For those who’ve ever missed an on-time departure due to a set of misplaced keys or misplaced pockets, you’ll profit from a Bluetooth tracker. These small units connect to your stuff and use your smartphone to maintain tabs on the place they’re. AirTags are one of the best recognized within the class, tapping right into a discovering community created by way of nameless iPhone pings within the space. Google now has the same community utilizing close by Android telephones, and Samsung has its personal community that employs Galaxy telephones. Some third-party trackers work with both Google or Apple’s community and provide extra options in addition. We examined trackers from Apple, Tile, Pebblebee, Samsung and Chipolo, evaluating their discovering capabilities, sound ranges, reliability and design. We predict the Chipolo Pop is one of the best Bluetooth tracker for most individuals, however just a few different trackers have their deserves as properly.
What to search for in a Bluetooth monitoring machine
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 considered one of these devices your stuff and, if it’s in vary, your telephone can “ring” the chip so you’ll find it. These monitoring units provide different options like separation alerts to let you know whenever 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 machine whenever 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 parents in Cupertino, AirTags solely work with merchandise within the Apple ecosystem. Each Apple and Google have opened up entry to the Discover My and Discover My System networks to third-party producers, together with Chipolo and Pebblebee. These two firms make device-agnostic fashions that may work with the bigger monitoring community from both model, so iPhone and Android customers should purchase the identical tag. Tile trackers work with both Android or Apple units, however use Tile’s personal Life 360 discovering community. Samsung’s newest fob, the Galaxy SmartTag2, solely works with Samsung telephones and faucets right into a discovering system that depends on different Samsung units to find misplaced tags.
Discovering community
Crowd-sourced discovering capabilities are what make headlines, with tales about recovering stolen equipment or monitoring misplaced baggage across the globe. Utilizing nameless indicators that ping different individuals’s units, these Bluetooth monitoring units 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 biggest, with over a billion iPhones and iPads in service all operating Apple’s Discover My app by default. So until an iPhone person opts out, their telephone silently acts as a location detector for any close by AirTags. Apple just lately elevated the AirTag’s discovering energy by enabling you to share the location of a lost tag with a 3rd celebration, celebration, like an airline. Chipolo fobs that work on Apple’s community have the identical means. Google launched its Discover My System community in 2024 and it’s an in depth second for the biggest within the US
Now that Google’s Discover My System community is up and running, it’s an in depth second for the biggest within the US. Like Apple, Android customers are robotically a part of the community, however can opt-out by deciding on the Google companies 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 units.
Tile presents a big discovering grid that features Tile customers, Amazon Sidewalk clients and folks operating the Life360 community. Life360 acquired Tile in 2021, and, in line with the corporate, the Life360 community has greater than 70 million month-to-month energetic customers.
In our exams, AirTags and third-party tags utilizing its community, just like the Chipolo Pop and Pebblebee Clip Common, have been the quickest to trace down misplaced objects. They provided almost real-time location knowledge in reasonably to closely trafficked spots round Albuquerque, together with a bar, bookstore and low retailers in Nob Hill, together with varied out of doors hangouts on UNM’s campus.
Samsung’s SmartTags have been capable of find our misplaced objects more often than not, although not with the identical precision discovering accuracy as AirTags. Once we examined Google’s Find My Device network proper after launch, it was noticeably slower than Apple’s community when utilizing the neighborhood discovering function. Testing it once more in 2025, the time it took to find a misplaced merchandise was significantly improved, taking only a couple minutes for the neighborhood to trace a fob. In our exams, Tile’s discovering community wasn’t capable of persistently find its misplaced fobs.
Separation alerts
Right here’s the place a tracker’s day-to-day utility actually shines. A separation alert lets whenever you’ve traveled too far out of your tagged objects, which is beneficial if you wish to ensure that your laptop bag, or jacket or umbrella all the time comes with you whenever you depart the home.
These notifications work whenever you’re out and about too. For those who’ve bought a Bluetooth monitoring machine 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 have been final paired, permitting you to retrace your steps in the event you occur to overlook the alert.
Every tracker handles left-behind objects in a different way. AirTags and third-party fobs utilizing its community (equivalent to from Chipolo or Pebblebee) embrace the function by default. Tile trackers require a yearly subscription to allow the alerts (at the moment $30 yearly). Tags working with the Google Discover My System community don’t provide the function in any respect, however Chipolo Pop tags can challenge left-behind alerts utilizing its personal Android app. Each AirTags and Tiles help you flip off separation alerts at sure areas, that means you’ll be able to set your house as a “secure” place the place objects might be left behind, however alerts will nonetheless set off elsewhere.
In our exams, AirTags and others utilizing the Discover My community alerted us between the 600- and 1,400-foot mark. Tiles despatched a notification after about a median of 1,500 ft and have been extra constant when utilizing an Android telephone than an iPhone. Chipolo Pop tags paired with an Android telephone and utilizing its personal app despatched an alert once we bought round 450 ft away from our tagged merchandise.
Connectivity, quantity and design
The function you might use most frequently is the important thing finder perform, which makes the tracker ring whenever you hit a button within the app. With Apple’s AirTags, you’ll be able to say “Hey Siri, the place are my keys?” and the assistant will ring the tag (assuming it does not mistakenly assume you are asking for instructions to the Floridian archipelago). Asking Alexa or the Google Assistant to seek out your keys will work with Chipolo, Tile and Pebblebee trackers linked to your Android machine.
When you have your tag however can’t discover your telephone, some trackers will allow you to ring them to seek out your handset. SmartTag2 fobs reliably rang our Galaxy telephone once we double-pressed it. Tile trackers have the identical function. Chipolo Pop trackers can ring your telephone, however makes use of the Chipolo app to take action, which may run concurrently with the Discover My or Discover My System connection. AirTags and any third-party tags utilizing solely Apple or Google’s networks don’t provide this function.
The amount of the Bluetooth monitoring machine 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 Pop tags and Tile’s Professional mannequin measure between 83 and 86 decibels on common. Pebblebee’s new Clip Common was the loudest of any tag we’ve examined, clocking in at 91 ear-splitting decibels.
Design will decide what you’ll be able to connect the tracker to. AirTags are small, clean discs that may’t be secured to something with out accessories, that are quite a few, however that’s a further value to contemplate. Chipolo, Pebblebee and Tile provide trackers with holes that simply connect to your key ring, and all three firms additionally provide card-shaped variations designed to slot in your pockets. Pebblebee Clip Common tags include a helpful carabiner-style key ring.
Batteries are replaceable for AirTag, Tile Professional, SmartTag2 and Chipolo Pop fobs and every ought to go for a minimum of a yr earlier than needing to be swapped. Tile Mate and card-shaped trackers don’t have replaceable batteries, which implies you’ll have to exchange the complete unit at any time when it dies. Pebblebee trackers are rechargeable in each the disc and pockets selection. They’re additionally the one tags geared up with onboard LEDs.
Stalking, theft and knowledge privateness
AirTags have gotten a variety of consideration and even prompted some lawsuits for Apple because of unhealthy actors planting them on individuals with the intention to stalk them. Whereas this truth might not affect your shopping for choice, any dialogue of Bluetooth trackers ought to be aware what steps Apple, Google and Tile have taken to deal with the problem. Final yr, all the main gamers within the Bluetooth tracker enterprise teamed up to fight misuse and standardize how unauthorized monitoring detection and alerts work for iOS and Android.
Final yr, Tile launched a function referred to as Anti-Theft Mode, which allows you to 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 seek out and disable the tracker. That type of negates one of many main methods potential stalking victims can keep secure, so Tile hopes ID verification and a $1 million penalty will deter misuse. Individually, Tile was just lately hit by a data breach, elevating totally different privateness considerations. The corporate issued a statement in regards to the occasion, which it shared with Engadget:
Much like many different firms, Life360 just lately turned the sufferer of a felony extortion try. We acquired emails from an unknown actor claiming to own Tile buyer data. We promptly initiated an investigation into the potential incident and detected unauthorized entry to a Tile buyer help platform (however not our Tile service platform). The possibly impacted knowledge consists of data equivalent to names, addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and Tile machine identification numbers. It doesn’t embrace extra delicate data, equivalent to bank card numbers, passwords or log-in credentials, location knowledge, or government-issued identification numbers, as a result of the Tile buyer help platform didn’t include these data varieties.
We consider this incident was restricted to the precise Tile buyer help knowledge described above and isn’t extra widespread. We take this occasion and the safety of buyer data critically. We’ve got taken and can proceed to take steps designed to additional shield our methods from unhealthy actors, and we’ve got reported this occasion and the extortion try and legislation enforcement. We stay dedicated to protecting households secure on-line and in the true world.
As a theft deterrent, a Bluetooth tracker might or is probably not the best choice. Anecdotal tales abound by which individuals have recovered stolen items utilizing a tracker — however different tales are more cautionary. Neither Apple nor Google promotes its trackers or discovering networks as a approach to cope with theft. GPS trackers, however, are usually marketed for simply that objective.
How we examined
Earlier than deciding on which trackers to check, we researched the sector, person opinions on Amazon, Finest 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 choices 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 Clip tracker. After Google launched its Discover My System, each Chipolo and Pebblebee launched trackers in 2025 that work with both community and we examined the Pop and Common key fob fashions and up to date our prime picks accordingly.
Right here’s the total listing of each tracker we examined:
After buying the trackers, I examined each over the course of some weeks utilizing each an iPhone 11 and a Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely. I recreated possible person experiences, equivalent to shedding and leaving objects behind at residence and out within the metropolis. I planted trackers at totally different spots close to downtown Albuquerque, principally concentrated in and across the College of New Mexico and the encompassing neighborhood of Nob Hill. Later, I carried out exams within the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. Every take a look at 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 straightforward 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.
Different trackers we examined
Tile Professional and Tile Mate (2024)
Tile just lately got here out with a brand new suite of trackers, changing the Tile Mate, Tile Professional, Tile Sticker and Tile Slim with updated models. Along with enjoyable new colours for the Mate and Slim, Tile added an SOS function that may ship a notification to your Life360 Circle whenever you triple press the button on the tracker. It’s a intelligent addition that turns your keys right into a panic button, one thing provided by private security firms as standalone units.
There are just a few caveats: You and the individuals you wish to notify in an emergency will want the Life360 app put in in your telephones. If you would like your Tile to additionally set off a name to emergency companies, you’ll want a $15-per-month Life360 subscription (that’s along with a Tile membership, which begins at $3/month or $30 yearly). And enabling the SOS triple-press disables the power to ring your telephone with the fob.
I examined the SOS function and it did certainly ship a textual content message to my Circle, with the message that I had triggered an SOS and a hyperlink to an internet site that confirmed my present location. I assumed it odd that the hyperlink didn’t open the Life360 app (which reveals the placement of customers’ telephones), however I wasn’t as a lot involved with Tile’s private security options as I used to be with the monitoring capabilities, which turned out to be lower than perfect.
For my exams, I planted Tile trackers in a densely populated space of Seattle (about 15,000 individuals per sq. mile). After setting the trackers to “misplaced” within the Tile app, I waited. After 4 hours, one of many trackers was not found by the discovering neighborhood, so I went and retrieved it. One other fob I planted alerted me that the tracker had been discovered by the Tile neighborhood after three hours — however the location it gave me was off by a 3rd of a mile. I then determined to plant a tracker in probably the most populated place I may consider — the dried fruit and nuts aisle of a Dealer Joes on a Friday night earlier than a significant vacation. It nonetheless took over a half an hour earlier than one other Tile person anonymously pinged my misplaced tracker.
In my exams with Samsung’s trackers and the fobs on Google’s Discover My System community, it took round ten minutes for them to be found. AirTags took half that point and all have been examined in a far much less populated metropolis. 4 hours with no ping and over a half hour earlier than getting successful in a crowded TJs have been fairly lengthy stretches.
Our prime decide, the basic Chipolo, has just about no discovering community. However in the event you’re getting a tracker for that function alone, you must go together with AirTags if in case you have an iPhone or the Google-enabled Chipolo or Pebblebee trackers in the event you use an Android telephone. We want the Chipolo as a result of it really works with both iOS or Android units, it rings loud, it’s fast to let you know whenever you’ve left it behind and it connects almost immediately whenever you’re looking for a misplaced tracker round the home.
Tile units additionally work with each cellular working methods and its newest fashions are certainly louder than they have been earlier than. However they aren’t as fast to attach and you might want to pay for a membership to activate left-behind alerts. And whenever you do, these notifications don’t kick in as shortly as they do with competing trackers.
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 300-foot declare for Chipolo’s Pop tags. The Pebblebee Clip Common claims a 500-foot vary, although different trackers with a shorter claimed vary carried out higher in our exams. Apple doesn’t make vary claims for AirTags. Any Bluetooth sign, in fact, relies on just a few elements. Obstacles like partitions and folks can block the sign, so a transparent line of sight is the one approach to obtain the utmost vary. Different indicators, like Wi-Fi, can even 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.
Keep in mind, when contemplating the vary of Bluetooth trackers, the dimensions 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 personal telephone is out of Bluetooth vary. As of now, Apple AirTags have the biggest community, adopted by Google’s Discover My System, Samsung’s discovering neighborhood and Tile’s Life360 members.
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 individuals, 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 making an attempt to steal. That mentioned, you’ll see loads of stories about individuals discovering their automobile due to a Bluetooth tracker. Some police departments have even handed out trackers to fight excessive charges of carjacking. In most situations, the tracker of selection has been AirTags due to their large discovering community. For those who’re on the lookout for a tracker on your automobile, you might wish to look into GPS trackers, a few of that are designed for simply that objective.
How correct are Bluetooth trackers?
Accuracy for Bluetooth trackers might be checked out in two methods: Discovering objects close by and discovering objects misplaced exterior your house. For close by objects, you’ll most frequently use the ring perform on the machine to hunt it down. Two tags, Apple’s AirTags and Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag2, additionally use ultra-wideband expertise, which creates directional navigation in your telephone to get you inside a foot of the tracker.
Precisely discovering misplaced objects exterior your house relies on the dimensions 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 multiple telephone will assist finding objects. Right here once more, it’s price noting that Apple’s Discover My community is the biggest, adopted by Google, Samsung and Tile (each Chipolo and Pebblebee have fobs that work with the Apple and Google networks).
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/equipment/best-bluetooth-tracker-140028377.html?src=rss
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