Apple AirTag vs. Tile: Battle of the Bluetooth trackers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Apple AirTags and the Tile Mate, Pro, Slim and Sticker are part of a growing category of Bluetooth trackers. You attach them to an item so you always know where it is. If you lose the item, you can use an app to locate it. But as similar as AirTags and Tile trackers may seem, they're actually quite different.
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I may have missed it, but you may have forgot to mention Tile allows you to replace batteries on a number of their sensors.
My biggest complaint about the AirTag is that you can't share the location with your family ID, like your other Apple devices. If I put one on a spare set of keys that are left at home all the time and someone in my family couldn't find them while I'm away from home...all I could tell them is that the keys are someplace in the house. Hopefully this feature gets added asap!
I used to have Tiles. The button would always get pushed when I had my keys in my pants. Really annoying and embarrassing if you're in someplace quiet!
You can always turn off the button in the software while you’re in a quiet place.
You can send a signal to a label that is on your native keys.
Um my sisters car got stolen 2months ago & she shared AirTag location with me. I still have access to it right now matter fact. Idk maybe they did this after you made this comment lol
The requirement to keep the app running all the time in the background is a deal killer for me, as that’s a drain. But if you swipe quit the app, it simply stops bothering to update the location. The Airtags, with Find My don’t have that limitation
Why wouldn't the airtag be a drain of it's always running?
@@joebob4943 No im pretty sure it pings its location to apples servers verse using your device's bluetooth to track
Hey CNET, you have withheld the most crucial difference between the Airtag and Tile. With Tile you need to have the Tile app open and running 24/7 with access to GPS in order for any phone to pickup a lost Tile. Out of those 10mil. sold you probably have 1-2 million in use and probably a couple of thousand that have their app open all the time and GPS permission on. In summary, the chances of finding a lost tile outside of bluetooth range are close to finding your lost item without any tracking device. Airtags on the other hand utlize ALL active iphones out in the wild. You also didn’t mention the bluetooth range difference between the 2 trackers, sorry but I can’t take your work seriously anymore even amature youtubers are able to do a much better job
"Airtags on the other hand utlize ALL active iphones out in the wild" Not sure if this is a plus when you are only looking for your own iphone. If someone steals your phone...im pretty sure they will be farther away than the 33 feet bluetooth range of the airtags
exactly, this is my biggest gripe as a tile owner, and the tile is virtually useless because I don't leave the tile app open. Several times it took forever to find my wife's keys and the tile really didn't help at all in the process.
@@MarvelousMaterial I don't think you get how the airtag works. Has nothing to do with your phone getting stolen. It uses other peoples iphones/apple devices to track your airtag and send the info to your phone.
@@MarvelousMaterialyou don’t understand how AirTags work
@@MarvelousMaterialyeah you don’t get it. And why would you need an AirTag to track a lost iPhone when the iPhone is the one with a GPS and internet?
The one major complaint I have for the Air Tag. Once you put the Tag on a Key Chain it is very quiet because it covers the speaker. The Tile is Very Loud even inside a backpack.
Make a whole for the speaker -The smartest man alive (Me Fantastic)
I had a tile which was attached to my work ID. Unfortunately, I lost the ID and I was not able to retrieve it through the tile app. I would have loved to have precision finding during that time.
So if someone steals my camera bag with an airtag in it it will inform them that THE BAG HAS A TRACKER. Lmao
Smart Alerts notify you when you leave a Tiled belonging behind. There are two types of alerts: Anywhere alerts, and Location alerts. These alerts can notify you when you leave any Tiled item behind anywhere, or - if you only want to be alerted at certain locations - you can customize each Tile’s
The drawback is you need the tile app running in the background at all times or it won't do anything
@@OHCAM5 no you don’t.
I was looking for this feature! Thanks.
I think Google needs to make an open source standard that works on every android device & allow third party manufacturers so the market is flooded with cheap trackers. This would blow apple out of the water
It'd be nice but I think it won't happen because of privacy issues.
I like the open source but I feel the best option would be tile making a very cheepr version.. That way you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Apple disables allot of Google app features.
Love my tiles! I have both the wallet and square. Both have been lifesavers!
I have been using Tile for years and have been quite pleased with them. I like the various form factors that they come in because they offer so much flexibility. I’m surprised you didn’t mention that Tile has partnered with Amazon Alexa so that greatly increases the available network to find your items. I am a big Apple fan and would like to keep things uniform but I find these too similar to go through the effort of conversion.
I just bought a tile mate and tile slim. I've been using airtag for several month.
tile tracker seems to be useless.
airtag reports in it's location every 10 minutes or so in Orange County, California suburbs.
tile can't seem to find it's location over 10 hours.
Yup. 100%. At this point it not worth switching for me.
I’m concerned that a bike thief will be able to detect that my bike has a Tile on it, search and remove it. That defeats the purpose of having a tracker on my bike.
Now I want the airtag
My first Tile was great. My second one lasted only a couple of months and I couldn't locate support on their website..so I felt ripped off. This was some time ago, maybe access to support has improved. Sounds like it's best to have a new iPhone for the Airtag...which I do not have. Wish there was more info about support for Tiles because that is important to another purchase decision to me.
Thank you! This review was Very Helpful!
Can you do a comparison between the AirTag and the Samsung SmartTag?
Amazing Clear and concise comparison. Thank You
Have used a couple of Tiles for our inside/outside cat. Great for Bluetooth range but no luck using the community find feature (i.e. other Tiles in the neighborhood). Looking forward to trying out the AirTag
this is where apple will beat Tile.
weird. even my apple user friends love tile because of other tile users finding locating their tile.
Does the tile make sound when trying to locate? I take my dog out without a leash at night sometimes in a large park/field and just want to know if she is nearby without scaring her.
Really? I have been able to find my wallet or keys anywhere I leave them.
@@TheGabesnell yes you can make it chirp
I like the LEGO space shuttle in the background.
Fantastic comparison, thank you very much!!
I am long time tile user. I love them. They double click of tile to find iPhone is awesome except when you lean on keys and it sets it off iPhone ringing. I love the hole in tile for keys and slim tile for wallets. Don’t appreciate major upswell to get keychain attachment. Apple should throw a cheap one in for free.
If you didn't discover that Apple's #1 priority is your money, then you didn't learn from your mistakes ;) What's the point of making them?
you can put tile or apple airtag on a car or *something else* and track people. which is *not* good at ALL.
I’ve used tiles for years and 100% the AirTag is better at least if you use an iPhone. Spare us the typical anti-apple BS. Tiles are NOT cheap and they have so many features locked behind a paywall (monthly charge 🤮 )ON TOP of the fact that most of their trackers do not have a replaceable battery and do not always last as long as they advertise. Furthermore the tile network is “patchy” at best and using the app on your phone drains the battery heavily… relying on both bluetooth and GPS… it is not as passive and even force closing the app makes it stop working. ALSO, it spams you with push notifications. Also you do not have to buy some expensive apple branded case for the AirTag, you can just buy some cheap ones on amazon… lol. The only place where Tile has an edge on AirTag is with the tile slim which I will continue using til it dies… the airtag wallets are silly and the device is too thick to work for that. I hope apple comes up with an airtag slim for wallets. Then again apple is sort of anti-wallet anyway since most things you would carry in a wallet you can just have in your apple wallet on your phone these days… so perhaps that’s where we’re headed. I’m not an apple fanboy or anti-tile… tile did all of this first and I used to love their products… recommending them and buying them for people. Sadly though, over the years they’ve gotten lazy and greedy… barely improving their products and tech/implementation… and then any additional “features” they locked behind an expensive paywall that they constantly push through the app. TLDR: I will be switching over to airtags as my tiles die and may only replace the tile slim in my wallet if apple comes out with a similar product. I’m here for the competition in this marketplace as tile was the only company for years… and frankly it go to their heads.
The Air Tag has a magnet.
Just bought the TILE at Costco and used your information to decide to keep or return. Android user so TILE seems the way to go. Thank you for your video!
You also have Keysmart Pro or Max with built in tile.
Does the AirTag post it's last known location? For example, if I leave my keys while camping (not near other iphones) when I get home will it show the campground as the last known location?
Hey! I enjoyed your video! Well, I am only familiar with Tile. It has saved me many times when I lost my phone and keys. But I’m still wondering which would be better to track my luggage, the apple air tag or the Tile. By the way, I’m a die hard iPhone user if that makes a difference.
You are GOOOD!! One of the best Speakers on You tube bar none. Thank you. Tile sounds good.
I use both together. I find that they offer complementary features. AirTags are better integrated in iOS while tile gives you location history which is incredibly helpful whenever you need it. I have them both attached to my tracked objects and I love it.
Very helpful. Balanced. Thank you.
I got Air Tags when they came out. So far so good. One thing that I either haven't figured out yet or it doesn't support is sharing an Air Tag with a family member. When my wife says to find her keys for her, it would be nice for me to use the system and when I'm not around she can still do it. Or for other shared items like luggage.
It doesn’t support it. That alone made me pick the Tile over the AirTags.
With our family, we are constantly borrowing each other’s cars. So if say my mom took my car for work and I needed to run an errand, I would have to call her to active the Apple tag so that I could find the keys. Compared to Tile, where I could just search for them myself and get going without having to bother her and vice versa.
Those are significant drawbacks.
@@ThatLaloBoy Maybe get a key rack and mount it in a central location. Keys ALWAYS get put back on the hooks when someone is done with them. Problem solved. Hi-tek huh?
@@ocavant that doesn’t help if you loose them whilst you are out
Thank you for posting this video!
Can the air tag be attached to luggage when traveling by plane? If the luggage is lost will the air tag permit recovery?
I've had tiles for some time and although perhaps versatile have found them to be so unreliable as to be useless. Batteries are lasting little more than a month on some occasions and even when replaced the Tile app refuses to identify them. Double click to find my phone will work but then the Tile App just drops them again, stating that they haven't been seen in days on some occasions. Nothing to lose but to try Air Tags instead.
This was an amazing video, thank you so, so much
Will your phone issue a warning when your tile / airtag secured items get out of range?
I decided to go with the ( Tile) best choice!! Thanks for your video. PS: instead of purchasing the tile (wallet slim) I customized a whole in my wallet along with my keys. Now I have a 2 for 1 deal along with a option of a replaceable battery vs none ( slim)
Great video. How about Apple vs Samsung tags comparison?
Does the Tile use wideband network? If I attach to a bike and that gets stolen will i be able to see location information? Does it use other people’s phones like the airtag does?
thank you Sir
I have used Tiles for years, but decided to try AirTags. I took them back because of one thing...Tiles have a reverse feature that can help you find your PHONE from hitting the button on any of your other Tiles. That's crucial for me.
I have a Samsung Smart Tag from preordering the S21 Ultra. But like the Airtags with Apple, it can only be used by Samsung Devices.
Thinking of going the Tile route since my house is a mixed bag of devices. Samsung, Apple and Google
Super useful and informative video, thank you. I'm trying to find the best tracker to track our cat. He never wants to come home at night when it's warm and we worry because we have coyotes in the neighborhood. He already has a tile tracker, but he goes out of range often. Thinking of getting an air tag to track both.
Get an insta360 camera for him to see where he goes often
I have both but I’m leaning towards tile. This is due to the fact you can find your phone by double click tile. AirTag hasn’t got this feature which is a massive let down. I assumed it would have it and didn’t check before buying… lesson for you :)
It is worth noting that if you have an Apple watch, you can find your phone with it. In that case, you don't need the feature from another source.
Ait tag is pretty neat. It’s not as loud as I’d want it to be though
WHICH ONE.. to track a metal-box POD (storage container) during a TEN DAY cross country move? Does Air Tag still sound alarm after three days?
Do any of these give you a low battery warning in their apps?
Doesn’t know if someone already mentioned it in the comments but.. there will be third party “tags” out soon, and I would be surprised if there wouldn’t be a wallet size tag among them later on.
I own both. The tile I love for is ability to call your phone, though also it can be super embarrassing to set it off by mistake in your pocket, ringing your iPhone that you set to silent.
The tile pro I have does not have a replaceable battery, unless you crack it open and tape it up, but even then the tile software will bug you every 30 days that your battery is dead (when it is not).
I'll be honest, AirTag wins.
I accidently did that when my phone was locked in a yondr.
What's the best inexpensive tracker for a trailer? Thanks🙏
I would consider one or the other only for travel purposes, to make sure my luggage arrived with me on my final destination however, if it only works within 30ft it would be useless for this purpose as I would need to have more distance between myself and my luggage if it were being loaded on a carousel or coming off a plane or dropped in transit as I've seen working at Logan airport.
i live in a very small town in TN. My wife has an Iphone 10 and I have a LGK40 android. I want to put a tracker on some of my Christmas items. What would you suggest I get? .. thanks in advance.
What you guys recommend for me that I keep loosing my phone!? Some of these might work and how I do the search?
I have had Tile for 4-5 years. Have put it in golf bags, travelling by air and could never see a location until I was nearby. Limitation has always been the network I feel. If you're on a beach in Sicily, the chances of finding your "Tile" is very very limited. On the other hand, the Air Tag [I don't own yet] seems to have a leg up since there are so many iPhones. Time will tell and I'll wait to post Covid-19 travel to buy them. If I were in downtown Toronto and could move about [we're still in lockdown] to restaurants, etc, then maybe now.
You should buy both
Airtag has the “beep when separated” feature that will make a noise if your airtag is separated from your phone for 3 days. I wish this could be temporarily disabled by the owner.. I would like to keep an airtag always in my knapsack or briefcase, but I often leave these items at home when I’m away for a few days. Apple COULD make this possible by software, but will they?
How does that work? Is it one quick beep? Or is it a sustained series of beeps until the phone is back in range? If it’s the latter I don’t think it’s worth purchasing for me
I’m an apple user and I am leaning more towards the AirTag but I’m not sure what to get and if one’s better than the other and if I already have an iPhone should I just stick to apple?
How finite is the locating feature? Will either tell me to go ten feet then, i.e. turn left 6 feet? etc?
I Know this is a older video but what do you do if your wallet and key ring are connected, and you lose your wallet but you have the Tag or Tile in the wallet? How can you find your things if you lost the phone which is where your Tag or Tiles are?
Thanks!!!
I'm about an hour from Greenville. If I had tile and lost my phone in Greenville, would I be able to track it from Ware Shoals, or would I have to drive to Greenville to start tracking.
I'm a tile early adopter. Love it. However, the airtag was so amazing with its userbase and precision location thatI was just about to go and order up some airtags. Then the 'You need a case that doubles the price' hit. Oh Apple... so close.
get a cheap case??? lol
Amazon sells them very cheaply. You can buy a pack of 4 for $10
Good review but a range test would've been great to see
Half or more the distance of a football field. I personally tested it myself. As soon as i hit the middle mark of the field I decided to turn back. Lol
@@attorneysethdavis9756 for apple or tile
I was one of the original tile backers and they went in the bin after about 6 months.
I found them useless - often wouldn't work even with the device less than 10 feet away. The wallet version would only work when not in a wallet!
I had the same experience. I bought the Tile at Costco since it had the feature to press the button and my wife's phone would ring. This worked great only 2 times, then every time after that, the phone was totally silent! Bad experience!
I want to put a tacker or locator in my car in case of its got stolen. Something similar price and not require to pay monthly fee. What should I use please?
Excellent vid. Thank you. I’ve had tiles for years….. still in boxes….I bought 4 sets….on sale. Diggin em out now!
Thank you for an amazing explanation. I am a tile user but planning to switch to Airtag.
I've had tile for years, helped me find my keys that I lost, or phone and wallet misplaced at home. We have an Airtag for our kid, I didn't know it was supposed to be 3 days of separation, because I've had the airtag notify me that I'm "traveling with someone else's airtag" while we were at the park for a few hours, seems to defeat the purpose to me. If it tells a thief or kidnapper that the item or kid is being tracked by it's owner then they can locate and dispose of that, making it useless.
Turns out I liked the Airtags I bought more than I thought. Fun little device to find my misplaced keys around the house all the time. And handy to throw in my bag just in case I forget it.
They were super cute, it was fun holding it in my palms
thx
Initially I bought two Tile Mate's and found that when I tried to locate them is different rooms around the house they reported nearby, but did make any sound until entering them room. The walls are drywall, so do not attenuate the signal much. My Bluetooth headphone work throughout the house. I then purchased an Air tag and that works all around the house. I select Find on my iphone and I hear it in a faraway room.
The problem now is if I want to sale the Tile's, I have to contact Tile Support and tell them the email address of the recipient. Why could they not have an option in the app to reset the tile ready for the new owner.
looks good. ill wait for a black version thats thinner
I have both on every item. Lol. I like the reverse phone finder feature and loud speaker on Tile but prefer the location finder features of AirTag. Both have pros and cons. Someday perhaps there will be a better option.
Great video
7:27 are they confident you can find your item within 3 days? If the thief hears this goodbye to your stuff.
The best function of the tile is double clicking it and your phone rings to tell you where you left it.
No mention at all of Chipolo ONE Spot?
I just want to be clear, Are you saying Tile can only be picked up by other people who “have the Tile app on their phone” ? If people near your Tile [do not have] the Tile app installed on their phone then it will not pick it up?
Does the tile app have to be open at all times? It tells me to do so
I am in the process of switching from Tile to AirTag. My primary reason for doing so is the network. There are iPhones all over the place, but there aren't Tile users all over the place. Also, Tile only works if the Tile app is running in the background. I don't think it would work even if a Tile user was nearby if that user wasn't presenting running the app. A secondary concern is the Tile "feature" of being able to ring my phone with a button press is actually quite annoying. My keychain and wallet often trigger just sitting in my pocket.
The disadvantage I see is that AirTag doesn't refresh location as often as Tile seems to, and Tile shows a location history so I can track not just where it is, but where it's been. I will miss that functionality. However, overall, I have decided that the most important thing is being able to find my items when they're lost, and AirTag (I believe) will do a better job of that due to the more robust network.
This is true given that tile works as it supposed to. But the Bluetooth connection is finicky.. Sometimes it will say the tile is not in range, sometimes it will say it is ringing - both of these cases I have the tiles right in front of me. It will work 2 out of 10 times. And that was good enough for me to be a customer for this long.
If airtag works 3 out of 10 times- I’m moving over (something tells me it will)
Cool shirt. I loved that show.
What the tags got removed, how could you track them?
Could you do a video on how each tag works with apple and android? like an apple tag with android, and tile with apple.
Apple devices mostly do not work outside their closed network. Airtag does not connect to 85% of smartphones.
Long-time Tile user who has switched to AirTags. I’ve used them side by side, and AirTags wins easily when it comes to finding things. The Apple Find My network seems to dwarf the Tile network. And these things are ultimately about finding lost or misplaced stuff. Not to mention that the biggest evolution for Tile over recent years was adding a replaceable battery in its main product offering. I imagine Apple will out innovate Tile, and already has a significant lead. Sorry Tile.
Can you please do an experiment and try the tile battery on the airtag since 3 years is superior to 1 that would be so nice if the airtag battery lid does indeed close with the tile battery installed.
@@joshuamartinez5655 The Tile Pro and Apple AirTag both use the cr2032 battery. Tiles don’t get three years. Not even close. They would only last longer because the network of Tile devices is far less than iPhones. Does battery life even matter if one helps you find stuff far more effectively? I’ll never buy Tiles again.
I just bought a tile mate and tile slim. I've been using airtag for several month.
tile tracker seems to be useless.
airtag reports in it's location every 10 minutes or so in Orange County, California suburbs.
tile can't seem to find it's location over 10 hours.
@micd9256 Do you have an iPhone or an Android?
@@hinklewj iPhone
Removing the battery case of the air tag is a fidgety process. You have to press down real hard and turn to the left. Putting the cover on is just as bad. You have to line up the 3 slots with the holes and turn to the right. When you remove the battery you have to remove and replace the battery 4 times to go through the reset process, I still had issues getting it to reset so it went back to apple, I'm happy with my tile.
I would probably get both as I have both devices, one is work related and is a Google Pixel
NFC seems like an easy hardware upgrade Tile could add.
I’ve washed a Tile recently. Still works
Are these tracking devices a good gift idea?
You forgot one big thing; subscription. Last I subscribed my tile pre-pandemic I think it was $100 a year. Maybe confusing with Ring but there was a subscription.
I have a air tag inside of my one wheel and I ride through water all the time works great
I use a tile tracker for my keys and I have a iPhone and now since the airbags is out I’m going to get them
This is a great video, but you have to keep in mind that Tile has been around for a long time, constantly innovating its product, while this is Apple’s first tracking device. So there is much more to come with Apple AirTags, in my opinion.
Great video, thanks. I need to replace my Tile tag's batteries. I can change them w/out having to deal with swapping sensors. I'll stick w Tile.
I'll probably get an airtag and gift my tile mate to a friend but im keeping the tile slim until apple mates something similar
Definitely Tile - have used them for years and they bailed be out many times. The two way tracking is key here. I’ll always either have keys or phone and find the other lost item instantly
Xmas shopping for my bf, and your comment is clutch. Thank you!
Yes! Tile came clutch in my wallet when I left it at an event and also at the airport!
Don't you need to have an iPhone 11 or 12 to use airtag? I have an X or 10. I don't want to pay More money to get a new phone to get airtag. I like the idea of them. I wish I could. Also my question that was not address is that tile wants to charge you for some type of subscription for more features. I don't have that. I am using the free version. Does Apple charge a monthly fee?
Thank you so much for this video! I am getting AirPods soon, and was wanting either a tile or AirTag to put on it (in case I lost them) and this video gave me more information on what to get. I LOVE apple, so it was a hard decision, but I think that I’m gonna end up with the airtag because of how much easier it is to handle
Your last sentence reads like you meant to say Tile.
@@crystalwtube oh! Haha!! I guess it does. I was just saying that my love for Apple was pulling me towards a certain way, and I am prob gonna end up with the AirTag.
What if I have a relative with brain disorder and I want to track him because he doesn’t know about himself and I find him couple times in other location than home? Which tracker should I use? It must be live at least 6-8 months and it should not start make noise(the high noise confuse my relative). Thank you!
Got both on my bike, AirTag for the best location accuracy, two hidden Tile stickers so that Android devices will be able to relay its location as well if someone manages to rip off the AirTag.
Nice
Basically my plan when I buy an ebike
@@chunkychuck There are some great solutions on ebay for hiding an AirTag under the saddle, totally hidden away. I have several bikes with an Airtag on each.
If someone with an iPhone happens to steal your bike it will eventually alert them an Airtag is present
@@D0ubleSwipe this is a major downside unless you can turn this feature off. Do you know if this feature can be disabled?
I am in Greenville South Carolina :)
I like both Tile and AirTag so I got both. 😄