Tile Sticker Review

Lost something? Then find it quickly with the tile sticker, or at least that’s the idea.

There are, however, a few caveats around the ‘Find anything in seconds’ strapline of a recent online Ad.

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By find, if you lose something around the house and click find through the App, a beep sounds, and you’ll find it, whatever it is, and it will inevitably be down the back of the sofa.

Out of the comfort of your home, it’s not quite so simple, as the Sticker only has a 150-ft range.

This does of course mean that if you leave your bag on the train, you, the train and bag are likely to be far more than 150-ft apart. However, all is not lost, as the Sticker can piggyback off others with the App installed on their mobiles.

More usefully attached the Sticker to an action camera, and then if you and the camera become separated then finding it again is relatively straight forward, using either the beep or the handy Location History feature, as long as your phone is in one piece of course.

There’s no doubt the Tile Sticker is handy especially for action camera users prone to a crash or two. For direct photography, it’s certainly handy but maybe not essential, although at least I can now always find my keys, once I’ve located my phone.

Locator / thetileapp.com / From £39 / $39 at time of review

Losing things is part of everyday life and that’s where the Tile Sticker comes into play.

The Sticker is a small circular disc that sticks to your kit or personal belongings enabling you to find them easily.

There’s a selection of kits that you can buy with two, four or eight stickers, I have the four sticker kit in for test.

Once stuck to your items of choice and paired to the App you’re ready to go and really don’t have to think about the Tile again.

When you do have to think about the Tile Sticker is when you lose an item. As long as the Sticker attached you can select it from the App and click find. The small Sticker then beeps, and you can use the audio to locate.

There is of course an issue with range which maxes out at 150-ft, so if you’re beyond that the beep through the Apps not going to work.

This is where the Location History comes in. This feature lists the last know location and shows you on a map, all good as long as the kit stays put, but what if it moves.

A solution has been found by the team at Tile, and as long as there are others with the Tile App installed you’ll still be able to get an idea of the location of the object using the built-in mapping system.

For such as small device the features list is impressive.

It’s small at just 27×7.3mm and weighs in at 6g, meaning that it adds little noticeable weight or size to anything that it’s stuck to.

Colour-wise you only have the option of black, which fine for most devices, and the size makes it pretty discreet.

The most important feature is the location range, and that’s 150-ft, more than enough to locate anything around the house, and if you drop something out in the field, it’s again easy enough to find.

Location wise once activated the Tile Sticker sends out a loud beep. In the home environment, this is easy enough to hear, out in the field, you do need to focus a little more.

As the Tile Sticker is waterproof there’s no way in to swap the battery, it also doesn’t need charging. This means that once the internal battery is flat, that’s it for the device. That internal battery, however, lasts for a very decent 3-years and if you’ve taken out the option subscription then Tile will replace the battery for free.

While the proximity connection handles the main location, the Tile Sticker can also make use of others with the App installed.

If you leave an item with the Sticker on a train, bus or bar and others in the area have the App, then when you go to locate the Tile, a map showing its location will appear.

Likewise, even if the Tile is unable to locate another person’s App to connect to the Tile App will show the last known location. This handy as long as the App was able to use a data connection at the time of last contact with the Tile Sticker.

The Tile Sticker is small, compact and lightweight. It’s also built rugged. After the initial set-up and throughout the test, I gave it little thought.

Its small size makes it unobtrusive as a whole. The only device where it did look a little out of place at first was when stuck to the side of the GoPro. However, once you get used to it being there its presence is quickly forgotten.

Attaching the Tile Sticker to any device is simple. Peel back the sticker backing and making sure that the surface it’s about to be stuck on is clean, stick it on.

There’s nothing more complex to the fitting.

Once in place, you can then go to the App, hold down the small button on the Tile Sticker and add it to the Tile list.

Run a quick test to ensure that it works and you can hear the beep, then give it a name; GoPro, Dog, camera or something else suitable and that’s it you’re ready to go.

The App which has gone through many updates and changes since the first Tile product is as slick and easy to use as they come.

In regular use, when you know that the item you’ve lost is close by, you select that tile click finds and the Tile will send out a beep.

If that Tile is out of the 150-ft range, then a map shows you the last known location, or if there are people with the App installed then it will give you more up to date location data.

There’s little to fault with the Tile Stickers performance.

Taking a leap of faith, I first planted a GoPro on a woodland walk with Tile Attached and then walked off before activating the locator. A second later, I heard the beep and was quickly reunited with the GoPro.

The next test was to repeat the experiment but this time to give the phone and GoPro to someone else to hide and then see if on their return I could locate it.

This was a little more challenging as the Tile Sticker was out of range, however, delve into the Location History and the last location of the Tile is highlighted.

I then walked to that location tapped to find and could then hear the beep.

This feature transformed the usefulness of the Sticker and laid to rest my main concern with the function and features of the device.

I then hid several stickers around my local town and left them there for a few days to suffer the increasingly cold and wet weather conditions. After a good two day gap, I was then able to locate all four stickers without issue, although one had fallen into the undergrowth and took a while to dig out.

Overall the performance of these small devices was impressive, and what makes them so useful is the ability to locate their position even when out of range of the App.

There is, however, one issue. The Location History is a paid-for feature, and while you can get the location on the day that you’ve misplaced your item for an extended 30-day history, you need to pay a subscription.

The subscription price, however, is not excessive at £2.50 a month for the yearly contract or £2.99 on a monthly. This price also features a free battery replacement service so is well worth doing in the long run.

I have to say at; first I was sceptical about the usability of the Tile Sticker. The fact that it had a relatively small range and stuck to the side of my kit.

However, the compact size meant that for the most part, it could be stuck somewhere out of the way.

Set-up and usability were exceptionally streamlined with the App taking control and guiding you through the process. The fact that Tile products have been around for a while show with the fineness of the App.

When it comes to the all-important location issue when out of range I also didn’t have to worry, the Location History enabled me to locate the Tiles relatively quickly and without too much hassle.

It’s easy to dismiss devices like the Tile as a little gimmicky, but then I’ve often thought that one would be useful, especially for my keys.

After using the Tile Sticker for a month I have to say I’m sold, they are useful. Having lost a couple of GoPro’s in the past, I now have one attached, and although at present I’ve managed to avoid any stacks in which the GoPro goes flying I’m sure that event will happen at some point in the future.

This time, however, I’ll be able to locate the GoPro along with the broken bits of Bike.