AirTags, Tiles & more

 

GPS Trackers for your luggage - a must in this new world of travel!

What a fabulous item this is! It was put to the test on my trip and worked brilliantly!

Lost or delayed luggage is a symptom of travel, more so these days. We use to have to rely on waitng to hear news of our luggage with no idea where in the world it may be. But no more! GPS trackers are in and are here to stay!

Airlines were dubious of them to start with as they are run on lithium batteries and most airlines banned them, but that has changed and airlines are now permitting these trackers to be in your checked and carryon luggage. 

This is providing the lithium content of the trackers is under the required limits of 0.3g or lithium ion batteries with a Watt-hour rating not exceeding 2.7 Wh, of which those listed here are.

​

So what are they?

They are GSP trackers that utilise other peoples devices that then pinpoint the location of your lost luggage. Some work on short distances, some on long range - pretty much around the world providing it is in range of another devices Bluetooth.

​

They are small enough to place, or attach, to your purse, wallet, in your bag, and luggage.

​

Tip: Ideally place them in your bag or luggage in an area that is not so obvious. Then if you do loose your bag, and someone decides to claim it as their own, or the loss was due to theft, if they don't easily see the tracker you still have every chance to see where your bag is!

​

They are not infallible but they are the best option you have to locate your belongings! 

​

Airtag is an Apple product. Tile is useable with Android & Apple products. Samsung Galaxy Smart Tag for Samsung products. There is also Orbit Key Bluetooth Tracker which is for more local items (within around 250 meters). See further down the page for more information on each one.

​

Where to buy them from? Google search your area for suppliers. I found prices didn't vary too much but that was in NZ. It may be different for you.

 

How a Tracker Helped Us

On a flight from Seville, Spain to Porto, Portugal we had a flight transfer at Madrid airport. When we arrived in Porto we waited for our luggage, and waited… at the point where you start to wonder “where’s our luggage..?”

I remembered I had an air tag in each of the suitcases. I checked my phone for the location of the tags. And there they both were – still in Madrid!

Straight to the lost luggage counter we went. They already knew the luggage hadn’t made it on the flight transfer. We were informed that it will be on the very first flight early the next morning (it was 9.30pm at this stage) and it will be delivered by the man and his van that leaves the airport at 9am.

 

The next morning I checked my Flight Radar App (I like planes!) and was happy to see the flight had landed on time and the location of the luggage was now showing to be at Porto airport, therefore they would be with ‘the man in his van’ soon.

I checked at 9.10am thinking it would be fun to track the suitcases, and also a good opportunity to see how quickly the App updated the location. It showed they were still at the airport, albeit one was now at the other end of the terminal.

Armed with this information I asked the accommodation if they could phone the airport and check. Yep, the cases were still there, and they were not on the van. They would be delivered ‘sometime’ today.

Because I knew where our cases were it gave me enough confidence to get in an Uber and go to the airport to collect them myself rather than waiting for them to arrive ‘sometime today’.

The airport was around 25 minutes’ drive. I was back at the accommodation with our luggage in a little over an hour!

 

Having the AirTag to track and trace the suitcases was brilliant. I was able to get possession of our belongings much sooner due to having the confidence of knowing where they were, plus being able to see where they were at any given time took away that concern and possible worry of “where are they? I hope they’re not lost!”

​

Options Available

Apple AirTag - AirTag connects with the Apple app ‘Find My’ to help you find your luggage and any items you have attached an airTag to
Luggage: The ‘Find My’ network will help you locate your AirTag/luggage.

How it works: The AirTag sends a Bluetooth® signal that is detected by nearby devices (over a billion devices around the world!) which will then send the location of your AirTag to iCloud where you’ll be able to see it on the map. This is all anonymous and encrypted to protect the user's privacy.

I found it updated pretty quickly and was very easy to use.

​

For nearby items such as your bag, keys, purse etc (that has an AirTag on it) you can either click ‘play sound’ in the app or say “Hey Siri, find my bag”, and if it’s nearby you’ll be able to follow the chirping sound to find your item. And while using the ‘find’ function, your iPhone will display an arrow for you to follow to the item.

​

Tip ~ Another tracker option, the Chipolo Tracker, has teamed up with Apple's 'Find My' network increasing it's usage from nearby, local finds to now having the capacity to track luggage from afar too. 

​

Samsung Galaxy SmartTag & SmartTag+ - If you’ve lost your item nearby, just tap the ring button on your phone and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag+ will play a sound to help you find it. Or you can use (Samsung) AR to find your item.
Using your phone’s camera, as you get closer to your item you’ll be able to see a glimmering green light around the item on your screen. 

Even when the tracker is offline, the ‘Galaxy Find Network’ uses scanned data to find it for you.

 

Tile Mate - With the Tile Mate Bluetooth Tracker, you can track and locate your luggage, keys, and other items through the Tile App.

In their app, you can view your item’s most recent location on a map from when it was last connected to your phone. From there you can click ‘Notify When Found’ which will use the Tile Network (every phone running the Tile app) to securely help you locate your lost item.

It even works with your Smart Speaker by asking Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to find your item. 

 

Orbit Key Bluetooth Tracker - The Orbit Tracker will locate your lost item through Bluetooth and play a sound to help you find it. When the tracker is disconnected from your phone’s Bluetooth, a map will show the last known location. 

As a random bonus, this one even features as a selfie remote! The Orbit Key app is free.