What’s an Apple or Samsung Tag?

There are two very interesting products that you may have not yet heard about or that you might even own, but don’t really know how they work and what they can do for you. They’re Apple AirTag for Apple products and Samsung SmartTags for Samsung devices. Essentially, both devices are small trackers that help you find lost items (like a travel bag, a wallet, a purse or a briefcase). 

Both AirTags and SmartTags use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to communicate wirelessly with nearby, compatible smartphones. When your lost item is within a short range of your phone (usually about 30-400 feet, though it varies by device), the tracker and your phone can communicate directly via Bluetooth. You can then use the corresponding app (“Find My” for Apple, SmartThings “Find” for Samsung) on your phone to trigger a sound from the tag, helping you pinpoint its location, according to SafeWise.

But there’s another fantastic feature with these gizmos called Crowdsourced Finding (or network effect) and this is where things get really amazing. If your item with the tracker attached is outside the Bluetooth range of your own phone, it can still be located. Both Apple and Samsung have large networks of compatible devices (iPhones/iPads for Apple, Galaxy phones for Samsung). 

When a lost AirTag or SmartTag is in the vicinity of another device on its respective network, that device anonymously and securely relays the tag's location data to the cloud. Then, you can open your app (Find My or SmartThings Find) and see the last known location of your item on a map. Some of these two devices, like the Apple AirTag and Samsung SmartTag 2, also incorporate Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology that allows for extremely precise location tracking, down to a few centimeters. 

The main difference between the Apple and the Samsung Tags is their respective size. The SmartTag utilizes Samsung’s SmartThings Find network, while AirTag leverages Apple’s Find My network. While these two networks operate on similar principles, the Find My network is significantly larger than Samsung’s SmartThings 

Find network (at least in the US where Apple owns 61% of the market vs. 23% for Samsung. This means that if you're close to your lost item (and you have a compatible phone), you might see an arrow pointing you in the right direction, along with the distance to your item. Pretty amazing isn’t it? It won’t work with a phone that’s not an Apple or Samsung, and the only thing it won’t do is find your mind if you ever lose it!