Tile maker takes measures against stalking, but goes a little less far than Apple – Tablets and phones – News

After Apple, Tile will also take measures to prevent stalking with its trackers of the same name. It will be possible to search for nearby Tiles in the Tile app, but you can’t make an unknown Tile make a sound, which is possible with an unknown AirTag.

Tile calls the function Scan and Secure and processes it in the Tile app for iOS and Android. The company underlines that there is no requirement to create a Tile account before using the app to search for unknown Tile trackers. The feature should appear in the app in the coming weeks.

Apple offers in iOS and the Tracker Detect-Android app the ability to make a detected, strange AirTag make a sound, to make it easier to track it down. Tile doesn’t offer that functionality: the company simply recommends doing a good search in the area and has a list of possible Tile hiding spots in his faq.

The fact that a Tile will only make a sound at the behest of its owner makes it a better tool for stalking than an AirTag in that regard. At the same time, it is again the case that a thief will have more trouble finding a Tile in, for example, a stolen backpack, which also makes it a better anti-theft tool in that respect.

Finally, Samsung is also a well-known brand that makes a tracker: the SmartTag. The companion SmartThings application has well a Unknown Tag Searchfunction, but it could not be found in the app on the OnePlus 7 Pro with which Tweakers did a test, even after creating an account. Perhaps that’s because the SmartTag only works with Samsung devices. That would mean that stalking can be combated with a SmartTag, but only with Samsung hardware. It is also unclear who can make a SmartTag make a sound.

Tiles, AirTags and SmartTags are intended to help users not to lose their belongings. The devices have button cell batteries on board and use Bluetooth signals to announce their presence to nearby smartphones. Their small speakers make a chirping sound. In addition, Apple uses its Find Mynetwork, which works with iPhones, to make AirTags more discoverable. Samsung used are Galaxy Find Network† Tweakers wrote a round-up over bluetooth-trackers.

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