The small Bluetooth tracking device is one cool gadget that has emerged recently. The most popular such item is the Tile item tracker. The device can be attached to almost anything and tracked via a free app on a smartphone or tablet. The main purpose is to help you find things that are often misplaced but can also be used to locate things that have been lost or stolen – making it a useful gadget for a private investigator.
How Does the Tile Item Tracker Work?
The second-generation Tile tracking tools on the market today use Bluetooth Low Energy (also called Bluetooth LE, BLE, and Bluetooth 4.0) technology to help you locate items. Bluetooth Low Energy consumes significantly less energy than classic Bluetooth while maintaining the same power range. This conserves battery life and extends the life of the Tile trackers. Inside each Tile tracker is a Bluetooth transceiver, an ARM Cortex-M0 core, a mini-circuit board, a speaker, and a long-lasting lithium cell battery.
Bluetooth has become the standard for connecting electronic devices wirelessly. Instead of using cables or wires, Bluetooth uses shortwave UHF radio waves in the 2.4 to 2.485 GHz range to connect devices. By placing a Tile on an item, you can easily use the free Tile app on your smartphone to communicate with that item.
The app can be used to find something misplaced by searching. If the item is within range, the application graphically shows how close you are to the item in a green circle. If the item can’t be found using the search feature alone, you can have the gadget emit an easy-to-hear special tone. It may be out of range if the item cannot be found. In this case, the app provides the item’s last known location.
- THE SMALL TRACKER – Tile helps you keep track of your things. Stick the Tile Sticker to, remotes, chargers, headphone or glasses cases and other electronic devices, and use our free app to find them.
- FIND NEARBY — Use the Tile app to ring your Tile when it’s within Bluetooth range, or ask your Smart Home device to find it for you.
- FIND FAR AWAY — When outside of Bluetooth range, use the Tile app to view your Tile’s most recent location on a map.
- FIND YOUR PHONE- Double press the button on your Tile to make your phone ring, even when it’s on silent.
- NOTIFY WHEN FOUND — Enlist the secure and anonymous help of the Tile Network to help find your things. If your lost Tile is found, If your Tile is lost, add your contact information so you can be reached when someone scans the QR code on your lost Tile.
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There is also an option to place the item on the “Tile Global Network,” which allows any smartphone running the companion app to communicate with that item. This helps locate items that are lost or stolen.
Design Options
Two sizes and designs of trackers are available, which work the same and use the same app. Here is a description of the two designs:
1. Tile Mate
A perfect thin square. The exact dimensions are 37 millimeters x 37 millimeters x 5.3 millimeters. Thirty-seven millimeters is just under one and one-half inches. 5.3 millimeters is about one-fifth of an inch. The mate comes with a cutout hole in one of the corners, so it can easily be attached to most key chains or on hooks, clasps, or chains.
2. Tile Slim
A super-thin version that fits perfectly inside a wallet or passport. It can also be easily hidden in or on items that might be particularly attractive to a thief, such as under the seat of a bicycle or the protective covering of a camera. The exact dimensions are 54 millimeters x 54 millimeters x 2.4 millimeters. Fifty-four millimeters is about two and one-eighth inches, and 2.4 millimeters is a little less than one-tenth of an inch, or the thickness of about two normal credit cards.
Accessories
Custom adhesives can attach Tile trackers to almost anything, including laptops, tablets, cellphones, and TV remotes. This capability opens up many opportunities for Private Investigators, who may wish to track objects used in a sting operation, such as packs of money, purses, or valuable packages.
How To Find Lost Items
There are two features on the free app to find lost items. First, you can use the “locate” feature to see if the lost (or just misplaced) item is within the range of your smartphone. If so, you can use the tracking feature to move around and visually see on the app when you’re getting closer or further from the lost item. You can also retrace your steps and check if you are within range. Another great app feature is that you can request the item’s last known location. This will generate a map showing where your smartphone last communicated with the item. This will help you pinpoint where you may have left the lost item behind. You can then go back to that spot and use the locate feature.
How To Find Stolen Items
If you think an item may have been stolen, you can use the crowd-finding feature to report it as lost. This activates all “nodes” on the Tile global network to be looking for your item. Everyone running the app is a node, and if they come within range of your lost or stolen item, you will be immediately sent an alert and an email showing you where it was detected on a map.
You can then potentially go to that place and use the search feature, call the place(s) it is indicating, and or call the police and inform them of the location of the signal and ask for their help in recovering your stolen item. As the size of the Tile global network grows, this feature will become even more powerful.
Advantages Over Other Bluetooth Trackers
Tile is the most popular Bluetooth tracker, which gives it the advantage of having far more people on its global network of users running the Tile app. This is very important if you lose something or have something stolen. Under either of these scenarios, the more people on the network, the more likely you will be to recover the lost or stolen item! This is because the more people there are on the network, the more likely someone will come into the lost or stolen item range.
Furthermore, the size of the Tile network is growing more rapidly than the network of its competitors, especially since it actively encourages its users to ask their friends and family to download the free app and run it on their smartphones. They also encourage users to ask store clerks, baristas, waiters, library attendants, postal carriers, police, security officers, park rangers, people close to pawn shops, and others to download and run the free app. In this way, they extend their global network far more than the number of people using the gear.
When independent testers tested the range of trackers, it was about 120 feet, about twenty feet more than they advertised, and far better than other Bluetooth trackers currently on the market. This longer range also gives you an advantage when using the crowd-finding feature, as it will be more likely for someone with the app running to come within range of your lost or stolen items.
Although the gadgets are not waterproof, they are sealed very tightly and are the most water-resistant Bluetooth trackers on the market. This means they can withstand dampness, rain, and snow. Many items have been recovered under many feet of snow using Tile trackers.
What Kinds Of Items Can Be Tracked?
Some of the most obvious items include keys, laptops, iPads, cell phones, cameras, purses, wallets, backpacks, gym bags, luggage, and bikes. However, the possibilities are endless. They can be placed on drones to help locate and/or speed up the recovery of these expensive items. They can be hidden on construction equipment or items at fairs and festivals that are notoriously stolen. They can be placed on life-saving medical equipment such as inhalers, EpiPens, and blood glucose monitors.
They can be hidden in offices or other business supplies to determine which employees or customers are stealing from a business. They can be hidden on expensive scientific equipment in the field to track if stolen. They can be used on sentimental items like a child’s favorite stuffed animal or doll, especially when traveling.
Keep an Eye on Children
When you take your kids to parks, shopping malls, festivals, and other large venues, you can lose them if you turn your head for a moment. Placing a tile tracker inside their jacket, shirt pocket, or other clothing will give you peace of mind that you can quickly find them if they wander out of sight. You could also thread one of the gadgets on a chain to hang around a child’s neck like a pendant on a necklace.
Know Where Your Pets Are Located
Hooking a Tile Mate to the collar of your dog, cat, or other animals is easy. If you have a pet that tends to break loose and run around the neighborhood, this is a great way to track them down before they get lost or hurt. Also, the gadget could be especially useful when traveling with your pet, as it is easy for them to wander off and get lost in unfamiliar surroundings. (See also: Pet Detectives).
Conclusion
Tile item trackers are easily the leaders in Bluetooth tracking devices. They have several distinct design and technological advantages and the advantage of having the largest global network. These cool gadgets will likely continue to explode on the marketplace for some time, especially to locate stolen or “permanently” lost items.
If you have questions about the Tile Item Tracker, please comment below. View other types of spy gear for investigators.
Hi I put a bluetooth locator on my phone and it discovered a tile in my vehicle. I have been getting harassed and followed for almost a year, with drones and vehicles, now I discovered a tile on that genric app but didnt save the info. do you have any suggestions or help? Thanks
Had a car stolen Dec 23, 2020. But regrettably had no tile tracker in the car. The bmw connect has not been successful. Any ideas that law enforcement might not use?
Sorry to hear your car was stolen. Less than half of stolen vehicles are ever recovered. Here are a few ideas:
– File a police report. Give the police as much information as possible, including VIN, make and model, where it was last parked, what items were inside, etc. It’s pretty rare that the police will find your car by “looking” for it. However, it is possible that your car was stolen, and then abandoned somewhere. Perhaps it was parked somewhere and was ticketed. The police can check to see if there were any tickets on the vehicle.
– Once you have a police report, file an insurance claim. The insurance company is unlikely to help you find the vehicle, but you’ll want to get compensated if your vehicle can’t be found (assuming you had the right insurance coverage).
– Check with local towing companies. Perhaps it was towed and is sitting in a lot somewhere.
– Is security camera footage available? If parked at home, check with neighbors. If parked at a business, ask any businesses in the area.
– Let your friends and family know and consider posting on social media. If your car was distinguished in some way, your friends and family can be on the lookout around town.
– Consider purchasing a vehicle history report from a company like AutoCheck. However, it is unlikely that a stolen car would be sold in a legitimate way.
– Check sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, etc. to see if your personal items are being sold. Sometimes, you can even find the vehicle itself this way.
Again these are just some ideas to consider. Good luck with your search.