AirTag vs. Tile: What’s the Best Bluetooth Tracker?

Price and Variety

Neither the AirTag nor a Tile will break the bank. A single AirTag sells for $29; you can get a pack of four for $99. However, you still need to buy a loop or strap to attach your tag to whatever you wish to track. Apple sells a range of AirTag accessories, ranging in price from $12.95 for key rings to $39.99 for a pack of four holders from Belkin or OtterBox. Third-party options available from Amazon cost far less.

Tile’s lineup is more diverse. The Tile Mate is among the least expensive of the bunch at $24.99, up to $27.99 depending on the color you choose. It’s the closest in size to the AirTag and features a built-in hole for your key ring. The larger Tile Pro ($34.99), the credit-card-shaped Tile Slim ($29.99), and the ultra-flexible Tile Sticker ($24.99) round out the lineup. You don’t need accessories to attach any of Tile’s products to the items you wish to track, but you do have to pay for a Premium membership ($29.99 per year) to access a number of essential features.

The Tile Slim, Mate, Pro, and Sticker all have an IP68 rating, which means they are fully dust and waterproof. The AirTag has a lower IP67 rating, which is still enough to provide protection from submersion in shallow water for a short time. The AirTag and Tile Pro have replaceable batteries, while the rest of Tile’s lineup uses non-replaceable batteries that the company says should last about three years, though your mileage may vary.

Winner: Tile

Compatibility

Compatibility is the most important factor to consider when choosing a Bluetooth tracker. After all, a tracker is useless if it doesn’t work with your device.

Left to right: Tile Pro, Tile Mate (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)

AirTags only work with devices that run iOS and iPadOS, so you need to own an iPhone or iPad to use them. The AirTag’s best feature, Precision Finding—which uses ultra-wideband (UWB) to provide turn-by-turn directions—requires an iPhone 11 or newer. You can choose to receive AirTag notifications on your Apple Watch, as well.

Tile, on the other hand, offers apps for Android and iOS, so its trackers work with just about any recent smartphone. If you’re an Android user, Tile is one of the best ways to go. For what it’s worth, the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 2 is a solid option for Galaxy phone owners, but they have yet to gain the same popularity as the AirTag and Tile. 

Winner: Tile

Location Accuracy

Apple has the upper hand when it comes to location accuracy for a number of reasons, including the aforementioned UWB support, which enables precise directions to guide you to your lost object. Because AirTags use the Find My app built into every iPhone and iPad, it taps into a much wider network of users than Tile. Apple’s Find My Network is made up of hundreds of millions of Apple devices.

You can inscribe each AirTag with initials or emoji (Credit: Sascha Segan)

Tile’s trackers use Bluetooth and the company’s network of users to help you locate lost devices. However, Tile doesn’t yet offer a UWB-enabled tracker and instead requires you to install an app on your phone to voluntarily join its location network. Life360 says it has more than 70 million users and that one in nine families uses the Life360 app.

In testing, we were able to track down lost items much faster using the AirTag than with any of the Tile models. Whereas the Tile Pro took around an hour to locate a lost item, the AirTag took just a minute. While the AirTag can offer directions to guide you directly to your lost object, the Tile app merely shows whether you’re getting closer or farther away. That alone is a reason to go with the AirTag if you have an Apple device.

Winner: Apple AirTag

Software and Features 

Apple’s Find My app is sleeker and more intuitive than Tile’s. In addition to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can launch it from any web browser, as well as from a HomePod or HomePod mini. If you own an iPhone 11 or newer, you can use the Precision Finding feature for turn-by-turn directions to your lost item. And if you forget to grab an item with an attached AirTag, you get a notification on your iPhone once it’s out of range.

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Setting up an AirTag is easy. Simply hold one to your iPhone or iPad, and a notification will appear to walk you through the rest of the process, which requires little more than naming the tracker. 

Setting up a Tile tracker is a little more complicated. You need to download the Tile app, create an account, and update your phone’s permissions. After that, you need to tap an icon to add a new Tile to the app, then tap a button on the actual tracker. Finally, you have to name the tracker and assign an icon for it.

The Tile app shows your tracker’s location and, if you’re out of range, lets you enable its lost mode. For $29.99 per year, a Premium membership unlocks features such as 30 days of location history, tracker sharing, and Smart Notifications (alerts when you leave an item behind). A Premium Protect Membership costs $99.99 per year and includes the same features, but will also cover up to $1,000 for a lost item. You can also use Tiles with the Life360 app (available for Android and iOS). Many of the Life360 app’s features are duplicated from the Tile app, but there is one exclusive feature: It lets you configure your tracker to send a discreet SOS signal to select people by triple-pressing the Tile button.

Tile works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and even Xfinity voice remotes if you set it up in advance, but you can’t search for lost items from a web browser.

Winner: Apple AirTag

Safety 

Like many tech products, AirTags and Tile trackers can be used for digital stalking. Their small size, affordability, and ease of use compound this.

Apple has already taken steps to improve safety measures. When an AirTag isn’t in range of the person who registered it for an extended period or it is traveling with an unregistered person, it will begin to chirp. The exact length of time before you hear the first alert varies, but it’s between eight and 24 hours. Apple has also enabled Precision Finding to help locate unknown AirTags so you can find and disable them. Android users can download an app called Tracker Detect from the Google Play Store to detect and find unknown AirTags.

Tile Slim (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)

Should you find an AirTag in your bag or get an “AirTag Found Traveling With You” notification on your iPhone, you can tap the AirTag against any phone with NFC to get its serial number and details on how to disable it. You can also open the AirTag (by unscrewing it) to remove its battery. Contact local law enforcement if you believe your safety is in jeopardy; it can work with Apple. 

The Tile app has a feature called Scan and Secure that lets Android and iOS users scan for nearby Tile trackers. Fortunately, you don’t need to sign up for a Tile account to scan for nearby devices.

Winner: Tie

Which Tracker Is Right for You? AirTag for Apple Users, Tile for Everyone Else

The AirTag and Tile trackers do mostly the same thing—help you find your lost stuff—but they approach it in slightly different ways.

The AirTag is the clear winner for Apple users. It’s our Editors’ Choice winner for Bluetooth trackers, and we recommend it to anyone with a compatible Apple product.

If you own an Android phone, you should pick the Tile that best suits your needs. While it isn’t as precise as the AirTag, it comes in more form factors for different use cases.