Tile’s ‘solution’ to Bluetooth tracker tag privacy is apparently expensive stickers you can’t even actually track
Tracker tags can be a great way to keep tabs on your favorite gadgets and accessories, but as we saw with their rise in popularity following Apple’s launch of its own AirTags, the ability to easily track tiny tags opens up a whole hornet’s nest of potential privacy issues — nobody wants astranger tracking themwithout their knowledge. While most solutions to this have attempted to give users theability to detect the presence of unknown tags, Tile has come up with an interesting alternative that basically replaces trackers with QR-code-based “this belongs to me” labels.
TheseLost and Found Labels, asTiledubs them, are little square stickers it’s possible to affix to anything you’re likely to lose. You provide Tile with your contact info while scanning and activating them. When you misplace a labeled item, whoever finds it can scan the label and be directed to get in touch with you. We’ve already seen Tile implement QR codes on trackers like the Tile Mate, and this basically gives you just that, minus all the electronics.
While that does manage to side-step tracking privacy concerns, it admittedly feels a lot less useful than a Bluetooth or UWB-based tracker, requiring someone else to actually find your item before any progress can be made on returning it. Sure, that also means no battery-life issues to worry about, but this presents a host of new concerns of its own, like peeling, or resistance to wear and fading.
Pricing is $15 for three sheets of five labels, or $1 a piece. Now, admittedly, that is much, much cheaper than any of Tile’s active tracking products (single trackers start at around $25), but … this is also $15 for some stickers. And they aren’t even puffy or have googly eyes oranything.
It’s easy to dismiss the limited functionality of these labels, or that too-big-for-their-britches price tag, but we will concede that these do fill a very specific need, and if that aligns with what you’re looking for from a solution like this — something that is, in its most basic form, essentially a modern-day luggage tag — then maybe Tile’s Lost and Found Labels really do make a lot of sense.
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