Google brings the fight to Samsung and Apple with new way to ensure you NEVER lose your keys again
Tired of losing track of your keys, wallet, or handbag? Want to keep tabs on your checked bags on your next flight? Google has a fix.
The Californian technology firm announced its new Pixel Tag alongside a refreshed Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and a slew of non-foldable smartphones, including the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL, during its latest Made By Google hardware event. This new accessory marks the US company's first venture into Bluetooth tracking devices that compete directly with Apple's bestselling AirTag.
The tracker will set you back £29.99 when it launches worldwide on November 11, or you can pick up a four-pack for £99.99 if you've got multiple items you'd like to monitor. This price-matches its equivalent from Apple, but is a little more expensive than rival options from Samsung or Life360.
Clip the Pixel Tag to your key-ring or backpack, and it'll appear like a pair of wireless earbuds, tablet, or smartphone in the Find Hub app preinstalled on Android devices.
Pixel Tag comes packed with features that promise to make finding a misplaced item straightforward. When you're searching for something nearby, a built-in speaker plays a sound to guide you to it. Inside the diddy tracker is Ultra-Wideband wireless technology, which shows your precise distance from the tagged item — pointing you in the right direction to recover it, even if it's wedged between sofa cushions or buried under a pile of clothes.
Google says its tracker is built to last, with an IP67 rating that makes it dust-resistant and able to handle being dunked in up to one metre of water for half an hour. If you share belongings with family or housemates, you can grant access to up to 10 other people to help track shared items together.
Your live location data is protected via end-to-end encryption when you're using the network to find your belongings. Plus, your phone will automatically let you know if an unknown Pixel Tag is travelling with you, giving you guidance on how to locate it and what steps to take next.
Powering the Pixel Tag is a standard CR2032 watch-style battery, so you can swap it out yourself to keep everything running. Google says batteries should keep everything powered for roughly a year.
The clever bit is how the network actually works when your tagged item goes out of Bluetooth range, which is only a few metres. Google's Find Hub system taps into a massive network of over one billion Android devices worldwide to help locate your missing belongings. This crowdsourced approach means other Android phones can help you find your stuff without those users even knowing, keeping everything secure via end-to-end encryption.
In other words, you don't need to be close to your Pixel Tag to see its live location — you just need somebody somewhere with an Android device nearby.
To use the Pixel Tag, you'll need a phone running Android 9 or newer, which means it works with quite a few older devices. You can monitor all your tagged items on a map through the Find Hub app, making it simple to see where everything is at a glance. If you're about to leave something behind, you can even enable Left Behind alerts to give you a heads-up before you walk away without your belongings.
While the AirTag is a smaller round tracker that's not much bigger than the watch-style battery that powers it, Google has chosen an elongated, pill-shaped device instead. This is much closer to what we've seen from Samsung's SmartTag 2 too.
Apple offers free engraving, letting shoppers add an emoji, initials, or short word like "keys" to the puck. It's not something currently offered by the Google Store. The Pixel Tag measures 1.1 inches across and stretches to 1.8 inches from top to bottom, making it slimmer at 0.2 inches thick compared to the AirTag's 0.31-inch depth.
Despite the different shapes, the weight is nearly identical, with the Pixel Tag coming in at 0.4 ounces versus the AirTag's 0.39 ounces. Both devices share the same water and dust protection rating, and they're priced identically too.