Tile mate

[mike9009]

Anyone use one of these trackers??

https://uk.tile.com/en/product/686583/mate-2-pack

I am tempted to get one for my bike, in case it gets nicked and one for the dog incase it does a runner. Just not sure if it is a complete gimmick and not at all useful??? So looking for some 'real' users and feedback....

Thanks

[TheRainMaker]

They are for finding your keys really, not for finding stolen things which are out of BT range.

I’ve used them for a few a years on all my car, house, work keys.

[mike9009]

TheRainMaker said:

They are for finding your keys really, not for finding stolen things which are out of BT range.

I’ve used them for a few a years on all my car, house, work keys.

Ah, I thought you could enable an item as lost through the App and nearby users would be able to notify you of the approx whereabouts.....so if your keys fell out on a train or bus, other users could anomonously let you know the approx location.... Then you can follow up more precisely???

Obviously I have grabbed the wrong end of the stick.....

[TheRainMaker]

mike9009 said:

Ah, I thought you could enable an item as lost through the App and nearby users would be able to notify you of the approx whereabouts.....so if your keys fell out on a train or bus, other users could anomonously let you know the approx location.... Then you can follow up more precisely???

Obviously I have grabbed the wrong end of the stick.....

You can, but it needs to have someone near the tags with the app installed, this is where the apple system could be better.

More people have an iPhone.

[mike9009]

TheRainMaker said:

You can, but it needs to have someone near the tags with the app installed, this is where the apple system could be better.

More people have an iPhone.

Ah, can you not use Tile mate on iOS? That means 50% of mobile users will potentially miss the App?

[Brother D]

I have about 20 of them for bags and wallets etc. They are really useful, plus you can change the batteries in some of them. As mentioned not really for tracking stolen items - airbags would probably be a better bet

[dmsims]

TheRainMaker said:

More people have an iPhone.

Amazing that some people still believe that

[xx99xx]

dmsims said:

TheRainMaker said:

More people have an iPhone.

Amazing that some people still believe that

I took that to mean more people have an iPhone than have the tile app, which I'm inclined to agree with.

[TheRainMaker]

xx99xx said:

dmsims said:

TheRainMaker said:

More people have an iPhone.

Amazing that some people still believe that

I took that to mean more people have an iPhone than have the tile app, which I'm inclined to agree with.

Correct, many more people will have an iPhone than any other type of phone with the Tile app installed.

[mike9009]

TheRainMaker said:

xx99xx said:

dmsims said:

TheRainMaker said:

More people have an iPhone.

Amazing that some people still believe that

I took that to mean more people have an iPhone than have the tile app, which I'm inclined to agree with.

Correct, many more people will have an iPhone than any other type of phone with the Tile app installed.

AFAIK the two are not mutually exclusive. iOS has a tile app too. But airtags will not work on Android. Therefore tile have the entire mobile market and Apple has 50%.

I think I will try a tile, but not hide it in the frame as that compromises the Bluetooth signal according to further reading....

[dmsims]

TheRainMaker said:

Correct, many more people will have an iPhone than any other type of phone with the Tile app installed.

Source ?

[esuuv]

GP Lama (cycling reviews / Zwift etc) on YouTube did some experiments using tiles to track bikes and parcels - really didn't work well.

When airtags came out he replicated it and the results were a lot better.....

[TheRainMaker]

dmsims said:

TheRainMaker said:

Correct, many more people will have an iPhone than any other type of phone with the Tile app installed.

Source ?

35 million tile devices sold in total.

Around 200 million iPhones sold in 2021

Say half of the users are split between iPhone and non iPhones

Then say most people will have four tiles that leaves around 4.3 million non iPhone users with the app.

200 million v 4.3 million.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

The Tile Mate requires an app - hence they are very limited - whereas AirTags do lot use an app - they are simply piggybacking off any Apple device with Bluetooth hence there is a significantly greater chance of the AirTag sending its location.

[dmsims]

Can you translate that into something that makes sense ?

TheRainMaker said:

35 million tile devices sold in total.

Around 200 million iPhones sold in 2021

Say half of the users are split between iPhone and non iPhones

Then say most people will have four tiles that leaves around 4.3 million non iPhone users with the app.

200 million v 4.3 million.

[mike9009]

esuuv said:

GP Lama (cycling reviews / Zwift etc) on YouTube did some experiments using tiles to track bikes and parcels - really didn't work well.

When airtags came out he replicated it and the results were a lot better.....

Thanks those were really useful videos with real life experiences. Issue is, I am on Android, although my wife does have an iPad (2018, I think) which could work with Airtags. So, that could work well with tracking a bike or dog - not so handy for keys though....

I suppose the user base is key, especially for my primary use case. I downloaded the Tile App and within a three mile radius there were 178 users, but I do live half a mile from the coast in a rural town.

Thanks again.....