found." When scanned, a website that says the attached item is lost pops up on the finder'south phone; doing so sends the Tile's location to its owner. The owner tin can besides choose to put the Tile in lost mode and share their phone number and a message so that the finder tin can text or call them to return what's been lost.
Tile offers Tile Premium, an optional, $iii-per-month (or $30-per-year) subscription plan that covers every bit many Tiles equally yous own. The service includes free bombardment replacements shipped to you each year (for the Tile Mate and the Tile Pro), an extended warranty (from 1 yr to three), and SMS-based support. On the software side, it offers a 30-24-hour interval location history, unlimited sharing of your Tile trackers' locations, and smart alerts that permit y'all know when you've left abode without any of your Tiles. (The last characteristic is based on inbound your home accost, and in our testing we could become a third of a mile away before receiving the alert, which isn't super handy.) Aside from separation notifications, Apple doesn't provide any of these features with an AirTag. For $100 a year, Tile also offers Premium Protect, which has the same features plus a $one,000-per-year reimbursement for (most) registered items that are lost. Tile Premium is an unnecessary expense for well-nigh people, but Premium Protect may be worth the investment if you're tracking something valuable.
Setting up any Tile is unproblematic: Instead of having to get into your phone's Settings bill of fare to add the Tile, the Tile app (Android, iOS) handles everything. You simply launch the app, tap a button to add together a new Tile, and press firmly on the Tile'due south center push when prompted. If you have an iPhone, Apple tree's AirTag setup may be a little more automatic, but both processes are fast and simple.
In the app, y'all can name each Tile whatever y'all like and add together a photo; for example, if you take a Tile Mate in your backpack, yous tin add a photo of the backpack for that particular Tile. Yous can view your devices—all Tiles, your paired phone, and any other phones and tablets running the Tile app under your account—in list or map manner. Y'all can pair an unlimited number of Tiles with a phone, but simply four Tiles can actively communicate with an Android phone (via Bluetooth) at once. An unlimited number of Tiles can communicate with an Apple device at once.
Tiles accept less precision than AirTags over brusque distances because they use a standard grade of Bluetooth, without the layer of Ultra Wideband technology that makes the Find My app and then accurate. In oral testimony to Congress (PDF) presented by its general counsel Kirsten Daru in April 2021, Tile said it had developed a product that uses Ultra Wideband technology but that Apple was preventing compatibility with iPhones.
What to look forward to
Chipolo unveiled a credit menu-sized version of its Find My-compatible tracker called Chipolo Carte Spot. Designed to fit in your wallet, the tracker is similar to the Tile Slim, but works with Apple's larger network. We'll be testing it when information technology's released.
Tile announced in October 2021 that an Ultra Wideband version of the Tile Pro volition brainstorm shipping in early 2022. Unlike Apple's AirTags, the revamped Tile Pro volition work with both iOS and Android operating systems, allowing any smartphone user to track their lost items with precision. Pricing and an exact release appointment accept not yet been revealed.
Apple issued a statement with a number of forthcoming changes to the Find My and AirTag ecosystem meant to help protect against unwanted tracking. Some of the updates are more passive, including new privacy warnings telling you non to stem people, fixing a bug that acquired the system to brandish "unknown accompaniment detected" when unknown AirTags are with you lot, and new documentation. An update to the iPhone's precision finding organisation that shows where unwanted AirTags are, and an alert on your screen aslope an unwanted AirTags beep, seem similar more meaningful improvements. No set appointment has been given for these changes.
What near privacy and security?
Striking a residual between privacy and security with an item meant to track your stuff is difficult, and a device that tracks your location presents a number of concerns. Beyond the worry nigh what the tracker maker does with your location data, at that place'southward also the potential for intentional misuse and abuse by bad actors. Apple tree and Tile take different approaches on both fronts.
Apple says it designed the AirTag with privacy in mind. Considering the location information is encrypted stop-to-terminate, no ane other than y'all—non even Apple—tin can encounter where your AirTag is. Dorsum when Apple fabricated the AirTag announcement and released the details, the company as well outlined the device'south built-in protections intended to preclude AirTags from enabling certain types of abuse. For example, if someone tries to runway you surreptitiously by throwing an AirTag into your bag, your iPhone (if you use i) volition observe a foreign tracker following you effectually and send you an alert. If you're an Android user, you lot tin download the free Tracker Discover app to scan for AirTags that may be surreptitiously spying on you lot. Co-ordinate to CNET, the AirTag will showtime beeping inside eight to 24 hours of being separated from the owner's telephone (down from three days when the tracker first launched). The Washington Mail service (subscription required), which extensively tested the AirTag privacy features with iPhones under that three-twenty-four hours window, concluded that the features Apple added to limit stalking may non deter bad beliefs as much as i might promise. A New York Times written report notes, "In contempo months, people take posted on TikTok, Reddit and Twitter well-nigh finding AirTags on their cars and in their belongings." Vice had like findings when combing through law reports. If your secretly AirTagged item is stolen instead of lost, the thief may get the warning and could, theoretically, disable the tracking or just throw away the AirTag.
Tile released a "Scan and Secure" feature to its mobile app that allows yous to manually scan for nearby Tile devices, which is similar to the AirTag app for Android. To scan for an unknown Tile device, you lot'll need to download the app, accept permissions requests for either Bluetooth or location, and so drive (or walk) around for ten minutes earlier you become a report on whether or not a Tile tracker is traveling with you.
Tile representatives have told u.s.a. that the company uses your phone's location information in four ways: determining where yous are in relation to your stuff, periodically determining the location of each tracker, noting your location if you're in range of someone else's lost tracker, and (if you contact Tile'south support staff) determining the approximate location of your computer or other device by IP address. We don't think any of these uses is particularly invasive for a device that you're purchasing to locate yous and your lost items, and Tile told u.s.a. it doesn't "utilize revenue generating advertising in our products or services that could give tertiary parties access to certain information for monetary gain."
We combed through the privacy policies of both companies and reached out with clarifying questions near our most disquisitional concerns regarding these types of trackers. Here's how they compare:
| AirTags | Tile | |
| Is the tracker'south location attainable by the manufacturer? | No | Aye |
| Is location data in the customs item-finding networks anonymized and encrypted? | Aye | Yes |
| Do you lot sell or share customer data or location data with third parties? | No | No |
| Have there been any known information breaches in the past two years? | No | No |
| Is the privacy policy readable? | Yes | No |
The competition
Chipolo'south Ane Spot uses Apple's Discover My network, meaning it'due south merely as likely that someone'south iPhone volition anonymously discover your lost tracker as it is with an AirTag. Just the One Spot has merely ane advantage over the AirTag—a keychain hole as role of its blueprint—and a number of disadvantages. It doesn't take the precise finding capabilities, information technology's not as resistant to the elements, and it's physically larger. Unlike the Chipolo One (2020) (which is physically identical only uses Chipolo's crowd-finding network instead of Apple's), the One Spot can't be used to trigger an alert on your phone, nor can it let you know if you've left something behind. There's no reason to choose the One Spot over the AirTag, specially since they cost almost the same.
The Tile Pro (2022) is a more expensive and slightly larger, fob-shaped version of the Tile tracker, with a longer range. Tile says this model volition stay continued for upwards to 400 anxiety, or 40 feet longer than the length of a football field. In our tests the Tile Pro remained connected for the entire length of our 190-pes function. Though a longer range is better, nosotros've concluded that in well-nigh whatsoever scenario around a dwelling house or role, the Tile Mate is sufficient. If your business firm is longer than 400 feet, yous can swing the actress $10 for the Tile Pro. The Pro is too the but current Tile tracker that uses a replaceable battery, just it lasts only one year, compared to the other models' three.
Orbit offers a number of tracker styles, including the Orbit Glasses tracker, which fits on eyeglasses or sunglasses, and the Orbit Card, a card-style tracker that's even thinner than the Tile Slim. They're intriguing if you need tracking in those specific designs, but unfortunately the Orbit network is merely too express for us to recommend choosing Orbit over Tile. Anecdotally, I lost a pair of sunglasses that were outfitted with the Orbit Glasses tracker in busy and tech-heavy New York City. And despite mark them as lost in the app in hopes of an Orbit user passing past and finding them, I never received a find that the sunglasses were found. Additionally, I wasn't alerted when the Orbit Menu was running depression on bombardment power, which could potentially lead to a lost wallet with no way to find it.
Cube offers 3 designs of its tracker: the Cube, the Cube Pro, and the Cube Shadow, the last of which is a slim, wallet-friendly size. Though the Cube Shadow promises the aforementioned range as the Tile Slim, the Cube and Cube Pro offering half the range of the Tile Mate and Tile Pro, respectively, and the unabridged Cube family has a smaller crowd-finding network than Tile's trackers.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-bluetooth-tracker/
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