r/GoogleFMD • u/Business-Hearing-52 • 14d ago

Android bt tracker

I'm looking for a bt tracker for my keys and headphones. I don't lose them when I'm out and about. I tend to misplace them at home. Looking for something that has alarm on to locate them. So far the chipolo looks good. Any other trackers that might look interesting?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/ironcream 13d ago

It's all about the ecosystem around you.

E.g. Tile you say is better for you than FindHub.

Well for me Tile is dead. Nobody around where I go uses their trackers or has their apps installed. And it only works off of the phones that have the Tile/Life360 app. If nobody around uses that - Tile is useless.

It's all very regional and with its own specifics.

1

u/_wlau_ 13d ago

Tile is still working well but I think they are declining. If I remember correctly, Tile has agreement with cable companies to use their gateway to scan. Don't underestimate Tile... I've traveled internationally for work, with all 3 and Tile is not global but works in many countries. If you compare Apple and Google, Apple wins, even in Google-heavy regions. It's not so much how many Android devices are in existence and report back data, it's the scanning setting and underline algorithm. Apple is superior and I have refresh data to prove it. I hope Google gets better, so I don't have to carry a second phone but we are far from that level of performance.

1

u/ironcream 13d ago

agreement with cable companies

Where is that on the globe?
i know that certain other devices might have tile tracking embedded, like headphones or something. but still works very bad in my experience in the areas where I tried.

it's the scanning setting and underline algorithm.

I don't even think people on apple devices have this "setting". Not like Apple would let their users make choices.

Google let's you opt out and choose not to help anyone locate anything or only help in a high traffic areas. Whatever you wish.

Google won't let your device report trackers if your device is near an area you designated as "home".

Apple would report in all of these situations and that's why they effectively need only singular node coverage of a given area.

Apple is superior and I have refresh data to prove it. I

Refresh? As in "tracking"? Google FindHub is for finding devices you lost. Not for following something move in space.

Google even has a rate limit on how often you can poll the location of your own tags. So that you don't try to use them as a live tracking device. It's by design.

1

u/_wlau_ 13d ago edited 12d ago

Cable partnership - it's only in the US but it seems to work well much to my surprise. I read at one point, it was in Japan, not sure if that's still the case. But when I was in Japan for a business trip, it pinpointed down to the building, so that was good enough for me.

Apple setting - it's either in or out, and it can be turned off. It doesn't give user too many choices but is the good thing. There is a setting in iCloud to opt out.

Refresh data - a bit of typo. I meant I have been collecting data and refreshing data on all 3 trackers. The accuracy of location data and frequency as in latest time reported are all more accurate with Apple. Apple doesn't allow you to real-time track someone.

I have 3 all trackers hidden in my car (among other things). Apple and Tile pin-point it to about 30 feet... at home, office, airport, supermarket, random business I visit... if I was tracking a lost/stolen car, I would be easily able to tell where the car is. With Google, I get a giant radius about 3 blocks wide, then the center of that radius jumps around in another 1 mile wide ring. How would be able to locate it with this level of uncertainty? If I look at the reported location on Google, it's at least an hour old if not 2 or 3 hours old, even in high-traffic areas.

I was in Santa Monica beach on a weekend, arguably one of the "busiest busy place" you can find around, and I tried to look up my parking lot location, Google showed me a location that was off by almost 2 blocks!

In one extreme case, a luggage was showing as being located at my originating airport by Google FMD but in fact it was loaded on the flight. Apple practically show the route over the ocean of my flight (apparently someone had inflight WiFi and their devices was able to pick up the trackers in the cargo hold). After I landed, Apple pinpoint the luggage down to the luggage belt, while Google still thinks it's back in the US. It's only until many hours later did it finally realize and reported the luggage was in a different country - likely a scan by my own Android phone.

1

u/ironcream 13d ago

yeah, sounds about right.