Latest news with #itemtracking
TechCrunch
28-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Family safety app Life360 adds Tile's lost-item trackers, years after its acquisition
Over three and a half years after family locator app Life360 acquired lost item tracker Tile for $205 million, the two services are finally fully integrated. On Wednesday, Life360 announced that the item-finding capabilities of Tile, a competitor to Apple's AirTag and other Bluetooth-based trackers, are now available from inside its main app. The update means users will now be able to see where family members are in real-time, as well as their valuables, like their wallet, keys, bags, and other items. The change will also help to centralize the separate user bases for the two apps by pushing Tile's users to adopt the Life360 app as their main tracking tool. A company representative told TechCrunch that the integrated services will begin rolling out Wednesday and will reach all users over the next few weeks. As the rollout progresses, Tile users will soon see a message in their app directing them to Life360, while Life360 users will see a new section for tracking their items below the people and pets section on the Location tab of the app. Tiles that are with a Life360 family member will also appear on the in-app map in real-time. If an item is lost, users can view up to two days of location history for free. Subscription plan users can access longer periods of location history, with Gold and Platinum users able to see 30 days, while Silver members can access the past 7 days. Silver members also now have access to emergency dispatch services through the Tile SOS button or the Life360 app. (This works with the 2024 Tile devices only, however.) In addition, Life360 users will soon be able to receive automatic push notifications when their items attached to Tile devices are left behind. The company says to expect this functionality to arrive in the weeks ahead. Just ahead of this update, Life360 redirected the domain to Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW The company hasn't yet given an indication if or when it plans to wind down the standalone Tile app — and it likely won't want to make that move until it's able to migrate users over to its flagship product. But after Tile functionality is fully replicated in Life360's app, it may no longer make sense to continue to run both applications. Life360 had said back in 2022 that it would integrate Tile into its main app, noting at the time that if all its Life360 users joined Tile, it would become the largest finding network. But that opportunity may have passed, given the delay in integrating the services. Plus, competitors like Chipolo have since launched their own lost-item trackers that work directly with both Apple and Google's own built-in finding networks out of the box.
Phone Arena
13-05-2025
- Phone Arena
Google's Find My Device is now Find Hub, and It's getting smarter with UWB and satellite support
As part of the expansion, Find Hub will begin supporting UWB-capable Bluetooth tags later this month, starting with the Moto Tag. This allows for more precise item tracking, narrowing down the tag's location to a specific point in a room. Support for satellite connectivity is also coming later this year, which will allow users to share locations even in areas with no mobile signal — a feature that could be particularly useful for hikers and frequent travelers. Receive the latest Android news Subscribe By subscribing you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy Find Hub will also support third-party tags from brands like July and Mokobara for built-in luggage tracking, Peak for ski gear, and even Pixbee's Disney-themed tags aimed at kids and families. Beginning in 2025, some airlines will allow Find Hub users to share Bluetooth tag locations directly with their systems, potentially streamlining the process of recovering lost bags at the airport. The timing is also notable. With Apple reportedly preparing to expand its own Find My network to include satellite-based alerts and third-party accessories, Google's move could help level the playing field. Samsung's Galaxy SmartTags already support UWB, but they remain limited to Samsung's own devices. From my experience with Google's older Find My Device system, the app has always been solid for locating phones and earbuds, but its scope was narrow. If Find Hub lives up to these promises, it could turn into a real ecosystem advantage for Android users. The addition of UWB is a major step forward in precision, while satellite support opens the door to entirely new use cases. As part of the expansion, Find Hub will begin supporting UWB-capable Bluetooth tags later this month, starting with the Moto Tag. This allows for more precise item tracking, narrowing down the tag's location to a specific point in a room. Support for satellite connectivity is also coming later this year, which will allow users to share locations even in areas with no mobile signal — a feature that could be particularly useful for hikers and frequent Hub will also support third-party tags from brands like July and Mokobara for built-in luggage tracking, Peak for ski gear, and even Pixbee's Disney-themed tags aimed at kids and families. Beginning in 2025, some airlines will allow Find Hub users to share Bluetooth tag locations directly with their systems, potentially streamlining the process of recovering lost bags at the airport. Google's Find My Device service is getting a serious upgrade. Announced during Google's Android Show livestream that premiered today, the app has been rebranded to "Find Hub" and is now positioning itself as a more comprehensive solution for finding not just devices, but also people and personal belongings. With the inclusion of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) support, satellite connectivity, and third-party tag integrations, the platform is evolving into something that rivals Apple's Find My network — and maybe even surpasses it in a few move to rebrand "Find My Device" to "Find Hub" reflects Google's broader ambition: to turn the app into a central hub for all location-based tracking needs, rather than something just limited to Android smartphones and tablets. This shift is timely, considering how fragmented the Android ecosystem has been in terms of location tracking, especially compared to Apple's tightly integrated experience.
