I got a few as a gift. They kinda worked, but broadcast all your location info to the cloud. Then after some period of time under a year, the batteries went dead and that was the end of them. At the time, replacements were something like $20 or $25, lol no.
I agree that it would be nice if they didn't broadcast (in fact, when I learned how they worked was the day I stopped using the tile I got as a gift and foolishly used without researching).
However, as I understand it, there isn't currently a better way to do it. My understanding (and I have zero bluetooth dev experience, so this is all 2nd hand...thus I welcome additional input) is that, to give maximum battery life, they use the bluetooth low energy spec. A consequence of the way this works is that the dev
And I guess I should clarify...I certainly understand that the app itself could choose not to send to the cloud a list of what devices it sees. Clearly that would not violate the bluetooth spec (though it would negate part of Tiles selling point of other people being able to locate your lost device). But still, the device itself is visible to others around you listening to the BLE frequencies. So even if Tile let you turn off your app from sending to the cloud, it wouldn't stop other users with that setting
If the AirTag went with the "shut up and listen until it hears something it recognizes" approach you would lose "Lost Mode" - one of its key differentiating features. Flag an AirTag as lost and you'll get a ping any time any iDevice in the world (on a sufficiently recent version of iOS) comes near it.
Apple uses rotating identifiers and other protocol wizardry to prevent someone identifying you from the broadcast of your device. All that a third party can see is "there's a Bluetooth LE device nearby". I c
I'd love for a device that broadcasts when I press the button, and otherwise just shuts up and listens until is hears something it recognizes.
That would
1) require more power because it'd need to be constantly listening for the signal
and
2) would only work when nearby the tile.
The thing that makes Tile really useful, but is one of the reasons I don't use it, is the network. The fact that all the people in the network are constantly tracking all the devices at all times. So if you left your Tile tagged thing somewhere outside of your immediate range, as long as someone in the Tile network is within range of it, you can locate it.
1) require more power because it'd need to be constantly listening for the signal
Why would it require MORE power? It already has to listen. I can use my phone to activate the tag, so it's clearly listening for my phone. So just listen without also broadcasting. There's no reason in physics why that would require more energy. That would be purely mandated by the BLE spec.
2) would only work when nearby the tile.
And this is a problem? Maybe for some, but not for me. In 30 years, other than in my house, I've misplaced my keys precisely zero times (I did leave them at someone's house a couple times, but each time knew precisely wh
The batteries on my keychain tiles lasted over a year on the daily use ones. The one in my wallet is probably a year and a half old and still going fine.
The problem with tile isn't the *device* battery life, but the tile *app*.
When I let it run in the background, it roughly halves my iPhone battery life. I assume that this is from the constant GPS use.
I'll gradually replace them with apple's, I expect--but I see no reason to throw them out before that, at least not for now.
Besides, we've already learned
The best way to accelerate a Macintoy is at 9.8 meters per second per second.
Tiles suck though (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I agree that it would be nice if they didn't broadcast (in fact, when I learned how they worked was the day I stopped using the tile I got as a gift and foolishly used without researching).
However, as I understand it, there isn't currently a better way to do it. My understanding (and I have zero bluetooth dev experience, so this is all 2nd hand...thus I welcome additional input) is that, to give maximum battery life, they use the bluetooth low energy spec. A consequence of the way this works is that the dev
Re: (Score:2)
And I guess I should clarify...I certainly understand that the app itself could choose not to send to the cloud a list of what devices it sees. Clearly that would not violate the bluetooth spec (though it would negate part of Tiles selling point of other people being able to locate your lost device). But still, the device itself is visible to others around you listening to the BLE frequencies. So even if Tile let you turn off your app from sending to the cloud, it wouldn't stop other users with that setting
Re: (Score:2)
If the AirTag went with the "shut up and listen until it hears something it recognizes" approach you would lose "Lost Mode" - one of its key differentiating features. Flag an AirTag as lost and you'll get a ping any time any iDevice in the world (on a sufficiently recent version of iOS) comes near it.
Apple uses rotating identifiers and other protocol wizardry to prevent someone identifying you from the broadcast of your device. All that a third party can see is "there's a Bluetooth LE device nearby". I c
Re: (Score:1)
I'd love for a device that broadcasts when I press the button, and otherwise just shuts up and listens until is hears something it recognizes.
That would 1) require more power because it'd need to be constantly listening for the signal and 2) would only work when nearby the tile. The thing that makes Tile really useful, but is one of the reasons I don't use it, is the network. The fact that all the people in the network are constantly tracking all the devices at all times. So if you left your Tile tagged thing somewhere outside of your immediate range, as long as someone in the Tile network is within range of it, you can locate it.
Re: (Score:2)
1) require more power because it'd need to be constantly listening for the signal
Why would it require MORE power? It already has to listen. I can use my phone to activate the tag, so it's clearly listening for my phone. So just listen without also broadcasting. There's no reason in physics why that would require more energy. That would be purely mandated by the BLE spec.
2) would only work when nearby the tile.
And this is a problem? Maybe for some, but not for me. In 30 years, other than in my house, I've misplaced my keys precisely zero times (I did leave them at someone's house a couple times, but each time knew precisely wh
Re: (Score:3)
The batteries on my keychain tiles lasted over a year on the daily use ones. The one in my wallet is probably a year and a half old and still going fine.
The problem with tile isn't the *device* battery life, but the tile *app*.
When I let it run in the background, it roughly halves my iPhone battery life. I assume that this is from the constant GPS use.
I'll gradually replace them with apple's, I expect--but I see no reason to throw them out before that, at least not for now.
Besides, we've already learned