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Best for Apple usersApple AirTag
$24 $29 Save $5The Apple AirTag may have come out way back in 2021, but it’s still easily the best Bluetooth-based tracker for most people. Android is still struggling to come out with something to compete with AirTag’s stellar performance.
Pros- Fantastic tracking performance
- IP67 rated resistance
- Easy to set up
Cons- Only available for Apple devices
- Doesn’t come with a rechargeable battery
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Built and designed wellPebblebee Tag Universal
$28 $35 Save $7The Pebblebee Tag is a well-built Bluetooth tracker for Android users. Its small footprint allows it to be used just about anywhere and comes with ways to attach it to various items. If Google can fix its Find My Device woes, this would be a solid option.
Pros- Small design makes it easy to use
- Comes with ways to attach tracker to items
- Rechargeable battery
Cons- Google’s Find My Device network is not good
- Only IPX6 rated
Losing things you own is never fun and often results in frantic searching for that misplaced item. We all have had those moments in our lives, and as any parent can tell you, small children love to grab items like keys and put them in the oddest places. In those moments, having something like a Pebblebee Tag or an Apple AirTag can go a long way in helping you quickly identify and locate where that missing item is.
Smart tags can even help with more nefarious acts, such as if someone swipes your bag or luggage without your knowledge by alerting you that your item is on the move. Smart tags rely heavily on a network of devices, with Apple using its Find My network to help find items, while Pebbleebee relies on Google’s Find My Device network. That network may ultimately determine which is better.
Price, availability, and specs
The Pebbleebee Tag is much newer than the Apple AirTag. Pebblebee launched the Tag for Android devices towards the end of May 2024, while Apple launched the AirTag way back in April 2021. Don’t let the AirTag’s age fool you; not much has changed with smart tags over the past couple of years.
Pricing and availability are also quite similar for these two devices. The Pebbleebee Tag can be found directly from Pebblebee for $35. It’s also available in a two-pack that retails for $65 and a four-pack that costs $120. AirTags are available directly from Apple and cost $29 for a single tracker or $99 for a pack of four. Both smart trackers can also be found through other retailers such as Amazon or Best Buy.
Read our review
Review: Apple’s excellent AirTags remind us how hard Google has to work to catch up
Apple’s AirTags are the best-in-class
Read our review
Pebblebee Tag for Android review: I couldn’t Find My Device
Google’s new crowdsourced item tracking isn’t ready for primetime
Design
Small size for discreet tracking
Pebblebee and Apple designed their trackers as discreetly as possible, allowing you to put them on or in just about anything without drawing much attention. The Tag is rectangular, measuring 26 x 40 x 4.5mm, and weighs a feathery 6.5g. The AirTag features a circular design with a diameter of 31.9mm and a height of 8mm. The AirTag weighs a touch more at 11g.
Outside of their diminutive size, there’s not much to discuss about their design. The Pebblebee Tag features a black plastic exterior and two pins to connect the magnetic charger. It has an IPX6 rating, so it’ll survive rain and sweat, but I would keep it out of the water. Pebblebee includes a silicon strap attachment and double-sided adhesive tabs, allowing you to use the Tag on various surfaces. It also has built-in LEDs and a speaker to aid in finding your misplaced item.
The Apple AirTag has a white back, metal front, and prominently placed Apple logo. The AirTag features a very clean design devoid of just about anything breaking its lines. It doesn’t even have charging pins as it uses an internal coin cell battery. It has an IP67 rating, making it significantly more dust-resistant than Pebblebee’s offering. It can be submerged in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, making the AirTag more water-resistant. It doesn’t have any LEDs to help find a missing item, but it does have a built-in speaker. Unlike Pebblebee, Apple doesn’t include anything with the AirTag, so accessories are going to cost extra.
Performance
Different networks yield significantly different results
Using a tracker like the Pebblebee Tag or the Apple AirTag is done to find lost items. How these trackers go about pinpointing your lost item is mostly the same, but the end results are very different.
The Pebblebee Tag is a solid device on its own. It allows you to easily pair the Tag with your phone and register it with Google’s Find My Device network. Setting it up is quite simple, with Android doing most of the work to get it going. Once the initial setup is completed, the Tag will communicate with your phone via Bluetooth to let you know where it is. If the Tag is out of range of your phone, it will look for other Android devices compatible with the Find My Device network and connect to them using Bluetooth. Once it establishes that connection, it will update its location, letting you know exactly where it is.
In theory, this is all well and good, but in practice, it’s nearly useless as the Tag will frequently fail to provide any updates to its location. In our review, Taylor Kerns noted that he stashed the Tag in a high-traffic area and left it there for almost nine hours, and it never updated its location.
While not the fault of Pebblebee, it’s sad to see companies like Pebblebee struggle because Google’s Find My Device network just isn’t up to snuff. One of the main issues is that the default setting for these devices is to work in high-traffic areas, which means using the Tag outside heavily traveled areas is useless, but as Taylor found out, even that isn’t enough to get it to update. At least the Pebblebee can be used with Apple devices, which is great for mixed-device households.
Apple’s AirTag works nearly identical to the Pebblebee Tag, except it exclusively uses Apple’s Find My network. If the AirTag is in the vicinity of an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, it’ll connect to those devices via Bluetooth to update its location with iCloud. It also has UWB (Ultra Wideband) which can be used to more accurately give an exact location.
It’s easy to set up and use, and, like the Tag, most of the setup is done by the operating system. Performance-wise, the AirTag is nearly flawless. It reliably updates its location, and because Apple defaults all of its devices to participate in the Find My network (you would need to opt out to disable it), there are far more devices for the AirTag to connect to.
Battery life
Do you prefer rechargeable or replaceable?
Battery life is quite good for both devices. The Pebblebee Tag has a rechargeable battery that lasts up to eight months on a single charge and is charged via a USB-C magnetic charger. The lack of a replaceable battery might be a turn-off for some, but even if the Tag loses some capacity, it should still give you a solid six months on a charge without worrying about finding replacement batteries.
Apple did not go rechargeable with the AirTags, instead opting to use a replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery. Battery life should be good for up to a year, and replacing it is quite easy. All you have to do is push in the silver part and twist it to expose the battery. I much prefer a rechargeable battery, but a year of battery life should be enough time to keep it from being too annoying.
Which is right for you?
What are you reading this on?
Like most products that work with Android and are being directly compared to an Apple product, what you have in your pocket is probably going to be the deciding factor. The Apple AirTags were designed to be used with Apple products, like the iPhone 16 Pro, and if you’re in that ecosystem, it makes perfect sense. However, if you’re rocking one of the best Android phones, you need something that works with your own.
For us Android lovers, the Pebblebee Tag is simply one of the best trackers we can access. It’s well-built, has great rechargeable battery life, and its tiny footprint means you can use it just about anywhere. Unfortunately, Google dropped the ball up to this point with its Find My Device network, which means the Tag is held back significantly performance-wise. If Google can figure out its network woes, the Pebblebee Tag is in a great position to be the default Android tracker.
Pebblebee Tag Universal
Best on Android at the moment
The Pebblebee Tag is a well-built Bluetooth tracker for Android that looks to help you find lost items. Its small size allows you to use it just about anywhere and its rechargeable battery is nice to have. It’s let down by the lackluster performance of Google’s Find My Device network.
If you find yourself in Apple’s walled garden, you can safely go with the AirTag. It’s easily one of, if not the best tracker on the market for most people. It has great battery life and, more importantly, has a network of devices that allows it to reliably update its location. The only real knock against it is that you must change the battery yourself every year.
Apple AirTag
Fantastic performer
The Apple AirTag is still the best option available for anyone on the Apple side of the house. With a small design, fantastic tracking performance, and an easy setup, the AirTag is the tracker to beat, unless you have Android devices.
