AirTag Competitor Tile Getting Acquired by Location Sharing App Life360

[MacRumors]

Tile, known for its range of Bluetooth-based tracking accessories that compete with the AirTag, is being acquired by location tracking service Life360, Tile announced today.

Tile will continue to be operated as a standalone brand under Tile CEO CJ Prober, but Tile says that when the acquisition is completed, it will be able to leverage Life360's 33 million smartphone users to grow Tile's Finding network by 10x. Tile's network is the equivalent of Apple's Find My network, leveraging nearby devices to locate lost items.

Life360 has what it calls a "family safety platform" that allows family members to keep tabs on one another with tracking software on smartphones. It's primarily used by parents to track their children and teenagers, and it has raised privacy concerns.

With the Tile acquisition, Life360 founder Chris Hulls says that Life360 will be able to provide an "all-encompassing solution" for locating people, pets, and things with cross-platform tracking and combined service for tracking items and people.

Individuals and families will be able to tap into Life360's flagship mobile app, a market leading app for families with features that range from communications to driving safety and location sharing. Additionally, people will be able to seamlessly leverage Tile's bluetooth-enabled finding devices trackers, which can equip nearly any item -- such as wallets, keys or remotes -- with location-based finding technology. Tile's technology is also embedded in over 50 different third-party devices, ranging from wireless earbuds and headphones to laptops to retainer cases to dog collars.

Life360's Tile acquisition deal is valued at $205 million and it is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Article Link: AirTag Competitor Tile Getting Acquired by Location Sharing App Life360

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Hopefully, our data is safe and secured.

Thank god it’s not mega, beta Facebook.

 

[djcerla]

Two turkeys don’t make an eagle.

 

[Think|Different]

…Only took 205 days…

 

[macsplusmacs]

Good. Now maybe these whiny bleeping CEOs will now stop crying about "unfair apple",


Fact.

If apple had not created the mobile phone business as we know it today. Tile would have sold for 22.5 million.

 

[Hammerd]

Who use Life360??

 

[4jasontv]

Life360? I wonder why they picked that name. Is it a circle and I will end where I started or is it supposed to be a year but I get a week off?

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Two turkeys don’t make an eagle.

How so? Tile is still a great product and in some areas superior to apples air tags. life360 is used by families with kids, and tile is widely used across all platforms.

One giant complaint I have with AirTags is the play sound feature is way too quite. I can hardly hear it unless I’m right next to it. Not to mention apple has no solid options for a device to put in my wallet. It’s by no means superior to tile.

 

[JM]

well, good for Tile. It’s got to suck getting your business undermined by competitor. Glad they found a savior.

 

[chucker23n1]

Life360 has what it calls a "family safety platform" that allows family members to keep tabs on one another with tracking software on smartphones.

Yeah, that kind of stuff never gets abused. Nuh-uh.

 

[kevinws]

My family does and I know many other families the use it also. It is good to keep track of where the kids are.

My wife and I get notifications of when we leave work that way who ever is home can start evening meal.

My daughter who is an adult with special needs loves using it to spy on where mom and dad are.

I get text saying "daddy at work" and similar. I am typically a don't track me my data is mine turn all location off type of guy.

But, then when I get text like that it makes me smile because I know she is checking on me because she loves me and wants to know that I am safe.

 

[taize]

My family does and I know many other families the use it also. It is good to keep track of where the kids are.

My wife and I get notifications of when we leave work that way who ever is home can start evening meal.

My daughter who is an adult with special needs loves using it to spy on where mom and dad are.

I get text saying "daddy at work" and similar. I am typically a don't track me my data is mine turn all location off type of guy.

But, then when I get text like that it makes me smile because I know she is checking on me because she loves me and wants to know that I am safe.

We use it as well. Its great for knowing when someone will be home. Our kids have it on their phones and have no problem with us knowing where they are. Even our 18yr old is happy to have it on her phone.

I can see how it can be abused when not used transparently. When used appropriately its a great tool.

Lets hope that Life360 subscribers can get discounts on Tile.

 

[nutmac]

How so? Tile is still a great product and in some areas superior to apples air tags.

Not in my experience.

While Tile technically leads AirTags in terms of Bluetooth range, in practice, it often takes forever for the Tile app to wake up and locate the Tile device, and often fail. The choice of beep sounds is also lackluster, whereas AirTag makes very pleasant chirping sound (I agree that it should be louder though).

Moreover, Tile devices just look pretty ugly.......

 

[Sasparilla]

Anyone know if Life360 is good with your location data or are they selling it?

If they sell it this is not a good thing for Tile despite the short term upside.

edit: Did some digging, Life360 data harvests and sells your data (including location data). Mid to long term this will mean ashes for Tile. People are getting more resistant to be data raped, not less. Too bad, I had hoped they'd do okay.

 

[IamTimCook]

Tracking your teen…

Teen 1: Mom I'm going to the library.
Mom: Ok hun. Have fun!
Teen 1 on the phone with Teen 2: Pick me up at the library; I've got to put my tile on the window seal. I hope you're ready for the time of your life.
Teen 2: You know I am!
Teen 1: I want to you to wreak it like you're never going to get the chance again.
Teen 2: Oh, I'll wreak it alright

At home...
Teen 1: I'm home.
Mom: How was the library?
Teen 1: Sooo fun. I love books!
Mom: I know you do my sweet little angel.

 

[djcerla]

It’s by no means superior to tile.

I hope you are joking. In Europe few people have ever heard about Tile, there’s basically no network in place, so the product is utterly useless. iPhones are everywhere, though, and Airtags work great.

For trackers, the network is everything.

 

[TheDailyApple]

Well I guess there’s no more chance of me getting tile. Life360’s privacy policy is horrendous for an app that needs access to you GPS and internet.

Find My works great for me, and I don’t need a subscription for it.

 

[roar08]

I think Tile did some great work. That said, I always thought Tile was a feature, not a product.

 

[incoherent_1]

I say this as an owner of 4 AirTags: I hope this acquisition puts some pressure on Apple to improve their product. Important missing features still while meanwhile they empower thieves.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Even if I was interested in their services - which I am not - the thought of yet another monthly subscription fee makes me want to vomit myself to tears.

 

[rjohnstone]

Anyone know if Life360 is good with your location data or are they selling it?

If they sell it this is not a good thing for Tile despite the short term upside.

edit: Did some digging, Life360 data harvests and sells your data (including location data). Mid to long term this will mean ashes for Tile. People are getting more resistant to be data raped, not less. Too bad, I had hoped they'd do okay.

They are pretty opne about what information they use and how it's used.
They also allow you to disable it.
You can turn information sharing off in privacy settings. Anyone under 16 is automatically opted out.
You can disable information sharing with law enforcement under the Emergency Data Access section.
You can also disable driving data information sharing.
You really do have a lot of control over how the app and Life360 collect and use the data.

 

[justanotherdave]

My family does and I know many other families the use it also. It is good to keep track of where the kids are.

My wife and I get notifications of when we leave work that way who ever is home can start evening meal.

My daughter who is an adult with special needs loves using it to spy on where mom and dad are.

I get text saying "daddy at work" and similar. I am typically a don't track me my data is mine turn all location off type of guy.

But, then when I get text like that it makes me smile because I know she is checking on me because she loves me and wants to know that I am safe.

I had never heard of Life360 before today.

I have, however, been using Find My to see where family members are for several years now.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Life360 sounds kinda skeezy...

'Tracking family members'? And people are finding AirTags behind license plates. Wow...

 

[Homme]

So happy Tile is being purchased. Hopefully they’re new owners won’t whine against apple the way tile has done

And the fact that they are purchased is proof AirTags whooped Tile’s ass, because if AirTags didn’t exist Tile wouldn’t even be purchased,

Without any innovation on Tiles End like Palm back in the day hopefully Tile can be a living memory later in life

 

[davidako]

Hopefully this stimulates the market.

AirTag is garbage for anything except adding to your keys. Which is how I use it.

Maybe soon it will have more use cases rather than spawning 10,000 false stalker warnings.