The cure for the forgetful? How smart beacons or locators work

David is distracted by nature. In his work he is dedicated, Mateo and he does very well, however at home he lives with this duality: his forgetful side. His keys are constantly lost and more than once a week he goes around the house looking for them. He thinks it’s as if the walls or furniture are swallowing them up, but what’s really happening is that he’s diverting his attention when he takes them off because he’s thinking about something else.

It is a fight in which he asks for the help of his family and his daughters, who more often than they would like to have to collaborate in the search. His wife, as if it were a comic sketch, often repeats: “Oh David! … Until when!”. Of course, he’s not the only one this happens to. , messages, tikotks and news, it’s hard to focus on the present Our attention is diverted and the memory of where we left the keys, wallet or banana is buried by falling notifications like a waterfall.

Of course, the market has already developed a response. Sign out? Quite the contrary: they are tools that help to locate the objects that you lose on a daily basis, precisely from the same phone that makes us lose our concentration. These are tags, a device that could be translated as “label”, although it is more precise to use the term locators, since that is what they do: locate the object to which they attached.

The Key words “These are tracking devices that can be placed on any object, which can then be located on a map via a mobile device,” says Felipe Mancini, CEO of Asimov Consultants , company that develops technological solutions for the public and private sectors.

The best known, for now, are the Apple —AirTag— and Samsung —Galaxy Smart Tag—, and both are the size of a large coin, similar to that of a keychain, and can be attached to a backpack, a bag, the wallet or, of course, the keys, among others. Before using them, they must be configured via the corresponding application —To find Apple or SmartThings from Samsung, and thus link them to the phone.

These two tags, yes, only work with devices of the same brand: that is to say, the AirTag can only be linked with Apple devices and a SmartTag only with Samsung mobiles.

Through a low energy Bluetooth signal they communicate with the device and so you can, through the app, find them when you don’t know where the hell the object has been tagged. The distance range varies by model, but is generally within 120 meters. Within this radius, one can know exactly where the locator is or ask it to emit a noise to facilitate its location.

What happens if I left the keys with my badge in another place or at a greater distance than this? First, the apps report the last saved location, but if that’s not enough, you need to enable “Lost” mode, in which case the beacon will anonymously connect to other related devices – Apple devices in the case of AirTags; Samsung in Smart Tags—which in an encrypted way will send your locator’s location to the cloud in seconds.

In the case of the Airtag, “they use a technology called ultra-wideband (UWB) and an Apple U1 chip, which allows for accurate and secure searching, since all location information is processed encrypted to maintain privacy. “, details. The SmartTag also has UWB and, as described on the specialized site Xataka allows you to locate devices within a radius of 120 meters, the maximum distance of Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy technology.

“Wherever you put the Airtag, if you want to search for it, you will have its perfect geolocation in a few seconds”, adds Mario Saavedra, better known as @MacGenius social media, tech influencer and Apple evangelist.

One of the fundamental differences between the two products is their ability to connect to the smart home, or smart home, a concept that the Korean company has best achieved. With its SmartThings app (Samsung’s Internet of Things network), you can turn on the lights, turn on the TV, activate the robot vacuum cleaner or, in this case, find a lost item.

The two specialists are more familiar with the use of the AirTag, the label developed by Apple. “AirTags are waterproof (they can be submerged at 1 meter for 30 minutes) and their battery lasts about a year,” says Mancini. If it is exhausted, it is easy to change it. These are the CR2032 batteries, which can be replaced on your own without too much difficulty, an attribute they also share with the Galaxy SmartTag.

“The AirTag chip is of the NFC type, the very one that allows you to make purchases with your phone, for example. If you find one, with a mobile device that also has NFC, you can scan it with your iPhone or Android mobile and see who it belongs to,” Asimov’s partner explains. For this to be possible, yes, “AirTag Lost Mode must be enabled”.

“One of the great advantages of the AirTag device is that it does not depend on a data connection, as it can take advantage of the connectivity of any Apple product around it to connect to the network and inform its owner from where it is,” he said. said Mancini.

It’s because of the network. find my that Apple devices have. “It works thanks to the Bluetooth connections of the devices of this brand that are around. The AirTag sends a specific signal to them, which indicates where it is, and they in turn send signals to Apple servers which are then transmitted to your account.

To understand graphically, Mac Genius illustrates the following case: “I can have a suitcase with an AirTag and lose it at the airport. They can even go to another country, but I’ll know where they are because it connects to any Apple device around them – iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or even a MacBook – which will automatically send their location to iCloud for you. come on your phone.

Both smart tags are very similar: they have the same original purposes and have similar technologies —SmartTags, yes, they don’t have NFC— to connect via Bluetooth with devices of the same brand.

However, an added value of Samsung Tags is that in addition to locating items through SmartThings Find, they can also be used the other way around: locating lost phones or tablets with the SmartTag.

How does this work? The equipment has a physical button, which can be pressed twice to activate a key on your smartphone detailed in the Samsung official website . For example, if the phone or tablet is the missing item, the SmartTag button is pressed twice and the smartphone plays an alert tone.

If the object tagged and lost is near, we can sound the SmartTag with two intensity volumes (medium and loud) if it is within our 120 meter range. If we are out of range, it can be searched through the navigation, for which it is necessary that other Samsung devices -and which also have the SmartThings app- are within a radius of 120 meters. Like the AirTag, it is dust and water resistant.

As we have already mentioned before, in addition to being a label, it also works as a remote control when it comes to saving “routines” in your smarthome. Being a programmable button, it can be configured to also turn on the smart TV, lights, robot vacuum cleaner or other Samsung devices.

Mancini says that one of the most discussed aspects of the new AirTag is the issue of data security and the possible use for harassment or espionage purposes, since the device allows us to be located. “It implies that it can be used inappropriately,” he says.

If someone uses the AirTag for spying or stalking purposes, i.e. to put it in someone else’s subject, they may be in trouble. “Thanks to its serial number, Apple can obtain the name, email and personal information of the owner who activated the AirTag, if the law requires it”, specifies the specialist.

In the case of the SmartTag, from the Samsung site, they express that the data processing “is always done in a secure way, with the personal data protected and encrypted from end to end”, which means in other words that “they lost device information is not shared with the server, data is transported securely over an encrypted channel, and the server only stores fully encrypted information.

MacGenio points out that it is very important to take care of personal credentials, because “if you lose or share your Apple username and password, you will lose the security of not only the AirTag but all the equipment integrated into this environment”.

These devices promise to be a kind of sleuth for all the forgetful, as well as for those who need to have tighter control of certain precious objects that they cannot lose sight of. “They’re absolutely handy for personal items,” says Mac Genio, who has several friends who, like David, use AirTags as a key finder. “I know people who never remember where they park the car when they go to the mall, so they have an AirTag in the glove compartment of the car and that’s it,” he says.

Felipe Mancini uses the AirTag to find the keys. “It should be remembered that it is designed to locate objects and not pets, children, let alone spy on or harass people.” Although unlike the SmartTag, Apple recommends the use of its devices in pet collars, in order to locate them in case of loss.

*Prices for products in this item are updated as of June 23, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.