Never lose anything again – maybe
When you lose a file on your PC, you type its name into the Search box and find it again. Sadly, you can’t find objects in real life the same way. But with the Tile, you sort of can. It’s a little waterproof plastic tag – about twice the size of an SD memory card – that lets you track whatever it’s attached to, keyring, wallet or dog.
In reality this is slightly less futuristic than you might hope. A built-in GPS would require too large a battery, so instead it just has a Bluetooth LE (low energy) chip. This works across a range of up to 100 feet (30 metres), although, allowing for walls, it’s often less than half that. It’s enough to find your Tile when you’re roughly in the right place.
You do this from an app on your smartphone or tablet. Select one of your Tiles and its signal strength is displayed. The nearer it is, the stronger the signal will get, so you can play ‘Warmer!’ ‘Colder!’ until you find it. Better still, the Tile has a tiny speaker built in that squeaks a jaunty ringtone at 90 decibels, loud enough to hear from down the back of the sofa or in the shed.
If it’s out of range, you’re not quite out of luck. With the app installed, your device constantly checks on the Tile every minute or so. Whenever it can see the Tile, it records its own location using its built-in geographic tracking. Later, the app will tell you that at that time the Tile was within 100 feet of that location. You can then head back to that spot and play warmer/colder again.
If your Tile has moved, you can mark it as lost. Then the Community Find feature comes into play: other people’s Tile apps can find your tile, and the Tile server will email you to say where it is. For privacy, you won’t know who found your Tile and they won’t know they did, so they can’t ‘offer’ to grab it and post it back to you. The further away you left it, the more frustrating that might be. What you can do, at least, is ‘share’ a Tile with another user, so a family member can find your Tiles at home when you’re not there.
The Tile also works in reverse: if you lose your phone or tablet, pressing a button on the Tile makes the device play a sound. Most devices already have an app to do that remotely, such as Find My iPhone, but the Tile is quicker.
Tile works with Apple and Android devices that have Bluetooth 4.0.
That means any iPhone from the 4s onwards, for example, and any iPad more recent than the iPad 2. For a full list of compatible devices visit www.snipca.com/19858. Laptops and MacBooks also have Bluetooth, but there’s no app for them. Any device with Android 4.4 or higher should work, but there’s a Bluetooth bug in Android 6; check if your device can get an update to 6.0.1.
We tested a Tile and it worked just as it’s supposed to, although the success of Community Find will depend on how many people with Tiles go to the same places as you.
At £20, buying a single Tile is quite expensive, especially given that it only lasts a year. Soon after that, its sealed battery will run out and you’ll need to buy a new Tile. The manufacturer offers replacements at a discount (see www.snipca.com/19843), but with postage from the US it’s barely cheaper. Tiles are more affordable if you buy several. Buying four works out at £12.50 each.
VERDICT
If you often lose things, a Tile or four could be very useful, but the limited range makes it less of a musthave at the price.
SPECIFICATIONS
Bluetooth LE tag • Up to 100-foot range • IP5 water resistant • 37x37x5.3mm (WxDxH) • 37g