How Do You Activate Tile?
To set up and use Tile, you need the Tile app on your phone and at least one Tile tracking device. Tile devices come in various shapes and configurations, including keychain fobs, flat cards, and stickers, but they all work the same way. Here’s how to set up and activate a Tile device:
How Do You Set up a Tile Sticker or Additional Tile Devices?
Once you’ve created your Tile account and set up the app to work on your phone, you can add additional Tile devices the same way as your first one. You set up Tile Stickers in the same way, but the steps are just a little different. Here’s how to set up a Tile Sticker:
How Does Tile Work?
Tile tracking devices are designed to help you keep track of your stuff. As described in the previous section, setting up a Tile device involves connecting it to the Tile app on your phone via Bluetooth. It’s a little like pairing headphones or a speaker with your phone via Bluetooth, but it’s not a constant connection. When you tap a find button in the Tile app on your phone, it sends out a signal via Bluetooth. If the corresponding Tile device receives the signal, it sounds the alarm. By listening for the direction of the alarm, you can track down and find your item. Each Tile device has a button you use to put it into connecting mode. This button also causes the Tile to send out a signal via Bluetooth if you double press it. If your phone is in range of the Tile and Bluetooth is on, the phone will ring, allowing you to find it. This feature allows you to find your phone with any of your Tile devices in the same way you can find your Tile devices with your phone.
How Far Can You Track the Tile?
Since Tile uses Bluetooth, it’s limited by the range of Bluetooth. Tile states their tracking devices work at distances of up to 150 feet for the Tile Sticker, 200 feet for the Tile Slim and Tile Mate, and 400 feet for the Tile Pro. These distances assume a direct line of sight, so the actual distance you can find a Tile Device with your phone will depend on the sort of obstructions you’re dealing with, like furniture, buildings, and vehicles. While the range of Bluetooth limits the range of Tile, and you can’t use Tile like a GPS tracker since it doesn’t have GPS, the physical location of your Tile device is recorded by the GPS in your phone. That means you can check the last known location of your device if you lose it and it’s no longer in range of Bluetooth. Other Tile users can also pick up the location of your Tile device if it’s out of range of your phone but within the range of someone else’s phone. They can’t use their phone to locate your Tile since your Tile is connected only to your phone, but their phone can transmit the GPS coordinates of your Tile to the Tile servers. If you tap the Tile device in your app, its location history will reflect information Tile has received from the entire network of other Tile users. This process is entirely anonymous, and nobody will ever have access to your Tile’s location information unless you give it to them.
How to Find Your Tile Device
There are two ways to find your Tile device and the belonging to which it’s attached. The first way uses a direct Bluetooth connection. If you lost your keys somewhere in your house, this is the method you’ll use.
What If Tile Won’t Connect?
If Tile won’t connect to your phone, and you never have the option to tap find, then either the battery in your Tile device is dead, or it’s out of range of your phone. If you have a good idea of the general area where you last saw your item, go there and try again. Try moving around your house or wherever you think the item was lost to see if the Tile will connect. If the Tile device is out of Bluetooth range, you can find its last known location:
