Friday, April 30 is the release date of the brand new Apple AirTags, which became available for pre-order April 23. Similar to the popular Tile trackers, they are small tracking tags designed to be added to personal items such as purses, backpacks, keys and any other item people lose often. By using the “Find My” app that comes installed on an iPhone and other Apple products, Apple users can use the features to ping the AirTag to lead them to their missing items.  

The Tile trackers have been out since 2013 and have since expanded their line to include the Tile Pro, Mate, Slim and Sticker.  

The one that is the most comparable to the AirTag is the Tile Pro, with AirTag having a range of about 300 feet and the Tile Pro going up to 400 feet. Both devices are water-resistant and have similar price ranges.  

The Tile is only available in packs of 2, whereas the AirTag is available for purchase in a single. A single AirTag costs $29, while the two-pack of Tile goes for $60. The AirTags are being advertised to be available in a 4 pack for $99, and the Tile advertising for a 4 pack is close at $99.99. 

Tile is available with a Premium subscription for $29.99 per year, or $2.99 per month. Tiles also come with the Premium Protect subscription for $99.99 per year that offers up to $1000 if Tile is unable to locate your things.  

Apple does offer AppleCare and AppleCare+ for most of their products, but not the AirTags, so if someone loses one, they’re out of luck.  

For Apple loyalists, this may be a dream to have everything seamlessly connected through the “Find My” app.  

“I want the AirTags; I lose my stuff all the time and I don’t have any of the other tracking devices,” Sara Fox, a speech pathology major, said. “And I like that it all goes into Find My. Plus you can engrave them which is cute.” 

Apple has priced its product at nearly the same rate as their competitor’s, so there is not a gap mark-up for the brand name. In 2020, Tile disputed with Apple which resulted in them joining the Coalition for App Fairness. Now, Apple releases its competing product.  

“I already use Tile. I don’t pay for Premium, so when it dies I might just switch to the AirTags,” Taylor Volovar, a psychology major, said. “It would be nice to have everything just all in one app rather than having to switch to Tile when I want to find whatever I use.” 

“I use Apple everything, so adding another Apple product just makes more sense,” Fox said. “It has the same Apple look, and goes with all of my other products.”

Madison Knaack covers consumer technology. Contact her at [email protected].