Tile’s refreshed range puts safety first, adds SOS signals to every tracker
Life360 helps track your family as well as your keys
Tile was one of the original gadget trackers, long before Apple and a wide array of Airtag alternatives showed up – and now it’s back with an all-new lineup, enhanced by new owner Life360. As well as keeping an eye on your keys, wallets, bags and other tech, the refreshed Tile by Life360 range also has your own safety and security in mind.
The first new models since Life360 acquired Tile in 2021 should look familiar: the Tile Mate, Tile Pro, Tile Slim and Tile Sticker all return for 2024, wearing new logos and in four fresh new colour options. They all have extended Bluetooth range and louder rings than their predecessors, but it’s the new SOS mode that makes them stand out from the crowd.
Press the Tile button three times and the tracker will send an alert to your Life360 Circle of family and trusted friends, along with your location. It’s some extra peace of mind while walking home late at night, and easier than triggering your phone’s SOS or emergency mode. These alerts don’t need any sort of subscription, either – though Life360 has a bunch of membership options if you want extra service like roadside assistance, location history and emergency dispatch services.
As before Life360 came onboard, Tile continues to do its own thing rather than partner up with the Google Find My Device or Apple’s Find My ecosystems. But with 70 million active monthly users to bounce Bluetooth signals between, it’s the best supported third-party tracking service out there. Life360 reckons its app is found on one in twelve smartphones; the app told me I was within a 10 mile radius of 469 Tile members, and I live in the sticks.
It’s compatible with iOS and Android, so I could set my Apple-loving wife up with a Tile Mate on her house keys and track my wallet with a Tile Slim via my Google Pixel phone.
Crucially Life360 isn’t forcing existing Tile members to jump ship to the new app; the two are staying separate, with an option to connect to both, rather than it being mandatory.
I’ve been using the new models for a week, and love how everything integrates in the two apps. The Tile app was great for finding lost items, pointing to them on a map and ringing them remotely. The increased volume meant I could hear the Tile Pro from a room away, even with it buried down the back of a sofa. It’s still the most premium feeling of the bunch, with a metal frame that matched my car keys. The built-in battery is good for one year of tracking, and can be swapped out by the user when it runs dry.
Being able to ring connected smartphones from the Tile, even if they’ve been set to silent, is very handy, and the increased Bluetooth range meant I could keep an eye on every device anywhere in my house – including the Tile Sticker I’d stealthed underneath my bicycle’s seat. It’s seriously tiny, being smaller (yet thicker) than an Apple AirTag.
The Tile Slim was a natural addition to my wallet, but it’ll just as easily slip inside a bag’s inner pocket or suitcase lining. I like how the baby blue version I was sent for testing looks nothing like any of my credit cards, so I’ll never pull it out by mistake in a store.
The new line-up is available to buy right now, directly from the Tile website and from all the usual tech retailers. Expect to pay £25 for each Tile Mate, £35 for the Tile Pro, £30 for the Tile Slim, and £25 for every Tile Sticker.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
