Having an AirTag if the person has an Android?

[nickbelane]

Hello,

My question may be a bit uncommon, in the case goes OT please I apologize, but I am trying to help my sister from losing again her keys.
I have an iPhone 13 and I am using an AirTag. I have lost my keys some months ago and I was able to find them thanks to that.
My sister has a Samsung s21, and she had Tile, and unfortunately, to have all the cool features you need to be a PRO Tile user, and she was not. She lost the keys somewhere, and somehow her Tile did not work properly, it had the last location 3-4 days before the event, and we were unable to find them (plus also not many people have tiles, and apparently only if you have a Tile the location of the Tile gets updated).

Now I am thinking if it makes sense to buy her an AirTag despite owning a Samsung (and have her keys registered to my "find my").
Or would it make sense to buy her a Samsung Smart Tag?
The reason for my question is that I have read:

"...The SmartTag Plus relies on other Galaxy devices that have chosen to participate in Samsung’s Galaxy Find network — Galaxy phone users aren’t opted in by default, and need to give consent in the SmartThings app."
Apparently, Apple users are opted-in by default in Find my, is that true?

So my hope is that if she will lose the keys again, the chances that someone with an iPhone (opt-in by default?) passing by her AirTag are higher than someone having a Samsung and being opt-in. Is it something logical?
Or I am just exaggerating and we are just talking about minimal chances (like the odds of a lightning strike while going to the supermarket ) and therefore the most logical thing is going for the same brand of her phone.

Thanks all in advance.

 

[iStorm]

There are videos on YouTube comparing AirTags with SmartTags. Maybe check some of those out to see how they perform. If I remember correctly, the SmartTags were just as good as the AirTags, if not better.

As for getting her an AirTag and pairing it with your account…keep in mind that it would be beeping all the time since it would be away from its owner (you). Does she happen to have an iPad and her own Apple ID to pair it to? If not, I would get the SmartTag beings she has a Samsung phone.

 

[edfoo]

For a Samsung phone user, definitely choose SmartTag over AirTag. A number of YouTube comparison videos have shown SmartTag has better tracking signal and louder sound.

 

[Nimbkoll]

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work if you’re fine with having your sister borrow your phone when she needs to find her keys. I -think- you can turn off separation alert for specific items so it doesn’t continuously tell you it’s left behind.

I -think- find my network is on by default, since I don’t remember specifically had to turn it on.

 

[Coffee50]

Based on reviews, Smart Tags seem to work quite well (and there's certainly appears to be a large enough network, even with having users opt in). The Smart Tags have been pretty popular (according to reports), which means a nice amount of users opting in.

 

[MrWillie]

Buy her a key hook, to hang her keys on when at home. Go through her keys with her and put any unnecessary keys on a separate key ring so she’s not carrying an excessive number of keys. You don’t need your gate key, shed key, lawn mower key, back door key, keys to out of state relatives homes on one key ring. Absolutely no reason for shed key while at the office.

Next, buy her a much smaller purse. Empty her current purse out (preferably over a trash can), have her repack her new purse leaving 9/10ths of the **** she is currently carrying out. (My wife would P&M about back and neck pain. Got her a smaller purse, pain gone.) Find a spot in her new purse and tell her that’s where the keys go when you are out and about.

Order and consistency is the key. Of course you could get her a new iPhone and toss the SameDung.