Head to Head AirTag and Tile Location Comparison

[mckinney3]

I placed an AirTag and A Tile in a padded mailer and placed in the rural route mailbox for pick-up. I wanted to follow the tags and see what the reporting comparison was. Two things became very apparent and yes, I realize that some of these facts have been reported but this experiment was enlightening to me:

1. The location stated for both the AirTAg and the Tlle are the location of the phone that was pinged by the Tag. I found that the reporting distance could be much further than 30 feet. (My assumption is the route carrier was not carrying a phone device as there was no Ping at the drop box.) Often as the delivery vehicle would go up a street, the Tags would be pinged by phones well within a house. Do not confuse the location reported as to the actual location of the Tag. The Tag location will always be offset by the distance between the Tag and the device that pings it. The location should be thought of in a macro sense and not a micro.
2. My main ahah, though, was the shear volume of data (pings) obtained from the AirTag and the scarcity of data from the Tile. The crowd sourcing by every iPhone in existence that is in the right place just overwhelms the devices that are in the right place AND running the Tile app.
3. For this particular experiment in a combined rural and metropolitan area, the ping ratio was 15 to 1 in favor of the AirTag. At T+8 hours the location shows as sitting in a USPS Distribution Center 50 miles away as pinged by the AirTAg and the Tile is reporting being stuck in the gathering center 50 miles in the other direction.
4. The data from the Tile is not granular enough to learn much about its whereabouts and journey. Yes, the Tile has in its favor that a Trip log is available in the Premium plan but , IMHO, is not worth much if the log is missing a ton of data. In fairness to Tile, there is no logging of pings for the AirTag so if you are not manually recording pings as they are updated then the AirTag user has no log either. I am finding, though, that sooner or later a Tile will get pinged and its location reported. If the envelope is stationary long enough, then the Tile and AirTag will “catch up” with each other and report same location. In this experiment after 24 hours the envelope containing both devices reports at the same location. The journey to get there for the Tile is lost but not for the AirTag.
5. The AirTAg sat in this USPS Distribution Center for 24 hours and was pinged many times. The Tile disdnot Ping again at the Center.
6. The Tags moved to a Delivery Center in a downtown area and sat for another 24 hours. The AirTag pinged numerous times and the Tile only once.
7. The package left the Center around 7:00 PM and the AirTag pinged several times while en route. The Tile has not pinged again and still shows at the Distribution Center.
8. The AirTag pinged again at the recipient's address as it was placed in the mail box. The recipient was shocked when I notified them that the tag was in the mailbox at 7:00 PM when they normally get mail at 11:00 AM. The Tile is still non-responsive,
9. After 24 hours the AirTag chirped once inside the home. But has not yet alerted the recipient. The recipient would not have associated the chirp with a Bug unless I had forewarned them.
10. 24 hours later, there have been no more chirps from the AirTag at its last location with the same iPhone in proximity. The Tile is still reporting the Downtown Post Office.
11. More to come....

 

[nicho]

More to come....

What happened next?

 

[mckinney3]

I placed an AirTag and A Tile in a padded mailer and placed in the rural route mailbox for pick-up. I wanted to follow the tags and see what the reporting comparison was. Two things became very apparent and yes, I realize that some of these facts have been reported but this experiment was enlightening to me:

1. The location stated for both the AirTAg and the Tlle are the location of the phone that was pinged by the Tag. I found that the reporting distance could be much further than 30 feet. (My assumption is the route carrier was not carrying a phone device as there was no Ping at the drop box.) Often as the delivery vehicle would go up a street, the Tags would be pinged by phones well within a house. Do not confuse the location reported as to the actual location of the Tag. The Tag location will always be offset by the distance between the Tag and the device that pings it. The location should be thought of in a macro sense and not a micro.
2. My main ahah, though, was the shear volume of data (pings) obtained from the AirTag and the scarcity of data from the Tile. The crowd sourcing by every iPhone in existence that is in the right place just overwhelms the devices that are in the right place AND running the Tile app.
3. For this particular experiment in a combined rural and metropolitan area, the ping ratio was 15 to 1 in favor of the AirTag. At T+8 hours the location shows as sitting in a USPS Distribution Center 50 miles away as pinged by the AirTAg and the Tile is reporting being stuck in the gathering center 50 miles in the other direction.
4. The data from the Tile is not granular enough to learn much about its whereabouts and journey. Yes, the Tile has in its favor that a Trip log is available in the Premium plan but , IMHO, is not worth much if the log is missing a ton of data. In fairness to Tile, there is no logging of pings for the AirTag so if you are not manually recording pings as they are updated then the AirTag user has no log either. I am finding, though, that sooner or later a Tile will get pinged and its location reported. If the envelope is stationary long enough, then the Tile and AirTag will “catch up” with each other and report same location. In this experiment after 24 hours the envelope containing both devices reports at the same location. The journey to get there for the Tile is lost but not for the AirTag.
5. The AirTAg sat in this USPS Distribution Center for 24 hours and was pinged many times. The Tile did not Ping again at the Center.
6. The Tags moved to a Delivery Center in a downtown area and sat for another 24 hours. The AirTag pinged numerous times and the Tile only once.
7. The package left the Center around 7:00 PM and the AirTag pinged several times while en route. The Tile has not pinged again and still shows at the Distribution Center.
8. The AirTag pinged again at the recipient's address as it was placed in the mail box. The recipient was shocked when I notified them that the tag was in the mailbox at 7:00 PM when they normally get mail at 11:00 AM. The Tile is still non-responsive,
9. After 24 hours the AirTag chirped once inside the home. But has not yet alerted the recipient. The recipient would not have associated the chirp with a Bug unless I had forewarned them.
10. 24 hours later, there have been no more chirps from the AirTag at its last location with the same iPhone in proximity. The Tile is still reporting the Downtown Post Office.
11. For 7 days, the AirTag and the Tile hitchhiked with the same iPhone user. There have been no audible chirps or announcements to the friend's iPhone. So, after the first chirp, the friend has not been notified of the AirTAg for 7 days. The Tile, is still showing up at the Delivery Center at not at the residence. Since there have been few if any visitors running the Tile app, that is understandable. My experience is that if a car or pedestrian was near the house the device will ping. Again just not enough installed Tile users to find these devices.
12. The friend did position their iPhone near the Tile and asked for a report. The AirTag reported some information but no details as I had not enabled the Lost Mode and included contact information.
13. I am going to "find" the AirTag and Tile on an upcoming visit to where they are located. I know the AirTag is there because of where it Pings. I would still think that the Tiles is at the Delivery Center. I will report what notifications, I receive as I approach them and write up a summary of this experiment to close the post.
14. after another 24 hours, I continue to be notified as to location. My friend picked up to go on a shopping trip with it. The AirTag pinged loudly when picked up. But no alert to his iPhone. He carried around in his pocket on a 4 hour shopping and running trip around his town. No more alerts or chirps but I continue to get location updates.
15. AirTag never sounded or alerted again as it traveled for 4 hours with my friend. Once returned to his house, I traveled over for a visit. I was pinged from the street showing the AirTag was at the Street where my iPhone pinged it. The AirTag and your location will show at the same spot on the FindMy map once it is grabbed by your iPhone as you , as the owner, have pinged it. Very confusing. But if you hit the direction icon, your location and the tags last location (where I set it down when I came home) separate and then you can navigate to that last location.
16. Meanwhile back at the TILE. The Tile, of course, is back with me and pings from my home. Up until I "found it", the Tile was still showing its location as the Post Office Delivery Center.
17. In Summary, the AirTAg wins versus Tile. Confusing to set up but once you understand how it works, the location information is accurate. The Tile reporting is just too hobbled as there is no installed base of users vs. the AirTags.
18. I think that the AirTag "anti-stalking" claim is misleading. Good news if you are the tracker and bad news if you are the trackee. This AirTag never alerted on the iPhone of the person being tracked. It did chirp when picked up and moved after 36 hours but never while static and not while moving with the trackee after the first chirp.
    
    

 

[mckinney3]

What happened next?

Please see update and thank you for your interest.

 

[cynics]

I'm gonna mail mine to by father that lives 600 miles away. Just out of curiosity....

How long is it before the deliver people and mailmen iPhones starts telling them there is an AirTag thats not theirs in their vicinity?

 

[ValKor]

For your 11, as I understand it, the AirTag only alerts your friend if it is moving alongside him.
If he stored the AirTag in one place and never picked it again, the AirTag will not alert him.

I was gifted AirTags for Christmas and I have to say, Apple doesn’t provide much information about how exactly th whole thing work and particularly the alert system.

 

[mckinney3]

I'm gonna mail mine to by father that lives 600 miles away. Just out of curiosity....

How long is it before the deliver people and mailmen iPhones starts telling them there is an AirTag thats not theirs in their vicinity?

Be sure to make a trial run as setting up is "tricky."' I found that I had to enable lost mode before I could enable notify when found. You will have to provide an email addy or phone number to get thru the lost mode screens. Don't freak out as when you move back to the previous screen you can now enable notify when found and disable the lost mode.

I have found that the notify to the iPhone or start chirping does not begin for quite a while. The post office carrier may ping it and let you know but it will not alert while on a simple daily route. My carrier did not ping and my pings came from the iPhones that were in range as the AirTag moved around.

 

[mckinney3]

For your 11, as I understand it, the AirTag only alerts your friend if it is moving alongside him.
If he stored the AirTag in one place and never picked it again, the AirTag will not alert him.

I was gifted AirTags for Christmas and I have to say, Apple doesn’t provide much information about how exactly th whole thing work and particularly the alert system.

You are correct about the instructions. Very confusing and that is why I have run this experiment to figure out how it actually works.

You are correct on the moving requirement. But that is pretty iffy. Not sure how Apple's algorithm works. My experience was that my the AirTag laid dormant while at rest except for messaging me as to its location (and , again, not its location but the location of the iPhone that pinged it!) . And after 36 hours , its stalking mode kicks in but only alerts when moved or picked up. My friend picked it up and it chirped once and pretty loud. And no alert to his iPhone. Then when he started carrying it around, it remained silent thruout his 4 hour excursion around his town. Again no more chirps. I did receive alerts while it was moving.

 

[DrCC]

The company that bought Tile, has admitted that part of its business model is selling user data and location.

Tile is disqualified and should not be used .

 

[mckinney3]

Some more info from my experience. I have the AirTag near a location in a wooded area so I can be alerted if it is sensed and then relayed to me the location and that someone with an iPhone is nearby.

The wooded area is about 200 feet form a highway and that is minimum distance that iPhone could be from the device. The AirTag alerts me about two times a day and the distance varies from 200 to 250 feet. I am assuming that the reported location is always the location of the iPhone that pinged my device and not the location of the device. The device has never moved. I am surprised at the strength of the Bluetooth transmission range.

The other ahah is that the iPhone that pinged the device must not always report immediately to the Apple Mothership. So the pinged location will show up 1000 feet away which is where the phone is located when reporting the ping.

Except for the 1000 feet plus reports, I can go to where the ping is reported and if their iPhone was able to pick up the device then my iPhone will also. Then I can use the direction tool to actually navigate to the real location as my iPhone then reports that the tag is in my possession.

You gotta' be very careful how you use AirTags to find your lost items. =)

 

[jmarsh5]

Nice post and information. I'm curious how the iPhone alerts would work with luggage as well. Wondering if there would be any issues with the people loading your luggage getting alerts about an AirTag on them.

 

[deeddawg]

Nice post and information. I'm curious how the iPhone alerts would work with luggage as well. Wondering if there would be any issues with the people loading your luggage getting alerts about an AirTag on them.

If they're futzing around with my luggage for more than a couple of hours, maybe they oughta be alerted...

 

[jmarsh5]

If they're futzing around with my luggage for more than a couple of hours, maybe they oughta be alerted...

That's fair lol

 

[mckinney3]

Nice post and information. I'm curious how the iPhone alerts would work with luggage as well. Wondering if there would be any issues with the people loading your luggage getting alerts about an AirTag on them.

I recently ran some more test after Apple upgraded the "stalking" algorithm. In my tests, after 2 hours of an AirTag "traveling" with a non-owner iPhone, the non-owner will get an alert on their iPhone that an AirTag is "following" them. At hour 3 the AirTAg will start chirping.

I have not tested on a plane (but I do know that the AirTag will broadcast a signal thru sealed containers and enclosures like luggage) but I suspect that someone sitting on the back row of a plane near the baggage storage area AND in continuous contact will get alerted. Now, that may be a bad assumption if the iPhone has been switched to AIRPLANE MODE as the FindMy app does not function in Airplane Mode. I suspect that alerts from the Apple MotherShip are also going to be inoperative in AirPlane Mode.

As for the ground crew getting alerted, I think the 2 hour of continuous "following" will not be satisfied and therefore no alert. If the baggage handler drove the baggage truck around the tarmac for 2 hours, I believe they would be alerted. =)