The best Bluetooth trackers for 2024

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A primary precept of the universe dictates that you’ll misplace your keys solely if you’re already late. If this occurs extra typically than you’d like, a Bluetooth tracker can assist. Connect one to your keys or stuff one in your bag (additionally they work effectively with wallets and jackets) and when you’ll be able to’t monitor one thing down, your telephone will make the tag ring till you discover it. These useful fobs also can ship alerts if you’re about to go away them behind and might faucet into huge networks of different smartphones to anonymously find misplaced objects out on the imply streets. I examined choices from all the key producers to search out one of the best Bluetooth trackers for all types of wants.

Editor’s observe 6/17/2024: Two of the trackers we advocate come from Tile, which was not too long ago the sufferer of a hacker who gained entry to buyer information together with names, bodily addresses and telephone numbers. We’re consistently re-evaluating our high picks and can take this under consideration in subsequent story updates.

Additionally, we not too long ago received our fingers on the Pebblebee Clip and Chipolo’s One Level trackers, each of which depend on Google’s new Discover My System community. We’re within the means of testing them and can replace this information as soon as we’ve completed.

What to search for in a Bluetooth monitoring system

Bluetooth trackers are small discs or playing cards that depend on short-range, low-energy wi-fi indicators to speak together with your smartphone. Connect one to your stuff and, if it’s in vary, your telephone can “ring” the chip so you’ll find it. These monitoring gadgets provide different options like separation alerts to let you know if you’ve left a tagged merchandise behind, or the place a misplaced merchandise was final detected. Some may even faucet into a bigger community of smartphones to trace down your system if you’re out of vary. Relying on what you need the tracker to do, there are just a few specs to search for when deciding which to get.

System compatibility

Like most issues from the oldsters in Cupertino, AirTags solely work with merchandise within the Apple ecosystem. The corporate has opened up entry to its Discover My community to third-party producers, together with Chipolo and Pebblebee. These finders work with Apple’s massive monitoring community, however solely pair with Apple gadgets. Chipolo’s traditional trackers will work with both Android or Apple gadgets, as will Tile trackers. Samsung’s newest fob, the Galaxy SmartTag2, solely works with Samsung telephones, however new tags from Chipolo and Pebblebee that depend on Google’s new Discover My System community will work with any Android telephone (working Android 9 or later).

Discovering community

Crowd-sourced discovering capabilities are what make headlines, with tales about recovering stolen gear or monitoring misplaced baggage throughout the globe. Utilizing nameless indicators that ping different folks’s gadgets, these Bluetooth monitoring gadgets can probably let you know the place a tagged merchandise is, even when your smartphone is out of Bluetooth vary. Apple’s Discover My community is the most important, with over a billion iPhones in service all working Apple’s Discover My app by default. So except an iPhone consumer opts out, their telephone silently acts as a location detector for any close by AirTags.

Now that Google’s Discover My System community is up and working, it’s a detailed second for the most important within the US. Like Apple, Android customers are mechanically a part of the community, however can opt-out by deciding on the Google providers possibility of their telephone’s Settings app and toggling the choice within the Discover My System menu. Samsung’s SmartTag 2 and associated community additionally defaults to an opt-in standing for locating tags and different gadgets.

Tile presents a big discovering grid, with each smartphone that runs the Tile app performing as incognito locators. After Life360 acquired Tile, the 47 million customers of that app had been added to the 50 million current Tile customers, creating a large community.

In our assessments, AirTags provided practically real-time location information and had been quickest to search out objects deserted in spots round Albuquerque, together with a bar, bookstore and low store in Nob Hill, together with varied out of doors hangouts on UNM’s campus. Tile trackers and Samsung’s SmartTags had been capable of find our misplaced objects more often than not, although not with the identical pin-point accuracy as AirTags. Chipolo’s Spot trackers function on the identical Discover My community and carry out on par with the AirTags.

Chipolo’s traditional trackers, then again, don’t have a lot of a crowd-sourced community to talk of. But as we used the trackers, the scale of the discovering community began to really feel much less vital within the face of typical, on a regular basis use circumstances. It was their capability to out-perform in each different means that boosted Chipolo’s traditional trackers to the highest of our record.

An assortment of bluetooth trackers arranged in a grid on a wooden background. Trackers include black Tile trackers in various shapes, two silver and white AirTag trackers and a round blue Chipolo tracker attached to a set of keys with a multitool key chain. — Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Separation alerts

Right here’s the place a tracker’s day-to-day utility actually shines. A separation alert lets you realize if you’ve traveled too far out of your tagged objects, which is helpful if you wish to be sure your laptop computer bag, or jacket or umbrella all the time comes with you if you depart the home.

These notifications work if you’re out and about too. Should you’ve received a Bluetooth monitoring system in your pockets and stroll out of a restaurant with out it, the separation alert ought to kick in, leading to fewer misplaced objects. This function additionally tells you the place your tagged merchandise and telephone had been final paired, permitting you to retrace your steps if you happen to occur to overlook the alert.

Every tracker handles left-behind objects in a different way. Each AirTags and Chipolo embody the function by default. Tile trackers require a yearly subscription to allow the alerts (presently $30 per 12 months). Each AirTags and Tiles let you flip off separation alerts at sure places, that means you’ll be able to set your own home as a “protected” place the place objects will be left behind, however alerts will nonetheless set off elsewhere. Chipolo doesn’t provide protected places, however you’ll be able to toggle out-of-range alerts on a per-item foundation.

In our assessments, the Chipolo despatched an alert after we received between 250 and 450 ft away from our tagged merchandise. AirTags alerted us between the 600- and 1,400-foot mark. And Tiles despatched a notification after about a median of 1,500 ft. Tile notifications weren’t constant on an iPhone, however labored effectively when working with an Android telephone.

Connectivity, quantity and design

The function chances are you’ll use most frequently is the important thing finder operate, which makes the tracker ring if you hit a button within the app. The SmartTag2, Tile, Chipolo traditional and Pebblebee trackers utilizing the Pebblebee app will even allow you to double click on the system itself to make your telephone ring. AirTags and any third social gathering tags working on both the Discover My (Apple) or Discover My System (Google) app don’t provide this function.

The quantity of the Bluetooth monitoring system might decide whether or not you’ll find an merchandise buried in your sofa cushions or in a loud room. AirTags have a fame for being on the quiet facet, and that aligned with what we noticed (measuring roughly 65 decibels). Chipolo’s keychain-style tags, each the Apple-only model and the device-agnostic model, and the Tile Slim pockets tracker had been the loudest, measuring between 83 and 85 decibels.

Design will decide what you’ll be able to connect the tracker to. AirTags are small, easy discs that may’t be secured to something with out equipment, that are quite a few, however that’s an extra price to contemplate. Each Chipolo and Tile provide trackers with holes that simply connect to your key ring, and each firms additionally provide card-shaped variations designed to slot in your pockets. Tile additionally makes Tile Stickers, that are even smaller trackers that adhere to issues like your TV’s distant.

Batteries are replaceable for AirTags, Tile Professional and Chipolo One; the primary two have a one-year battery life and the Chipolo can go as much as two years. Tile Mate and all card-shaped trackers don’t have replaceable batteries, which implies you’ll have to exchange the whole unit each time it dies. Pebblebee trackers are rechargeable and are available each a key fob and pockets selection.

Stalking and stealing

AirTags have gotten loads of consideration and even prompted some lawsuits for Apple as a consequence of unhealthy actors planting them on folks with a purpose to stalk them. Whereas this reality might not affect your shopping for determination, any dialogue of Bluetooth trackers ought to observe what steps Apple, Google and Tile have taken to deal with the problem. Final 12 months, all the key gamers within the Bluetooth tracker enterprise teamed as much as fight misuse and standardize how unauthorized monitoring detection and alerts work for iOS and Android.

Lately, Tile launched a function referred to as Anti-Theft Mode, which lets you render considered one of its trackers undetectable by others. Which means if somebody steals your tagged merchandise, they gained’t be capable of use the anti-stalking options to search out its exact location and disable the tracker. After all, that probably makes a Tile simpler to make use of as a stalking system, so with a purpose to allow the function, you must confirm your ID and comply with a $1 million penalty for misuse.

Usually, a Bluetooth tracker might or will not be the most suitable choice for combating theft. Anecdotal tales abound through which folks have recovered stolen items utilizing a tracker — however different tales are extra cautionary. Neither Apple nor Google promotes its trackers or discovering networks as a solution to cope with theft. GPS trackers, then again, are sometimes marketed for simply that objective.

How we examined

Earlier than deciding on which trackers to check, we researched the sphere, taking a look at consumer evaluations on Amazon, Greatest Purchase and different retailers, together with discussions on websites like Reddit. We additionally checked out what different publications needed to say on the matter earlier than narrowing down our picks to Apple AirTag, Tile and Chipolo trackers. When Samsung’s SmartTag 2 got here out in October of 2023, we added that to our testing, together with Pebblebee’s rechargeable Chip tracker.

Right here’s the complete record of each tracker we examined:

After buying the trackers, I examined every one over the course of some weeks utilizing each an iPhone 11 and a Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely. I recreated possible consumer experiences, reminiscent of dropping and leaving objects behind at residence and out within the metropolis. I planted trackers at completely different spots close to downtown Albuquerque, principally concentrated in and across the College of New Mexico and the encircling neighborhood of Nob Hill. Every check was carried out a number of instances, each whereas strolling and driving and I used the measure distance function on Google Maps to trace footage for alerts. I paid consideration to how simple the app was to make use of, how dependable the phone-to-tracker connection was and some other perks and downsides that got here up throughout common use.

Picture by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Arms-on testing is nice at smashing assumptions, and that’s what occurred with the Chipolo One. This tracker’s crowd-sourced discovering community can not evaluate with Apple’s AirTag or Tile. In actual fact, once I left the Chipolo for twenty-four hours simply outdoors the busy scholar union at UNM, I used to be by no means alerted {that a} member of the Chipolo neighborhood had detected my merchandise. However as I used it and pictured how most individuals would use a tracker every day, the system proved its price and earned its spot on my keyring.

The One is a small and colourful plastic disc with a gap. It really works with each Apple and Android gadgets and requires an app which is straightforward to make use of and simply pairs new trackers. The app and monitoring expertise on an iPhone and a Galaxy telephone had been practically an identical, working equally effectively on each platforms. It rang the loudest of all of the trackers, so misplaced objects had been rapidly discovered round the home. In contrast to different trackers, there was by no means a delay between urgent the Ring to Discover button and listening to the trill. The ring delay for AirTag was by no means various seconds and Tiles would usually join and ring after not more than ten seconds. Whereas that’s not a deal-breaking delay, it may add to the stress of speeding out the door.

The place the Chipolo One actually set itself aside was with its separation alerts. I might solely get a half to 2 blocks away (or a median of 350 ft) earlier than getting an alert asking if I’d forgotten an merchandise. Neither AirTag nor Tile ever beat Chipolo to the punch. The alerts had been constant whether or not I used to be forgetting an merchandise at residence, at a espresso store, or inside my automobile.

So far as dropping stuff out within the wild, it’ll get you again to the spot the place your telephone and tracker had been final paired. Which means if you happen to miss an alert or don’t have them turned on, Chipolo will provide you with instructions (through your maps app) and take you proper to the place you left your merchandise. In a single check, I had a pal disguise the tracker close by once I wasn’t wanting. I left the realm and returned hours later, utilizing the final location data to guide me inside just a few ft of the tracker’s exact location. Ringing the tracker then made it simple to search out. After all, if somebody walks off together with your tracked merchandise, the Chipolo will probably be tougher pressed that can assist you out.

Should you’re involved about misplaced baggage if you journey or if you happen to fear chances are you’ll lose issues on trains or buses, this isn’t the tracker for you due to its a lot smaller discovering community. However if you happen to’re on the lookout for a lifeless easy solution to discover your keys and ensure your jacket leaves the bar if you do, the Chipolo One is tough to beat.

Chipolo will even let you use Alexa to assist discover your keys. You may have to allow the Chipolo ability within the Alexa app and join your Chipolo account. Relying in your good residence assistant to search out your misplaced keys may make an on-time departure even simpler.

Execs

Loud ring
Quickest left-behind alerts
Inexpensive
Works with iPhone and Android

$25 at Amazon

Picture by Valentina Palladino / Engadget

AirTags work with iOS’ Discover My app, so that they don’t require any extra downloads. Should you’ve used the Discover My app earlier than, you’ll possible perceive how this works. These are the quietest of the trackers we examined and every time you press the Play Sound button, the tags solely ring for seven seconds. You’ll have to maintain urgent if you happen to don’t discover your merchandise straight away and AirTags can’t be used to ring your telephone.

As for separation alerts, AirTags had been constant, all the time delivering a “left behind” alert once I traveled about 1,200 ft away, or about three sq. blocks, with out an merchandise. You possibly can flip off separation alerts for any given tracker, in addition to designate sure places, reminiscent of your own home or office, as exceptions for the notifications.

One function that AirTags have that no different tag presents is the power to faucet into the ultra-wideband (UWB) wi-fi protocol. This lets you play a enjoyable sport of cold and hot with an merchandise when it’s inside about 25 ft of your iPhone. Directional arrows and a diminishing distance meter in your iPhone’s display level you to an merchandise with out having to ring it. This labored reliably about 75 % of the time in my assessments; typically it was simply simpler to ring the merchandise when the directional discovering couldn’t maintain a lock on the tracker.

UWB is supported by iPhone fashions 11 and later and whereas newer Galaxy and Pixel telephones additionally help UWB, no Android-compatible tracker has but been launched. In 2021, Tile introduced one that might, however has since missed its promised launch window of “early 2022.”

AirTag’s capability to find a misplaced merchandise out within the metropolis is sort of eerie. I had somebody (who was not carrying an iPhone) take my bike with a tracker hidden below the seat to a location a bit of over a half mile away. I set out a couple of minutes later and toggled on Notify When Discovered within the Discover My app. Inside three minutes, I acquired a notification that the bike had been “seen” close to an tackle. Tapping on Instructions navigates to Apple Maps, which took me to a spot about 30 ft from the bike. Had it been obscured from view, I may have then used the Discover Close by button to activate the UWB finding options. Ringing the tag was too quiet to listen to on the sidewalk.

In order for you the identical scary-precise neighborhood discovering options, however with a louder ring and a gap within the tracker, the Chipolo One Spot is a strong possibility. It doesn’t provide UWB capabilities, nevertheless, and the separation alerts are the identical as with AirTags (letting you get 1,200 ft away earlier than a ping, versus a median of 350 ft with our high rec, Chipolo One traditional).

Or, for a chargeable possibility, the Pebblebee Clip is an efficient AirTag various. True, you’ll be able to swap out the battery in Apple’s discs, however charging your tracker through USB-C each few months is perhaps simpler. The Pebblebee works with Apple’s Discover My community and has the identical setup as an AirTag. In my assessments, it was noticed simply as rapidly as Apple’s tracker, and the left-behind alerts went off about the identical distance away.

However the Pebblebee has just a few benefits over AirTags: The black disk has a built-in steel attachment level and features a small carabiner clip, so for many conditions, you gained’t want an extra accent. The Pebblebee is much louder than Apple’s tracker, too. I additionally like that if you ping it from the app, it continues ringing till you hit cease as a substitute of going silent after seven seconds. Pebblebee makes a chargeable pockets tracker as effectively, which can be simpler to slip in a billfold than the rounded AirTag. One phrase of warning, nevertheless: Should you’re going to make use of it with Discover My, don’t set it up with Pebblebee’s personal app beforehand. Should you do, you’ll should do a manufacturing unit reset earlier than it’ll work with Apple’s app.

Execs

Huge discovering community
Correct UWB for close by finding

Cons

iPhone solely
Solely rings for 7 seconds at a time
No attachment level

$25 at Walmart

Picture by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Tile will work with both Android or Apple gadgets, however the expertise is significantly better on Android. Sure connectivity points and an absence of alerts that plagued the iPhone expertise didn’t present up in assessments with the Galaxy telephone. One caveat to notice is that Tile requires a subscription to allow separation alerts. Tile Premium goes for $3 per thirty days or $30 per 12 months and contains location historical past and merchandise reimbursement of as much as $100 on objects that you just register with the corporate, they’ll additionally ship out a recent battery yearly. Tile stands out as the one tracker firm providing reimbursement — even with no subscription, they’ll pay out as much as $25 for objects that you just register with them.

The Tile Professional is a key-fob formed system with a steel keychain gap that feels sturdy. The Professional’s ring was just some decibels quieter than the Tile Mate (78 versus 82 decibels), however the connectivity vary was higher with the Professional, and it was extra correct in finder community assessments. On high of that, that is the one present Tile system with a replaceable battery, which lasts about one 12 months.

For the lost-item assessments, I had a pal take the Professional to random places. After turning on the Notify When Discovered function, an alert would arrive between 5 and ten minutes later saying my misplaced merchandise was “discovered by the neighborhood.” The map particulars had been sometimes correct inside about 100 ft or so, although it sometimes thought the Tile was at a enterprise subsequent door to the place it really was. With out the UWB function, precision discovering of an merchandise was trickier. In a single check, the tracker ended up in a loud pub. Whereas the instructions pointed me to the precise location, it might have been tough to search out the merchandise if I hadn’t noticed my pal, because the ring operate was ineffective among the many din.

Execs

Works with Android and Apple
Louder than AirTag
Discovering community is respectable

Cons

Requires a subscription for left behind alerts

$28 at Amazon

Picture by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Nothing can beat the vastness of Apple’s Discover My community, because it depends on each close by iPhone to assist find AirTags. The variety of Samsung telephones within the US could also be smaller than the variety of Apple handsets on the market, but it surely’s nonetheless important. The brand new SmartTag 2 depends on these telephones to supply a discovering community that will not greatest Apple’s, however is bigger than anything on the market for Android for the time being. After all, as soon as Google unleashes its expanded Discover My System community, all the pieces will change.

The SmartTag 2 solely works with Samsung gadgets and after testing one out with a Galaxy S23, I used to be impressed how rapidly it was capable of finding tagged objects out within the wild, although the precision didn’t fairly match that of Apple. Of all of the trackers I’ve tried, I just like the design of the SmartTag one of the best. It’s an rectangular fob with an enormous gap for attaching on to your keys, or you should buy the non-compulsory silicone case and ring Samsung presents. Its quantity is louder than the AirTag and the Tile Professional, however not as loud as both the Chipolo One or the Pebblebee Clip. You may also change the tag’s ringtone or double squeeze it to ring your handset, each issues that you would be able to’t do with AirTags.

Setup is straightforward as effectively: when you take away the plastic pull tab, your telephone senses the tracker and walks you thru the usual permissions (location providers, notifications) and warnings (don’t use the tracker on folks). The companion app, SmartThings Discover, tracks your Samsung gadgets and the SmartTag with an intuitive and clear Google Maps-based interface.

As for a way the tag works in observe, I discovered the left behind alerts triggered reliably once I received about three blocks (1,200 ft or so) away when strolling and about eight blocks away when driving. That’s far longer than Chipolo’s alerts, a bit of longer than Apple’s notifications and about on par with Tile’s left-behind function.

When the tag is out of vary and also you allow Misplaced Mode, you’ll get an alert when it’s noticed by one other Samsung telephone. The tag additionally makes use of NFC to show your contact information and a customized observe to anybody who finds the tracker, whatever the model of smartphone they carry. After all, whoever finds it might have to know to carry it to the again of their telephone to get the message, and it was tougher to set off with my iPhone when the tag was within the silicone holder.

To check the discovering community, I requested a pal (with no telephone of their pocket) to wander a half mile away with the tag. About 12 minutes after turning on Misplaced Mode, I received a message that the SmartTag was “noticed by a close-by system” with a dropped pin. I tapped Navigate within the app, which opened Google Maps and led me to a degree immediately throughout a reasonably busy road from the place my pal was standing. If I’d left the tag behind someplace I’d not too long ago been, simply seeing the placement on the map would have been sufficient to jog my reminiscence as to the place I may need dropped my stuff. But when somebody had stolen the tagged merchandise and I used to be wandering the streets attempting to get it again, vigilante type, it might not have been exact sufficient to assist. It will not be as correct because the iPhone-and-AirTag combo, however the SmartTag 2 is a strong entry within the Bluetooth tracker market and a superb possibility when you’ve got a Samsung telephone.

Execs

Discovering community is massive
Enticing and helpful design

Cons

Solely works with Samsung telephones

$28 at Amazon

Picture by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

The Tile Slim is louder than each the Professional and the Mate, and practically equals the loudest tracker we examined, the Chipolo One. It really works with each Android and Apple gadgets and its thick bank card form suits within the slots of a typical pockets (although it typically gained’t join when inside an RFID-blocking pockets). The separation alerts you’ll get if you happen to pay for a Tile subscription activate at about the identical distance because the Tile Professional, letting you get round 1,500 ft away earlier than pinging you a couple of left-behind merchandise. When utilizing an iPhone with Tile trackers, separation alerts not often got here and connectivity between the telephone and tracker was spotty at greatest, even in shut proximity. Should you use an iPhone, the Chipolo Card Spot is equally loud, runs on Apple’s huge Discover My community and persistently offers you a left-behind alert at round 1,200 ft.

Execs

Loud ring
Works with iPhone and Android

Cons

Has bother with RFID-blocking wallets
Spotty reference to iPhones

$35 at Amazon

Bluetooth tracker FAQs

Which Bluetooth tracker has the longest vary?

Each the Tile Professional and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 declare a most vary of round 400 ft, which is longer than the 200-foot declare for many of Chipolo’s tags. Apple doesn’t make comparable claims for AirTags. Any Bluetooth sign, nevertheless, depends on just a few components. Obstacles like partitions and other people can block the sign, so a transparent line of sight is the one solution to obtain the utmost vary. Different indicators, like Wi-Fi, also can intervene with Bluetooth connections. Even excessive humidity can have an impact and reduce the space at which your telephone will hook up with your tracker.

Bear in mind, when contemplating the vary of Bluetooth trackers, the scale of the “discovering community” additionally comes into play. That is the variety of close by telephones that can be utilized to anonymously ping your tracker when your individual telephone is out of Bluetooth vary. As of now, Apple AirTags have the most important community, adopted by Google’s Discover My System, Samsung’s discovering neighborhood, Tile’s Life360 members and at last Chipolo’s personal community.

What’s the greatest Bluetooth tracker for a automobile?

Bluetooth trackers are designed to trace small, private objects like keys, jackets, backpacks and the like. All trackers have safeguards to ban the tag from getting used to stalk folks, so most will alert somebody if a tracker that doesn’t belong to them is detected following them. Which means a automobile thief might get tipped off that there’s a tracker within the automobile they’re attempting to steal. That mentioned, you’ll see loads of tales about folks discovering their automobile because of a Bluetooth tracker. Some police departments have even handed out trackers to fight excessive charges of carjacking. In most situations, the tracker of alternative has been AirTags because of their huge discovering community.

How correct are Bluetooth trackers?

Accuracy for Bluetooth trackers will be checked out in two methods: Discovering objects close by and discovering objects misplaced outdoors your own home. For close by objects, you’ll most frequently use the ring operate on the system to hunt it down. Two tags, Apple’s AirTags and Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag2, additionally use ultra-wideband know-how, which creates directional navigation in your telephone to get you inside a foot of the tracker.

Precisely discovering misplaced objects outdoors your own home relies on the scale of the discovering community. Since this depends on the serendipity of a random telephone passing inside Bluetooth vary of your tracker, the extra telephones on a given community, the higher. And since Bluetooth ranges and distance estimates are solely exact inside a couple of meter or so, getting pings from a couple of telephone will assist finding objects. Right here once more, it’s price noting that Apple’s FindMy community is the most important, adopted by Google, Samsung, Tile and Chipolo (each Chipolo and Pebblebee have fobs that work with the Apple and Google networks).