Luggage Tracking
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2000
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Luggage Tracking
Hello Everyone
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 315
Likes: 57
From: LONDON
Hello Everyone
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
To track your luggage when it's away you would need to rely on someone else's phone running compatible software coming into range of your tag and reporting it's location over the internet.
Apple have covered this by building the 'airtag' software into their operating system and selling their devices all over the world. The chances of an airtag coming into contact with one is pretty high, wherever it is. Android is more patchy. Most manufacturers run their own flavour of Android on their devices, which may or may not support your chosen tag, and few are as ubiquitous worldwide as Apple.
My advice, if you want it to just work is to go down the Apple device/airtag route. If you want to stick with Android you may have to try a few devices to find one which fits your use case; and be prepared to be disappointed.
I'd be interested to hear of any success stories since I'm an Android disciple myself.
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Falling off the end of the thread
Thinking out of the box? You will have to ask if Worldwide. Also some of the car trackers?
https://www.smartbark.co.uk/post/bes...s#viewer-23aij
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https://www.smartbark.co.uk/post/bes...s#viewer-23aij
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Last edited by NutLoose; 17th November 2024 at 18:55.
Joined: Oct 2019
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From: USA
I think the GPS trackers for dogs, et al, depend on using a cellular connection to transmit the coordinates. I think this is SMS but I didn't see it mentioned in the dog tracker article. There will be a sim chip to enable contacting the cellular network and a subscription fee. Some GPS trackers appear to answer a "call" so they only provide info when called; that doesn't seem to be too large a limitation; the app on the phone can place that call at whatever interval the user desires if the feature is in the software to do so. The more often the updates, the lower the battery life. Cell calls take a lot more power/energy than Bluetooth contacts do.
If the GPS tracker is using SMS then it needs to be authorized on the cellular network for the location it is in. This might be a problem for international flight.
The GPS trackers also need a line of sight to GPS satellites where AirTags need a nearby Apple cell phone.
If the GPS tracker is using SMS then it needs to be authorized on the cellular network for the location it is in. This might be a problem for international flight.
The GPS trackers also need a line of sight to GPS satellites where AirTags need a nearby Apple cell phone.
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: It's a secret
Hello Everyone
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
Joined: Jan 2008
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Posts: 1,025
Likes: 1,070
From: Australia
Joined: Apr 2008
Aviation Qualifications: Spotter
Posts: 612
Likes: 249
From: on the ground
Hello Everyone
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
I am looking into the availability of tracking my luggage, by use of an Android 'phone. There are various devices around to put in your luggage, but any recommendations or otherwise would be appreciated. Oh, I really do not wish to lash out to pay for tracking, if possible!
Thank you all for your input, as always.
Gehenna
Like most cheap trackers, it is purely a bluetooth device; it does not have a GPS and does not know where it is.
When it sees a cooperating bluetooth device (Samsung android phone), the Samsung system (somewhere out there in the ether) logs the known location of the phone and the identity of the tag and makes the tag location available to the owner.
Obviously for this to work, it needs to be within bluetooth range of a Samsung phone.
In practice this means that hanging it on my dog's collar in a rural area does not help finding her when she sets off on her unauthorised 3am explorations, but it also means that inside luggage in a busy airport is just about ideal since there will be many people and hence many phones nearby.
The other feature of the Samsung device I bought is that it connects directly to my own phone when it can.
This allows two useful features:
1) My phone bleats at me when I leave the tag behind; or more likely when the tag and attached dog leave me behind, alerting me to her departure within about a minute
2) When it is connected directly to my phone (eg it must be somewhere nearby), I can get it to audibly beep, ideal for finding lost keys, less useful for finding lost dogs. I've had no luck teaching the dog to come home for a treat when it beeps...
They're great for something like keys (likely left behind somewhere where my phone was with me).
They're probably pretty good for tracking baggage, etc, in an urban or busy environment with lots of compatible phones.
A dead loss for tracking wildlife in rural areas obviously.
Helpful but not as good as a GPS based device for tracking an errant dog...
PS I'll put mine in my bag next time I fly...
Joined: Mar 2002
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From: near an aeroplane
I picked up two little trackers during a recent trip, called the Momax Pincard Pro Mini (or Momax BR8 according to the settings). They work with Apple's ecosystem but work well for me and are cheaper than the AirTag from Apple itself. I do find that updates to their location lags a bit when I stick one in a suitcase. The bit between the aircraft and the luggage carousel cannot be tracked inch by inch, but incrementally in big steps. I can see that the suitcase was with me in the aeroplane, sometimes I get a position update somewhere halfway and often the next update is when I also see the suitcase approaching me on the belt. So it's not ideal, but it works. No doubt a Samsung tracker would provide a similar experience (depending on how many luggage handlers have Samsung phones as opposed to Apple iPhones).
Moderator
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: UK
I own half a dozen Samsung Galaxy tags, and have a Samsung phone.
I find it works really well. Flying as SLF, it tells me where my luggage is reliably (including whether it's actually been loaded into the right aeroplane!), I recently mislaid my wallet, pulled out my phone, searched for it - and it correctly told me the exact address of the shop I'd left it in. If I've mislaid my keys around the house, I can use the phone to activate the alarm on the tag and track them down without the duty searching.
The system has limitations - it isn't a lot of use in rural areas where there may not be somebody nearby with a Samsung phone it'll talk to, it doesn't always tell you automatically the battery's flat so yu want to check it periodically to make sure, and it takes around a quarter of an hour to update sometimes so wouldn't be brilliant for tracking something moving. But as cheap peace of mind, I'd say worth every penny - I have them on my keys, aircraft keys, headset bag, wallet... You get the idea. It's a cheap insurance policy that I think is really worth every penny.
I think that both the strengths and weaknesses apply similarly to the Apple alternative - so that choice is down to which model phone you've got. There's an independent company called Tile who look good on paper, but seem to be reliant upon there being enough phones around running the app, which I think is likely very variable. Google are supposed to be bringing their own product out this year that'll work with any Android phone - on paper that might be the best solution of all, but I don't think it's available yet.
G
I find it works really well. Flying as SLF, it tells me where my luggage is reliably (including whether it's actually been loaded into the right aeroplane!), I recently mislaid my wallet, pulled out my phone, searched for it - and it correctly told me the exact address of the shop I'd left it in. If I've mislaid my keys around the house, I can use the phone to activate the alarm on the tag and track them down without the duty searching.
The system has limitations - it isn't a lot of use in rural areas where there may not be somebody nearby with a Samsung phone it'll talk to, it doesn't always tell you automatically the battery's flat so yu want to check it periodically to make sure, and it takes around a quarter of an hour to update sometimes so wouldn't be brilliant for tracking something moving. But as cheap peace of mind, I'd say worth every penny - I have them on my keys, aircraft keys, headset bag, wallet... You get the idea. It's a cheap insurance policy that I think is really worth every penny.
I think that both the strengths and weaknesses apply similarly to the Apple alternative - so that choice is down to which model phone you've got. There's an independent company called Tile who look good on paper, but seem to be reliant upon there being enough phones around running the app, which I think is likely very variable. Google are supposed to be bringing their own product out this year that'll work with any Android phone - on paper that might be the best solution of all, but I don't think it's available yet.
G
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: 500 miles from Chaikhosi, Yogistan
They're great but have some limitation. Recently from CDG to DXB and awaiting my connection I looked at my trackers and to my alarm one of the bags was at the airport in Amman, Jordan.
I trundled off to the service desk and they told me that their system shows the bag in DXB as expected. I showed them the phone screen, they then told me to wait awhile. About 30 mins later, sure enough it showed DXB.
Presume its last location was captured by the phone of a pax heading to Amman who had no cell service in CDG. When their phone next connected it sent my bag's location as where the phone was at the time of connection, not at the time of signal acquisition. Of course my bag having been in a hold for longer than the CDG - Jordan flight had not updated.
I trundled off to the service desk and they told me that their system shows the bag in DXB as expected. I showed them the phone screen, they then told me to wait awhile. About 30 mins later, sure enough it showed DXB.
Presume its last location was captured by the phone of a pax heading to Amman who had no cell service in CDG. When their phone next connected it sent my bag's location as where the phone was at the time of connection, not at the time of signal acquisition. Of course my bag having been in a hold for longer than the CDG - Jordan flight had not updated.
Last edited by compressor stall; 20th March 2025 at 21:26.
Joined: Apr 2008
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From: on the ground
The difficulties include that battery life is much shorter and they require a sim card and phone service, so you're charging them daily and paying for data. For international travel sim roaming can be very expensive; also there is no way to turn them on remotely after being turned off for a flight. More suited to my nomadic rural hound than to international baggage tracking.
PPRuNe Handmaiden
Joined: Feb 1997
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From: Duit On Mon Dei
compressor stall Yes, I have had the same anxiety inducing panic when tracking my bags. Yes, they're right, just wait a bit and all's well. Most of the time. 
I check the time stamps before flying into a rage these days.
I did think I had misplaced my Earbuds as the last known place was the hotel... Sure enough, I had packed them but since I hadn't used them, they showed the last place where I had used them. Cue apologies all round.
Recently, my bag was misplaced in Miami Airport. Very long story. However, I am pretty certain if I hadn't had a Tag on it, my bag would have been lost in the void that is Miami and later, the void that is London Heathrow airport. I saw it being moved and made some phone calls. That spurred the airlines into action in delivering the bag to the UK. It landed in T2 (TAP) but it needed to go to T3 (American). I elected to pick it up from T3 (as I said, very long story) and it took me 3 hours to get it. The Tag said it was about 15' away but the staff assured me that it "couldn't be there". It was...
I use the AirTags as I have an iPhone. I am happy with them. There are other brands, Tile, Samsung etc.
I check the time stamps before flying into a rage these days. I did think I had misplaced my Earbuds as the last known place was the hotel... Sure enough, I had packed them but since I hadn't used them, they showed the last place where I had used them. Cue apologies all round.
Recently, my bag was misplaced in Miami Airport. Very long story. However, I am pretty certain if I hadn't had a Tag on it, my bag would have been lost in the void that is Miami and later, the void that is London Heathrow airport. I saw it being moved and made some phone calls. That spurred the airlines into action in delivering the bag to the UK. It landed in T2 (TAP) but it needed to go to T3 (American). I elected to pick it up from T3 (as I said, very long story) and it took me 3 hours to get it. The Tag said it was about 15' away but the staff assured me that it "couldn't be there". It was...
I use the AirTags as I have an iPhone. I am happy with them. There are other brands, Tile, Samsung etc.
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 238
Likes: 40
From: Bristol,UK
What would be the issue with taking one of your old phones (admit it, we all have a stack of them), putting a PAYG sim with roaming data in it and use your phone to track it?
I have set my phone to be able to track my wife's phone following its loss once.
I have set my phone to be able to track my wife's phone following its loss once.
Joined: Oct 2019
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From: USA
The only downside I foresee is battery life. When the phone is shielded or unable to connect to a tower they mostly compensate by increasing the signal output power, draining the battery at a pretty good clip. If there was an app that would control that aspect it is certain that the phone has all the components to do even more than a tag does; tags depend on being discovered by cell phones and it is the cell phone that provides the location data. Using a phone instead of a tag skips that intermediate step.
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 238
Likes: 40
From: Bristol,UK
The only downside I foresee is battery life. When the phone is shielded or unable to connect to a tower they mostly compensate by increasing the signal output power, draining the battery at a pretty good clip. If there was an app that would control that aspect it is certain that the phone has all the components to do even more than a tag does; tags depend on being discovered by cell phones and it is the cell phone that provides the location data. Using a phone instead of a tag skips that intermediate step.
I have an old phone that normally can go better than two days if left alone, I guess it depends on how long you need it to last. The only problem with that phone is deteriorating volume is why I changed it so getting it to make a noise remotely would not be very good.
Joined: Apr 2008
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From: on the ground
So doggo (described below) managed to shed her loose fitting flashing red LED collar with its Samsung SmartTag a couple of weeks ago while we were at our island home. (Since they're both electronic, I keep the collar loose to be able to remove it from her around water.)
I didn't realise it was missing until we got back to the city; and it completely escaped me that the smart tag was on the collar. We're back at the island now and someone mentioned keeping track of her teenagers via their phones, which reminded me that the lost $5 collar also had my $35 smart tag on it.
I fired up the app on my phone and found that the tag had been "seen" (by other people's phones since I wasn't here), three times in the week we were away, as well as several times since I came back. There's not a huge amount of traffic past here; almost entirely island residents and tourist foot traffic, so my guess is someone else nearby has the required Samsung phone set to cooperate with SmartTags.
Anyway, the tracker is live with about 12 months of battery remaining, the tag is somewhere nearby, how hard can it be to find? I went out that night with a bright LED battery floodlight. I couldn't get it to connect properly to get the tracker to beep, but I could tell where it was to within about 25 metres, centered about 50 metres from my front gate. I tried again in daylight and eventually found it lying in grass between a parked caravan and the front fence of the property it was parked outside, one of doggos favourite snuffling spots.
My points:
- if I had been looking for a dog size target (suitcase,etc, or larger like a vehicle) I'd have had no trouble seeing it from 25 metres, but something like a dog collar or a bunch of keys needs to be reasonably visible. If you've put your keys down inside the house, you'll get close enough to get it to beep for you. At very least you'll be able to see where you were last near your keys.
- I knew the tag was near my house, but not in the house or yard because other people's phones had pinged it about 50 to 100 metres away, and because it was close enough to the road that my own phone pinged it whenever I went past. Even here in a semi-rural setting, it got pinged every few days by passing phones. Even without that, my own phone would have pinged it as I passed by as long as it was within maybe 20 metres of my travels.
Luggage, stolen vehicles, urban dogs maybe, keys probably, but not really very good for small stuff lost in long grass!
Advantages - battery lasts a year or more and is a cheap CR2032, doesn't need a sim and subscription with ongoing expenses. In principal once you're close you can have the smarttag beep but it is very quiet.
Disadvantages - reported location is only as good as the phone location of the phones that see it and can be hundreds of metres off sometimes, but will average about right if there are enough sightings. The last 20 metres can be difficult if the object is small and the environment is noisy.
I should put it in an envelope and post it back to the city before I head home to see how well it tracks within the postal service...
I didn't realise it was missing until we got back to the city; and it completely escaped me that the smart tag was on the collar. We're back at the island now and someone mentioned keeping track of her teenagers via their phones, which reminded me that the lost $5 collar also had my $35 smart tag on it.
I fired up the app on my phone and found that the tag had been "seen" (by other people's phones since I wasn't here), three times in the week we were away, as well as several times since I came back. There's not a huge amount of traffic past here; almost entirely island residents and tourist foot traffic, so my guess is someone else nearby has the required Samsung phone set to cooperate with SmartTags.
Anyway, the tracker is live with about 12 months of battery remaining, the tag is somewhere nearby, how hard can it be to find? I went out that night with a bright LED battery floodlight. I couldn't get it to connect properly to get the tracker to beep, but I could tell where it was to within about 25 metres, centered about 50 metres from my front gate. I tried again in daylight and eventually found it lying in grass between a parked caravan and the front fence of the property it was parked outside, one of doggos favourite snuffling spots.
My points:
- if I had been looking for a dog size target (suitcase,etc, or larger like a vehicle) I'd have had no trouble seeing it from 25 metres, but something like a dog collar or a bunch of keys needs to be reasonably visible. If you've put your keys down inside the house, you'll get close enough to get it to beep for you. At very least you'll be able to see where you were last near your keys.
- I knew the tag was near my house, but not in the house or yard because other people's phones had pinged it about 50 to 100 metres away, and because it was close enough to the road that my own phone pinged it whenever I went past. Even here in a semi-rural setting, it got pinged every few days by passing phones. Even without that, my own phone would have pinged it as I passed by as long as it was within maybe 20 metres of my travels.
Luggage, stolen vehicles, urban dogs maybe, keys probably, but not really very good for small stuff lost in long grass!
Advantages - battery lasts a year or more and is a cheap CR2032, doesn't need a sim and subscription with ongoing expenses. In principal once you're close you can have the smarttag beep but it is very quiet.
Disadvantages - reported location is only as good as the phone location of the phones that see it and can be hundreds of metres off sometimes, but will average about right if there are enough sightings. The last 20 metres can be difficult if the object is small and the environment is noisy.
I should put it in an envelope and post it back to the city before I head home to see how well it tracks within the postal service...
The Samsung tracking device got cheap enough (Au$35) that I bought one more out of curiosity than anything.
Like most cheap trackers, it is purely a bluetooth device; it does not have a GPS and does not know where it is.
When it sees a cooperating bluetooth device (Samsung android phone), the Samsung system (somewhere out there in the ether) logs the known location of the phone and the identity of the tag and makes the tag location available to the owner.
Obviously for this to work, it needs to be within bluetooth range of a Samsung phone.
In practice this means that hanging it on my dog's collar in a rural area does not help finding her when she sets off on her unauthorised 3am explorations, but it also means that inside luggage in a busy airport is just about ideal since there will be many people and hence many phones nearby.
The other feature of the Samsung device I bought is that it connects directly to my own phone when it can.
This allows two useful features:
1) My phone bleats at me when I leave the tag behind; or more likely when the tag and attached dog leave me behind, alerting me to her departure within about a minute
2) When it is connected directly to my phone (eg it must be somewhere nearby), I can get it to audibly beep, ideal for finding lost keys, less useful for finding lost dogs. I've had no luck teaching the dog to come home for a treat when it beeps...
They're great for something like keys (likely left behind somewhere where my phone was with me).
They're probably pretty good for tracking baggage, etc, in an urban or busy environment with lots of compatible phones.
A dead loss for tracking wildlife in rural areas obviously.
Helpful but not as good as a GPS based device for tracking an errant dog...
PS I'll put mine in my bag next time I fly...
Like most cheap trackers, it is purely a bluetooth device; it does not have a GPS and does not know where it is.
When it sees a cooperating bluetooth device (Samsung android phone), the Samsung system (somewhere out there in the ether) logs the known location of the phone and the identity of the tag and makes the tag location available to the owner.
Obviously for this to work, it needs to be within bluetooth range of a Samsung phone.
In practice this means that hanging it on my dog's collar in a rural area does not help finding her when she sets off on her unauthorised 3am explorations, but it also means that inside luggage in a busy airport is just about ideal since there will be many people and hence many phones nearby.
The other feature of the Samsung device I bought is that it connects directly to my own phone when it can.
This allows two useful features:
1) My phone bleats at me when I leave the tag behind; or more likely when the tag and attached dog leave me behind, alerting me to her departure within about a minute
2) When it is connected directly to my phone (eg it must be somewhere nearby), I can get it to audibly beep, ideal for finding lost keys, less useful for finding lost dogs. I've had no luck teaching the dog to come home for a treat when it beeps...
They're great for something like keys (likely left behind somewhere where my phone was with me).
They're probably pretty good for tracking baggage, etc, in an urban or busy environment with lots of compatible phones.
A dead loss for tracking wildlife in rural areas obviously.
Helpful but not as good as a GPS based device for tracking an errant dog...
PS I'll put mine in my bag next time I fly...
