The very best Bluetooth trackers for 2025

When you’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 gadgets connect to your stuff and use your smartphone to maintain tabs on the place they’re. AirTags are the perfect identified within the class, tapping right into a discovering community created by means of nameless iPhone pings within the space. Google now has an identical 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 further options in addition. We examined trackers from Apple, Tile, Pebblebee, Samsung and Chipolo, evaluating their discovering capabilities, sound ranges, reliability and design. We expect the Chipolo Pop is the perfect Bluetooth tracker for most individuals, however just a few different trackers have their deserves as effectively.

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 one among these devices your stuff and, if it’s in vary, your telephone can “ring” the chip so you could find it. These monitoring gadgets provide different options like separation alerts to inform you 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.

Gadget 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 Gadget networks to third-party producers, together with Chipolo and Pebblebee. These two corporations make device-agnostic fashions that can work with the bigger monitoring community from both model, so iPhone and Android customers can purchase the identical tag. Tile trackers work with both Android or Apple gadgets, 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 gadgets 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 gadgets, these Bluetooth monitoring gadgets can doubtlessly inform you 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 working 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 lately elevated the AirTag’s discovering energy by enabling you to share the location of a lost tag with a 3rd get together, get together, like an airline. Chipolo fobs that work on Apple’s community have the identical skill. Google launched its Discover My Gadget community in 2024 and it’s a detailed second for the biggest within the US

Now that Google’s Discover My Gadget community is up and running, it’s a detailed second for the biggest within the US. Like Apple, Android customers are mechanically a part of the community, however can opt-out by choosing the Google companies possibility of their telephone’s Settings app and toggling the choice within the Discover My Gadget 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 that features Tile customers, Amazon Sidewalk prospects and other people working the Life360 community. Life360 acquired Tile in 2021, and, in response to the corporate, the Life360 community has greater than 70 million month-to-month lively customers.

In our assessments, 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 supplied practically real-time location knowledge in reasonably to closely trafficked spots round Albuquerque, together with a bar, bookstore and low outlets 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 assessments, Tile’s discovering community wasn’t capable of persistently find its misplaced fobs.

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 whenever you’ve traveled too far out of your tagged objects, which is helpful if you wish to make certain your laptop bag, or jacket or umbrella at all times comes with you whenever you go away the home.

These notifications work whenever you’re out and about too. When you’ve acquired 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 if you happen to occur to overlook the alert.

Every tracker handles left-behind objects in a different way. AirTags and third-party fobs utilizing its community (corresponding 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 Gadget community don’t provide the function in any respect, however Chipolo Pop tags can problem left-behind alerts utilizing its personal Android app. Each AirTags and Tiles mean you can flip off separation alerts at sure places, which means you’ll be able to set your property as a “protected” place the place objects may be left behind, however alerts will nonetheless set off elsewhere.

In our assessments, 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 acquired round 450 ft away from our tagged merchandise.

Connectivity, quantity and design

The function it’s possible you’ll use most frequently is the important thing finder operate, 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 would not mistakenly suppose 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.

In case 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 Gadget connection. AirTags and any third-party tags utilizing solely Apple or Google’s networks don’t provide this function.

The quantity of the Bluetooth monitoring machine might decide whether or not you could 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 an extra price to think about. Chipolo, Pebblebee and Tile provide trackers with holes that simply connect to your key ring, and all three corporations additionally provide card-shaped variations designed to slot in your pockets. Pebblebee Clip Common tags include a useful carabiner-style key ring.

Batteries are replaceable for AirTag, Tile Professional, SmartTag2 and Chipolo Pop fobs and every ought to go for no less than a yr earlier than needing to be swapped. Tile Mate and card-shaped trackers don’t have replaceable batteries, which suggests you’ll have to exchange the whole unit at any time when it dies. Pebblebee trackers are rechargeable in each the disc and pockets selection. They’re additionally the one tags outfitted with onboard LEDs.

Stalking, theft and knowledge privateness

AirTags have gotten lots of consideration and even prompted some lawsuits for Apple attributable to dangerous actors planting them on individuals as a way to stalk them. Whereas this truth might not affect your shopping for resolution, any dialogue of Bluetooth trackers ought to word what steps Apple, Google and Tile have taken to handle the difficulty. Final yr, all the key 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 one among 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 protected, so Tile hopes ID verification and a $1 million penalty will deter misuse. Individually, Tile was lately hit by a data breach, elevating totally different privateness issues. The corporate issued a statement concerning the occasion, which it shared with Engadget:

Just like many different corporations, Life360 lately turned the sufferer of a legal 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 assist platform (however not our Tile service platform). The doubtless impacted knowledge consists of data corresponding to names, addresses, electronic mail addresses, telephone numbers, and Tile machine identification numbers. It doesn’t embrace extra delicate data, corresponding to bank card numbers, passwords or log-in credentials, location knowledge, or government-issued identification numbers, as a result of the Tile buyer assist platform didn’t comprise these data varieties.

We consider this incident was restricted to the precise Tile buyer assist knowledge described above and isn’t extra widespread. We take this occasion and the safety of buyer data critically. Now we have taken and can proceed to take steps designed to additional shield our techniques from dangerous actors, and we now have reported this occasion and the extortion try and legislation enforcement. We stay dedicated to holding households protected on-line and in the true world.

As a theft deterrent, a Bluetooth tracker might or might not be 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 option to cope with theft. GPS trackers, however, are sometimes marketed for simply that function.

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 Gadget, 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 complete 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 probably person experiences, corresponding to shedding and leaving objects behind at house 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 encircling neighborhood of Nob Hill. Later, I performed assessments within the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. Every take a look at was carried out a number of occasions, 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 every other perks and disadvantages that got here up throughout common use.

Different trackers we examined

Tile Professional and Tile Mate (2024)

Tile 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 supplied by private security corporations as standalone gadgets.

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. In order for you 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 flexibility 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 situation 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 preferrred.

For my assessments, 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 serious vacation. It nonetheless took over a half an hour earlier than one other Tile person anonymously pinged my misplaced tracker.

In my assessments with Samsung’s trackers and the fobs on Google’s Discover My Gadget 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 a success in a crowded TJs have been fairly lengthy stretches.

Our prime decide, the basic Chipolo, has nearly no discovering community. However if you happen to’re getting a tracker for that function alone, it is best to go together with AirTags when you have an iPhone or the Google-enabled Chipolo or Pebblebee trackers if you happen to use an Android telephone. We choose the Chipolo as a result of it really works with both iOS or Android gadgets, it rings loud, it’s fast to inform you whenever you’ve left it behind and it connects practically immediately whenever you’re looking for a misplaced tracker round the home.

Tile gadgets additionally work with each cellular working techniques and its newest fashions are certainly louder than they have been earlier than. However they aren’t as fast to attach and it’s essential 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 assessments. Apple doesn’t make vary claims for AirTags. Any Bluetooth sign, after all, relies on just a few components. Obstacles like partitions and other people can block the sign, so a transparent line of sight is the one option 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 gap at which your telephone will hook up with your tracker.

Keep 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 personal telephone is out of Bluetooth vary. As of now, Apple AirTags have the biggest community, adopted by Google’s Discover My Gadget, 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 stated, 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 extensive discovering community. When you’re in search of a tracker in your automobile, it’s possible you’ll wish to look into GPS trackers, a few of that are designed for simply that function.

How correct are Bluetooth trackers?

Accuracy for Bluetooth trackers may be checked out in two methods: Discovering objects close by and discovering objects misplaced outdoors your property. For close by objects, you’ll most frequently use the ring operate 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 outdoors your property will depend 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 few 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 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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