Luggage Trackers - Bluetooth vs GPS Who Has Used Them?

[Flipper Dude]

I swear my ol lady has one stashed in my truck. She always manages to call and say “ Well, since you’re passing by HEB (Walmart, Tractor Supply, dry cleaner etc) , why don’t you stop and…….

Prolly doesn’t want me catting around with a kitty.

 

[rookhawk]

The apple ones won't work well in Africa, that's all I know. They use near-field communications to bum signal from anyone and everyone's iphones. That's how their tags phone home. In Africa (and most of Asia) people either A.) Can't afford an iphone, or B.) Its old and not compatible, or C.) Is "Jail broken", hacked so it can use free apps illegally.

In any case of ABC above, you don't have enough humans running around with iphones to pickup the Apple air tags the way you would in the USA.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Using Air Tags for my upcoming trip to Zambia. Will report how they do.

 

[Seavas]

Used android Tile tags last trip to SA. Worked fine and very inexpensive. We always knew where our bags and rifles were.
I am willing to bet there are far more Android devices in use than Apple in Africa, particularly among the working class.

 

[WAB]

I use apple air tags. We actually were able to find bags that were delivered to the wrong carousel in Rome with them. Just back from London where they worked fine. No idea about RSA per @RookHawk’s comment above, but I can report that they worked very well in Togo.

 

[Hank2211]

Air tags. I use them and while not 100%, they do work. Given the number of connections I must sometimes make to get to where I want to get in Africa, it's very reassuring to know your luggage is on the same plane as you!

Recently I arrived home from a long flight and knew my bag was on the plane. After waiting for all of the bags to come out, I approached the lost baggage people and asked where my bag was. They said it should be on the belt - I said it wasn't, and looked at my air tag on my phone - and discovered my bag was moving down a local highway at a pretty good clip. Airline employee found the one bag left and decided someone had taken mine, looked at contact info for that person, made a call, and the person came back (no apology by the way!).

Like they used to say about American Express, "don't leave home without it."

 

[rookhawk]

Used android Tile tags last trip to SA. Worked fine and very inexpensive. We always knew where our bags and rifles were.
I am willing to bet there are far more Android devices in use than Apple in Africa, particularly among the working class.

You posit a good question. It would be a great exercise if someone wants to troll the belly of the Internet to find out what nations use what phones in what numbers.

The important thing to remember is this generalization: the Africans are poor and the Asians are cunning. Africans can't afford the latest phone or OS which means there aren't enough phones to crowdsource the geo locations of tags. The Asians are cunning, they steal software like no one else on earth. That means that the majority of Asians use jailbroken phones so they can get their apps for free and in turn means their phones aren't "friendly" to the tag service. I went to the largest Mall in Manilla once and so tens (hundreds?) of thousands of apple and android used and refurb phones, all jailbroken.

 

[Tanks]

The apple ones won't work well in Africa, that's all I know. They use near-field communications to bum signal from anyone and everyone's iphones. That's how their tags phone home. In Africa (and most of Asia) people either A.) Can't afford an iphone, or B.) Its old and not compatible, or C.) Is "Jail broken", hacked so it can use free apps illegally.

In any case of ABC above, you don't have enough humans running around with iphones to pickup the Apple air tags the way you would in the USA.

They have worked in Zim and Zambia for me.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

You posit a good question. It would be a great exercise if someone wants to troll the belly of the Internet to find out what nations use what phones in what numbers.

The important thing to remember is this generalization: the Africans are poor and the Asians are cunning. Africans can't afford the latest phone or OS which means there aren't enough phones to crowdsource the geo locations of tags. The Asians are cunning, they steal software like no one else on earth. That means that the majority of Asians use jailbroken phones so they can get their apps for free and in turn means their phones aren't "friendly" to the tag service. I went to the largest Mall in Manilla once and so tens (hundreds?) of thousands of apple and android used and refurb phones, all jailbroken.

@rookhawk a lot of Angolans that I worked with told me about going to universities in former eastern bloc communist countries and being surprised how poor they were compared to Angola.

The Nigerians I worked with had at least two different cell phones (different networks) and many had three. Samsung Galaxy seemed very popular. BTW, getting a phone in Nigeria was like buying a gun in the US. You had to fill out a lot of paperwork and they took a photo and fingerprints. Many expats would simply send their driver to get phone.

 

[Gemsbok45]

So are you hiding these in your luggage as someone with ill intent could remove a tag and stick it in someone else’s bag.

 

[WAB]

So are you hiding these in your luggage as someone with ill intent could remove a tag and stick it in someone else’s bag.

Yep.

 

[Philip Glass]

2 steps to check with iPhone- Search or swipe to the Find My app.

Then press items. Voila.

View attachment 546937View attachment 546938

I can not get to that screen where the items list is. Not sure what I am doing wrong. When I go to Find My it is just my phone There.

 

[Philip Glass]

The apple ones won't work well in Africa, that's all I know. They use near-field communications to bum signal from anyone and everyone's iphones. That's how their tags phone home. In Africa (and most of Asia) people either A.) Can't afford an iphone, or B.) Its old and not compatible, or C.) Is "Jail broken", hacked so it can use free apps illegally.

In any case of ABC above, you don't have enough humans running around with iphones to pickup the Apple air tags the way you would in the USA.

But the point is to track your bags to the destination airport. There are always hundreds if iPhones in any airport. Your point may be valid off in the wilderness.

 

[Challer]

AirTags. You can no longer packed batteries in checked luggage, but AirTags have been given an exception. You this can’t legally use the GPS trackers in checked luggage.

Neither will work well inside an all aluminum case so you’ll need to mount the things on the outside

 

[wesheltonj]

I can not get to that screen where the items list is. Not sure what I am doing wrong. When I go to Find My it is just my phone There.

At the bottom of “Find My” press items, they should be there. If not there change the batteries, they only last around a year.

 

[M McDindi]

After talking directly with tech support for Apple, Tile (bluetooth) and Tracki (GPS) I've decided to try the Tile Pro and ordered a 4 pk directly from their website. Why.....

I'm dedicated Android user, my wife is Apple only. Sometimes we travel together and sometimes separately.

After talking to Apple, yes, they do have an app that is compatible with Android but, a bit complicated to set up. Devices have to be registered to her phone, then my phone added to her account etc, etc but, in the end the Apple Android app doesn't give me the same full functionality as having the actual iPhone.

Supposedly, there are over 1 billion iPhone/Airtags floating around but, there is also a very high number of stolen iPhones that are then hacked (jail break) and resold on the cheap in the US and hugely overseas. The hacked phones, according Apple Tech Support, loose a lot of the IOS's functionality including the built in "Find My Phone" service. This is purposely removed/disabled in the jail break process to keep the stolen phone from being recovered. The Air Tags require this service to function.

I like the Tracki GPS based trackers but, the two downsides are, short battery life and the monthly fee ($19.99/mo) for each device. The battery is not replaceable and depending on how frequently it "pings" and reports it's location, per their Tech Support, is 3-7 days. In a lost/missing/delayed bag, the battery may die before it's found. The monthly subscription fee is nominal but the process is a PIA. It's a pre-paid system with your CC on file and it automatically renews every 30-days. So, if you do a typical 14-day trip, unless you jump thru hoops you end up paying for two months of service for each device.

Decided to try the Tiles mostly because they have an app for Android and iPhones that has the same functionality for both users. The devices can be registered to a single account and both users have full access and full capability simply by each logging onto the same account. Batteries, like the Apple Air Tags are common replaceable CR2032's and supposedly last a least a year.

Tile was actually the first into the market and pre-dates Apple Air Tags by 10-years. The Tile technology is similar to Apple in that each Android phone with the Tile app on it an running in the background acts as a "repeater" to get the device "ping" back to the users phone. One difference is the Tile user has to actively open the app to start it and when you close the app it still continues running in the background. In Apple's system the function is always running and the user has to actively turn the Find My Phone service off. I can see good pros/cons for both. Also, according to Apple Tech Support, an iPhone that detects the Air Tag ping and forwards it, get an alert that an Air Tag is within range. Doesn't provide any precise location of the device, just that there is one in the signals range proximity. I can also see pros/cons with this.

Anyway..... I've got a set of four Tile Pro's on the way and will play with them for a couple of weeks before I real-world test them in a few weeks this Aug on this year's trip to Botswana and report back when I get back at the end of Sept. Wife is going to LA for a few days to visit family so we'll see how they track it all.

Just as a matter of caution when going thru JNB on the way over, since it's an overnight layover, I always collect my checked bag. Not too worried about my riffle case as it's stored in the SAPS "vault" overnight. Since we have to get our morning flight boarding passes anyway and usually have to remove the ammo case from checked and pay the rifle handling fee anyway it's kind of no BFD. A tag is going the checked bag, one in rifle case and one in ammo case and we'll see what happens.

 

[rookhawk]

But the point is to track your bags to the destination airport. There are always hundreds if iPhones in any airport. Your point may be valid off in the wilderness.

@Philip Glass I agree there are people on the airplane to serve as "Crowdsourcers" for the tag info. And also those sitting at departures as well. But my point is that when a bag is sitting off in a distant room of the airport, or on a tarmac, or wherever, you're relying on a local, native, person that isn't making much wages as your technology crowdsourcer. Outside of the first world, the number of modern iphones is low in the hands of working class people. Even lower are the numbers of non-jailbroken iphones and those that have sufficiently new versions of IOS running.

I'm explaining how the tech works and what is required to get tracking to work. YMMV using it in emerging markets for those reasons.

 

[Red Leg]

For whatever it is worth, I have never had loss of connectivity with my baggage in any airport I have transited while using these things. That would include Johannesburg and Lusaka.

 

[rookhawk]

For whatever it is worth, I have never had loss of connectivity with my baggage in any airport I have transited while using these things. That would include Johannesburg and Lusaka.

We tested Apple’s new AirTag tracking device in SA and it impressed – but has three big issues | News24

There are some South Africa-specific caveats to Apple's AirTags.

www.news24.com

 

[Red Leg]

We tested Apple’s new AirTag tracking device in SA and it impressed – but has three big issues | News24

There are some South Africa-specific caveats to Apple's AirTags.

www.news24.com

I'll keep this in mind if I bring my bike to Johannesburg,