When you lose your keys—be they to your home, your office, or your car—you are lucky if you are able to just go home, get the spare, and get back to living your life. When there is no spare, though, losing your keys can be a costly proposition. And even if there is a spare, that rarely makes getting locked out of your house on a cold day—or getting stranded out in the middle of nowhere with a car you can’t start—any more fun.
Luckily, technology has given us new ways to avoid losing our keys ever again. Numerous companies have unveiled Bluetooth tracking gadgets that make it possible to keep tabs on your keys and quickly find them again if and when they go missing. There are a variety of these different gizmos available on the market, so just pick one and give it a try!
Here are a few of our favorite ways to never lose your keys again:
Tile
One of the first Bluetooth trackers to come along, Tile is also still one of the best. The tracker itself is a small white square object that looks quite natural and inconspicuous when used as a keychain. Using a mobile app (iOS only), you can track your keys within a radius of 150 feet. More impressively, Tile uses its entire web of devices to track your device. So, if you lose your keys while they have the Tile device connected to them, you don’t necessarily have to be within 150 feet to know where your keys are. Instead, you can review a “last known location” on your Tile app—a piece of data that updates every time any Tile user comes within 150 feet of your device. In other words, the more people who adopt Tile, the easier it will be to find a lost set of keys.
Duet by PROTAG
In many ways, this is the most ingenious tracker out there right now. The Duet by PROTAG hooks up to your keys much like Tile does, and if you lose them, you can track the chip with your PROTAG mobile app. The device also works the other way around, and can help you avoid losing your phone behind. Indeed, you can set the Duet chip on your keychain to make an alarm sound whenever you are more than 10 meters away from your phone. Suffice it to say that “Duet” is a good name for this two-for-one solution.
PebbleBee
Boasting a similar design to the Tile, but supported by both iOS and Android, PebbleBee is a nifty key ring tracker with a variety of cool features. Like the Duet, PebbleBee will send alerts to your phone if you are moving away from your keys. The device also uses Bluetooth Low Energy, which means it won’t kill your phone’s battery, or die too quickly on its own. On the contrary, the PebbleBee supposedly has a battery life of three years. It’s also waterproof.
Tired of losing your keys? These three devices are just a few of the Bluetooth trackers out there that can help prevent that from ever happening again. Which one is the best for you will depend on your smartphone operating system, your budget, and your desired list of extra features.