Tracking tags are a simple idea, but one that’s easy to get wrong. While the failures of Google’s Find My Device network are mostly on Google, it’s just as important to fix the hardware, and this is where I feel Pebblebee’s Android trackers really shine. At the moment, they are the best you can get.
Hardware
Pebblebee offers a trio of trackers for the Find My Device network on Android. Has the clip, card and tag. Each has its own use case.
The clip is the most generic of the three, and also the cheapest at $29.99. The tracker features a circular design with a built-in hole. This hole can be used with a traditional key ring, but comes in the box with a carabiner-like clip. I used this to attach the clip to my backpack, where it has felt very attached ever since. The Clip device also includes an LED light around the edge of the device to indicate battery and pairing status. There’s also a full-sized USB-C port for charging the internal battery.
Next up is Card, a dedicated tracker for housing in your wallet, which costs $34.99. The card is about the thickness of two or three credit cards and slips easily into even the slimmest of wallets. I use a very small Peak Design Slim wallet and the Pebblebee Card fits perfectly with my cards and documents already inside. The Card, unlike the Clip, requires a proprietary magnetic charger to recharge its internal battery. This is a bit more cumbersome, basically, but it works pretty well considering the fact that you only have to do this every year and a half (at least according to Pebblebee’s estimation).
Finally, there is the Tag which also costs $34.99. This is the smallest of the bunch and comes with an adhesive sticker and a rubber case to help you mount it in different places. This seems ideal for something like a bike or other hard surface item, but the small size also makes it the most versatile of the bunch here. It’s just as good for tracking a large object, or just sneaking into a tiny little spot in your bag. Like the card, it also requires a charger, but the charging cables are interchangeable if you buy both devices.
Configuration
Setting up a Pebblebee tracker for the Find My Device network is simple and handled entirely through your Android phone without the need to install any new apps. Upon unboxing, you’ll be given a QR code that takes you to a web app with easy-to-understand instructions. But even if you get past that, it’s pretty simple.
Each of the trackers has a button under the logo that activates pairing mode. I found that a slow double tap is the most reliable way to activate quick pair on my phone. I also found these to connect much faster than the Chipolo trackers I had installed before this.
Once the Quick Pair interface appears on your phone, setup is as simple as connecting to your Google account, then diving into each tracker in the Find My Device app and setting the name and item type. It’s all super easy.
How well does it actually work?
But the big question, of course, is how well it all actually works.
It’s a mixed bag.
Here’s the good news. I think Pebblebee has the best Find My Device available today for the Android web. In my experience, Pebblebee trackers are more reliable compared to options from Chipolo. They connect within seconds if they are close and generally manage to connect 90% of the time. So, simply put, it works.
But the downfall here is the Find My Device network itself. The network is not yet fully open and works (by default) only in “high traffic” areas. That means it just won’t work in a suburban home. So, hypothetically, if I leave a tracker in my purse in a friend’s car and they’re not using an Android phone, it’s unlikely to be found unless they happen to be driving through a busy area of town. I think Google made a misstep in making this the default setting, even if it offers better privacy overall.
The other downside is the polling rate at which the network seems to try to find nearby trackers. On a trip to Paris, where the network is even less widespread than in the United States, I noticed that a tracker in my hotel room (near the door) never updated when I was out for the day. I hope to learn more about how these trackers are updated as I travel more of the state in the coming weeks, but so far I haven’t been very impressed with how often the trackers update their location.
This also applies only at home. One of the things I was really excited about with Find My Device was that Google said it would use Nest devices and be able to tell you how close your device is to a particular speaker or smart display in your home. . This is extremely nice and would be very useful for finding keys or a wallet, but it doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped. Some devices will tell me they’re “near Office Nest Hub” but others just tell me they’re “near Home”, the latter being meaningless information to be honest. Even when they also give me a specific device, it’s often not the one they’re closest to (though admittedly, I definitely have more Nest devices in my house than the average user).
There is also the lack of UWB, a necessary talking point. UWB (ultra-wideband) allows Apple’s AirTag to be located with precise directions from a nearby iPhone. Samsung offers the same with the Galaxy SmartTag 2. But Pebblebee doesn’t. The Find My Device app uses Bluetooth to give you a rough estimate, but it’s much more cumbersome and relies on more guesswork to help you actually find the tracker. Is it a breake deal? Absolutely not, especially seeing as how LOT Android phones don’t even have the necessary hardware. But I can’t help but wish Pebblebee would offer this in a future version of its trackers. Meanwhile, it looks like Motorola will be the first to offer this functionality.
The bones of a good tracker are within the Find My Device network, and Pebblebee’s device looks affordable, but actual use has been disappointing.
Final thoughts… for now
I waited impatiently for a year for trackers like AirTag to come to Android. Discovering the Find My Device network from Google was exciting and I was very ready to start using the trackers.
But now that they have arrived, they are simply unhappy.
As my colleague Damien explained in his review of Chipolo trackers, the current state of these trackers on Android is “miserable”. However, I don’t think it’s the fault of the trackers themselves. Especially in the case of the Pebblebee options, which on a hardware level appear to be solid, it’s really just about the Find My Device network failings and how it’s implemented on Android.
And Google seems willing to admit that things aren’t where they should be. The company says improvements are coming, and it’s acknowledging that the default “high traffic” setting just doesn’t cut it in most cases. I don’t see that default changing anytime soon, as the rollback to that privacy decision would seem FAR worse than if Google had just made it work everywhere to begin with.
So with that in mind, this is not a final decision. I think it’s too early to make a call because, even with Google’s built-in flaws, the network isn’t fully available yet. We will continue to test these trackers over the coming months as they go online across the globe.
But, for now, I think Pebblebee has the strongest offering. Between the better connections, rechargeable batteries, and the hardware itself, this is the best option available today. And it’s a shame that Google is holding it back from its true potential.
Where to buy Pebblebee Android trackers
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