Bluetooth Tracker Tags

[Sam Vimes]

Occassionally someone will ask about using something like an Airtag as a security device for a caravan. Opinions in replies vary.

I've just been given a Third Party Samsung Tag to review which is the first opportunity I've had play with something like this. The device itself is just like a credit card but a bit thicker and while its marketed to fit into your wallet there's no reason why you can't use it elsewhere.

So, does it work and is it off any use. Not surpisingly that depends. I didn't want it for my caravan but I thought I might be able to use it in my camera bag which has a few grand of stuff in it I wouldn't like to lose. The most important feature I wanted was the ability to get a notification on my phone should I walk away, leaving my camera bag in a coffee shop for example - which I did once.

Is it any good at this - no. Its equally possible that other types, Airtags etc have similar problems.

Firstly it only work with Samsung phones using the SmartThings apps.
Secondly its only Bluetooth, so limited range. No inbuilt GPS
Thirdly to find where it is at a distance needs someone else with a Samsung Phone and the app nearby to the tag.
Forthly, it requires a connection to the internet - either Wifi or Mobile Data.

While the tag is ok the App is particularly lacking - whoever designed it didn't think it through properly.

I loaded the app which is the only way the phone can 'see' the tracker. Although Bluetooth it will not pair without the app. and doesn't appear in the Bluetooth device list. The app is crowded with other stuff that Samsung would like you to use to run your life and give them more money.

First test was to see if it could show on the map where the tracker was. At this point it immediately failed because the app needs access to the GPS network and indoors I get no visible satelitte signals. So its not going to work if the phone is in a building. It does however try and approximate your location using the mobile phone signals and even wifi. At this point it identified that my phone and tracker where in the middle of a Loch some 20Km away.

Second test was to walk away from the tag and see if it notified me. Another fail because I went out of the house and there's no wifi or mobile data and the only way it can tell me I'm out of range is via the internet. Rather a stupid assumption that every one always has an internet connection. Also its not hard to know when a Bluetooth device loses connection - no signal equals no connection.

I have some more tests to run out doors but its throwing it down with rain and I'm not going out it it now. So part two another day when its drier.

 

[Tobes]

Interesting. The AirTag experience is quite different. I was given one a couple of years ago and was so impressed I bought a bunch extra.
As with the card you have the AirTag has no GPS - it communicates with Bluetooth-LE and NFC. But thats where the similarities seem to stop. The airtag can relay its position via any newish iPhone (anything from the last 6 years or so). These seem to be ubiquitous enough that I have tracked my Airtag in checked luggage at an airport from checkin to the plane and back via baggage reclaim.
If you go out of range, you have the option for an immediate alert, but can suppress this if the item is in a known location (like home).
You can put the item into "lost" mode to allow other to see who it belongs to, or try to track and find the item.
You can share it with others - so I can led a tag to a family member for luggage, or have my wife track my keys.
And you can put it into active find mode which uses some kind of wizardry to give you a direction indicator on your phone with an approximate distance to locate the item.

IMHO, pretty impressive stuff.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I think you'll find that the Apple Airtags have the same issues. If the nearby phone has no internet connection it cannot relay the location to the owners phone. Similarly if it cannot get a location fix. Also only good on Apple devices.

There are a number of free apps that allow you to find the Smart tag I have in a kind of hot/cold game. The Samsung app also does this but none have gone that step further to give a notification that the signal is totally out of range. Well none that I've found yet.

 

[Tobes]

I think you'll find that the Apple Airtags have the same issues. If the nearby phone has no internet connection it cannot relay the location to the owners phone. Similarly if it cannot get a location fix. Also only good on Apple devices.

There are a number of free apps that allow you to find the Smart tag I have in a kind of hot/cold game. The Samsung app also does this but none have gone that step further to give a notification that the signal is totally out of range. Well none that I've found yet.

On the 1st part - absolutely true. They have no location or internet connection of their own. But they only cost £20 and have no subscription - so you get what you pay for. But there is no requirement that the apple phone in local proximity uses any app - it's part of the OS, and - unless you explicitly lock it down - an iPhone will periodically update its own location. I am not sure of the population of iPhone vs Android (I am sure it varies by geography), but so far, the air tag system has proven both accurate and up to date in terms of the time delay on the location of any of my tags.

 

[Jcloughie]

I agree with Tobes, my experience with AirTags is very good. Clearly they have limitations, but Apple do not try to say differently. For locating lost property they work a treat. But I have no doubt they will be less effective in a sparsely populated area. Could be that the Samsung devices are not as good.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

I think you'll find that even Apple phones cannot know their location without GPS signals being received..e.g in a sheltered building, nor have an internet connection via WiFi or mobile data.

Plus if you have no internet connection on your phone or the phone near the tag neither will be able to transmit or receive the location.

Just the same as Samsung.

Try putting your phones into Airplane mode and tur5off Location and see if you can find your tags.

 

[Jcloughie]

Never had a problem receiving gps in a building. No doubt the AirTags work on the same principles as the Samsung, I could not compare. But nevertheless, they work as described, so are suitable for purpose imho. However, they cannot compare to a proactive device.

You are correct that they will not work without connection. But they were never expected to.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

You are correct that they will not work without connection. But they were never expected to.

John

While this is true its never made clear in any product information I've seen nor in any reviews. There's just an assumption these days that everyone is permanently connected.

Week before last we went to Anglesey Abbey. I needed the Sat Nav to get home from there as there were many diversions in place. My TomTom Go and Google Maps apps wouldn't work because there's no mobile signal there, hence no mobile data.

The TomTomGo will work on or offline for a whole day if the first use is with an internet connection but the following day if you don't get a connection the first time around it wont work until you do.

Google Maps needed to find andalternate route but couldn't do so because of no internet connection. So it just span around kicking its heels waiting for a connection.

 

[Tobes]

I think you'll find that even Apple phones cannot know their location without GPS signals being received..e.g in a sheltered building, nor have an internet connection via WiFi or mobile data.

Plus if you have no internet connection on your phone or the phone near the tag neither will be able to transmit or receive the location.

Just the same as Samsung.

Try putting your phones into Airplane mode and tur5off Location and see if you can find your tags.

An Apple (or android) phone cant know its location via GPS without GPS reception - true. It can know its location (at least roughly) through triangulation on WIFI and bluetooth base station MAC addresses using a capability formerly known as "skyhook", which evolved to hybrid positioning systems.

And also true that if you have no cellular or wifi coverage, you cant have an internet connection.

But the cool thing about the system is you don't need the trifecta of proximity + GPS + internet at the same time to be useful. The tag does not communicate with the cloud via the phone at all. It just has a low power radio that lets the phone know it is there. The phone then records the location of the tag (based on its own location record), and uploads the tag location and ID to the cloud when it next has an internet connection.

Of course - if you enable airplane mode (and actually disable all radios - modern airplane mode will mostly just disable the GSM/4G/5G antenna leaving bluetooth and WiFi on) you can't see the tag. This is self evident.

IMHO there are two modes of operation though for a location tag.
1) being passively tracked via other peoples phone. This is the intermittent updating of location to the cloud via phones that pass by, and is sufficient for a rough location of a tag. This is the case when following a tag in a airport (where GPS is absolutly not going to work) and yet still results in a reasonable location of tag, be it in a baggage hall, in the belly of an aircraft or on a luggage tug.

2) when being actively sought by your own phone. You know roughly where the tag is (within walking / radio distance of your phone) and you are trying to pinpoint its exact location. This is the find my keys I left in the the wrong pocket scenario. Here you need to have access to all your radios (not airplane mode) and possibly an internet connection to pinpoint the tag.

It's mode 1 that is associated with something like tracking a caravan. Perfect solution - no. Better than nothing at all? Yes.

 

[Jcloughie]

While this is true its never made clear in any product information I've seen nor in any reviews. There's just an assumption these days that everyone is permanently connected.

Week before last we went to Anglesey Abbey. I needed the Sat Nav to get home from there as there were many diversions in place. My TomTom Go and Google Maps apps wouldn't work because there's no mobile signal there, hence no mobile data.

The TomTomGo will work on or offline for a whole day if the first use is with an internet connection but the following day if you don't get a connection the first time around it wont work until you do.

Google Maps needed to find andalternate route but couldn't do so because of no internet connection. So it just span around kicking its heels waiting for a connection.

I think that Google and Apple Maps download or update a whole route whenever it finds a connection. So if it is dropping in and out you probably will not notice unless reception is particularly poor. In which case, and, I am not sure, but I believe that there is a way of pre programming Google and Apple Maps to a specific journey if you will be traveling in a poor area. Obviously diversions might not work.

John

 

[Tobes]

I think that Google and Apple Maps download or update a whole route whenever it finds a connection. So if it is dropping in and out you probably will not notice unless reception is particularly poor. In which case, and, I am not sure, but I believe that there is a way of pre programming Google and Apple Maps to a specific journey if you will be traveling in a poor area. Obviously diversions might not work.

John

For Google maps, you can download "offline maps". Open the app, tap on your user icon (top right), tap on offline maps. You can user define an area to be downloaded. The device can then plan routes when offline as long as your start, end and route are all in the offline store.

I use this when abroad to prevent having to download large maps on cell data.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Back in the late '90s when I was working in Canada, the IT nerds would take their laptops home and when they travelled on the bus they would use them to track Wifi Access Points along the route. Then map the location to the Access Point. The early intent was that they wanted 'free' access to the internet anywhere. This was way before most Access Points were locked. This process became known as 'wardriving' and what I didn't realise until later was that this was going on all over the US and Canada. Eventually large databases were built of Access Point locations.

Later still it was realised that you could determine someones location when using the Access Point. This would require querying the database. The use of Access Points and the Database in general works well but does rely on the accuracy of the database. Access Points get retired or removed or database entries can become incorrect.

A similar process using IP addresses can give an approximate location. We use that on this forum to check new members location if it looks like a spammer. Of course use of a VPN can confuse the issue. This process still relies on a database which can be out of date or just plainly wrong.

It seems that I always come into the category of 'doesn't work for me'. When I was with BT my IP address search gave a pretty accurate location. Now I'm with Plusnet and my IP address shows me to be in the middle of London - some 600 odd miles away.

Using Cell Phone Towers for location determination is more accurate as towers seldom wander off somewhere else? The cell like nature of the network makes it easy to determine which cell your in. Location can then be enhanced by measuring signal strengths from the Serving Tower and Neighbouring Towers.

On top of course is GPS.

In respect of locating the tag if nearby, the Samsung setup has a 'Navigate to' function where you can walk around trying to find it but stupidly this only works if you have a Network connection. Since the tag is Bluetooth and some other apps I've tried just use that, its a flaw in Samsungs implementation.

******

Google Maps - Yes I use offline maps but the app still has a problem. Just the other week we were using it to follow a route when we came across a road closure and had to deviate. It could not work out the alternate route without a network connection - just a repeated message -'waiting for connection'. Tomtom and Sygic once working will calculate an alternate route when off line.

 

[Jcloughie]

A few of odd things.

1. If Apple suspects a login from one of my devices, it sends a message something like this.

“A login was detected in Daventry”. Which is somewhere I have never been, and 72 miles off the mark.

2. When setting up gps on the Apple, it asks if the internet can be used to enhance accuracy.

3. When I track a family member using ‘find my’ and their phone. It is spot on, sometimes slow to connect.

The same is true when tracking the location tags (not genuine Apple). But slower, which makes sense if they do not find a Bluetooth connection.

John