Tile is working on a new tracker that relies on ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, which would put the company in direct competition with Apple’s yet to be announced AirTags, according to a report by TechCrunch. The new tracker would go a step further than the company’s Bluetooth devices, letting you know more precisely where a lost item is relative to yourself, without listening to a sound the tracker is playing.
Apple’s AirTags have not been officially announced, but there is already a list of potential features they may have, such as the ability to remind you if you have left an item or can help you find lost items using an augmented reality. Samsung has also been interested in offering similar features so that Tile can share space with two larger businesses. Apple met UWB with its U1 chip in the iPhone 11, which lets you target AirDropped files by pointing at your phone, but the tracking applications are even more interesting.
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Ultra-wideband (not to be confused with Verizon’s Ultra Wideband 5G) works like Bluetooth Low Energy. It sends pulses with low energy, short distance at a high frequency that transmits wireless data. With Bluetooth and the GPS of your phone, Tile can show the general location of something on a map, but for anything more precise it depends on sound to help you find things. A UWB device can work when you have multiple rooms away, allowing you to see the more precise location of something through walls or floors, and also offering the features that Tile currently has.
Imagine that you have lost a valuable asset when it is out of earshot or locked in a container. Tile’s app (either Apple or Samsung) can point you in the right direction with your phone by using augmented reality images applied to your camera add-on. It actually looks useful and less annoying than a loud chirp from Tile’s trackers (something I almost always accidentally tackled).
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What’s more exciting is that you may already own a device that supports these features. Since the iPhone 11, Apple has been integrating UWB into its popular smartphone with the U1 chip. It has also started placing the chip in the Apple Watch, starting with the Series 6. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra already includes UWB, and the upcoming Galaxy S21 Ultra is confirmed to be available as well.
Not every device that one of the companies sells has it on board (Apple devices like the iPhone SE, Apple Watch SE and iPad Pro have no UWB), but since Apple and Samsung are two of the largest manufacturers of electronic devices in world is, its adoption of UWB can be rapid.
There is no set date for the launch of its UWB tracker on Tile, but UWB looks like it could be a big issue, especially now that Apple has opened access to the U1 chip in iOS 14. Tile and Apple have not agreed on the default location of sub-institutions in the past, which would hurt Tile, but at least both companies seem to agree on the potential of UWB in 2021.