The Tile Mate is a tracker that uses Bluetooth as a way to discover if an attached item has been misplaced. This isn't a full GPS tracker but with smart user location services can be used for a wider search area.
What you get here, over a GPS device, is a year long battery performance before the affordable battery needs to be replaced. It also means the device is super small and discreet allowing you to attach it to your keys so they don't get lost.
This also features a button which allows it to operate other functions on a connected phone, helping you find the phone by creating an alert noise, for example. It's a neat little device, and part of our guide to the best personal GPS trackers.
Tile Mate: Design and features
The Tile Mate is a Bluetooth device that is super compact making it small enough to attach to your keys relatively unnoticed. It features a watch style battery which lasts for a year before needing replacement.
The small unit also has a button which allows for a signal to be sent to the connected smartphone. This can have lots of uses, limited only by what the connected app allows. As such this device gets more uses and features as updates get rolled out.
The Tile Mate also has a small speaker built in. This means that it can be activated from a connected smartphone to make a noise which will help you find it, should it (and your keys) have slipped out of sight.
The unit has a hole in the top corner that allows you to loop a connection through, making it ideal for keys but also to attach to a bag or even your pet's collar.
At less than one ounce this is barely noticable when attached. It also features a splash-proof design so can withstand the elements without damage.
Tile Mate: Performance
The Tile Mate is good for a claimed range of 200 feet, which is what the Bluetooth will manage to the phone. This is where the more expensive Tile Mate Pro differs, with a 400 feet range.
In real world testing we found the Tile Mate to have a range closer to the 90 feet mark when objects and walls are taken into account. Outdoors with a clear line of site you could get over 100 feet if you're lucky. If you need something more accurate, for closer tracking, you probably need the AngelSense Guardian.
A useful feature is being alerted when you leave a Tile Mate out of range. So if you forget your keys as you leave the house you'll be alerted. Not ideal if you're already locked out, of course.
Community Find is another useful feature which allows you to find your Mate over longer distances by using the pinged location of others with the app. So if someone with the app passes your device, that will be uploaded to the map, allowing you to see where that person was when the device pinged them.
Should you buy the Tile Mate, mate?
The Tile Mate is a great option for anyone that loses their keys a lot and wants a device to help avoid that in future. Equally it's helpful for finding a connected smartphone when that goes missing. This isn't a viable GPS tracker for longer distances though, so not for child tracking, for example. And if you need a specialized adventuring tracker, the Spot Gen4 is more suitable. But at this price and with that long battery this is definitely a useful option.
