They all have the same issue tho, software. Airtag relies on iphones to track and share location, tile needs other tile users to have their software installed and same story on Samsung mobiles. At least that's my understanding on this tech. What we need is a similar network service in stock android, but I wouldn't trust anyone especially google with my data but those who needs it would have a much better experience. Apple will never use that service for obvious apple reasons tho so unless bunch of these companies like tile decide to share the network it's unlikely. But the chances of that is near 0 so there's that.
The difference with tile is that it can be used on any platform hence why I'm mentioning it.
Airtag can only be tracked by iphones.
Samsung tags only by Samsung phones.
Tiles can be tracked by both an Android phone and an iphone even though the latter will probably never happen.
Right now I have an electric scooter with the Find My feature and I can't use it because I don't own any apple products.
My only hope is that the EU forces yet another regulation to force intercompatibility in these devices and guarantee that they cannot be used by creeps too easily.
One can hope.
In the meantime I bought a bunch of Tiles that I just noticed are all out of battery one year after buying them...
In any case there is barely any tile users where I live so all of that is pointless. The Apple network is the one I would benefit from using but as usual it's completely closed down...
You rely on software that only few users use. Its not universal in the sense airtag users doesn't ping tile and tile users doesn't ping smart tag. I am not talking about the platform but the interconnectivity and user base as that's what all of these tech rely on.
I did forgot about EU but don't know if it will be possible for them to enforce it given the complications and lack of universal tech as in free to use by any of these companies.
I downloaded the smart things app on my pixel and I've got the option to add a tracker. I don't have one to test with, but is it actually limited to Samsung devices?
In the beginning of the article (emphasis not mine)
The SmartTag 2 only works with Samsung phones running Android 9.0 and above. It not only requires SmartThings as a companion app, but the app has to be specifically installed on a Samsung phone. This already excludes more than half of Android’s worldwide users from ever using the tracker.