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I found it but couldn’t see any option to turn off or opt out of finding AirTags. It seems to be a find everything or find nothing option. I can’t say I’m surprised. Apple insist I opt in or opt out of ad tracking for every single app but are quite happy for Apple to track me without any way of refining it. As always with Apple it’s do as I say not as I do.
You can turn off Apple ad tracking in settings. You have been able to do this for years and years before the release - just the other day - of 3rd party app tracking blocking.
 
every business has it's own set of costs to implement and startup so this question is basically un-answerable.

for many, especially large scale nation wide roll-outs, they often are in the red for years in order to pay back the costs in order to startup.

so yeah, it's really not that simple. and 30% is a lot of potential revenue to leave on the table.
We’re not talking about “every business” though. We’re talking about an App on the Apple AppStore as that’s where the 30% you’re talking about applies. Another tip for you, the MAJORITY of companies in business, i.e. making a profit and thriving on the AppStore are making LESS than $1,000,000. Let’s say they are ALL making $999,999. 15% of that isssss - $149,999.85. SO, that says that the majority of companies making a profit on the Apple store are doing so from $149,999.85 revenue or very likely much less! However, you would like me to believe that a company on the SAME AppStore would NOT be able to run their business or make a profit from $750,000. As that idea runs counter to real world examples, as I said, we’ll just have to disagree.
 
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They will have to pay %, it's just another Apple Mafia approach.
I hope the court sees this...
How do. What is wrong with these something for nothing people. We true Apple supporters have paid for the advancements by allowing Apple to make a real profit on what they sell. 35% Gross margin is not a lot. Clothing, furniture and many other markets make 300 to 400% profit and no one cares.

Apple goes into markets like phones and even music where everyone is making nothing, create a better product and experience that allows them to make their minimum margins to even do it. Then share that success with millions of developers by giving them the opportunity to use the APIs and tools to partner with the what is now the largest company in the world.

The Mofia is the companies like Tile who gets greedy and want to cut the people who who made it possible in the first place.
 
that's nonsense

There are fundamental issues with a business who cannot afford to lose 30% of their revenues? did you seriously think this out before typing?

DO I need to go over business 101? I am not planning on typing out basic business all day.

Most businesses in this world do not operate at the absurd profit margins that big tech does. Nor even Apple itself.

The whole very reason why Apple doesn't have so many competitors in most of it's market space, and able to afford such massive profit margins is because of it's heavily vertically integrated monopolistic locked in business practices.

There are benefits to us for this. I am not a hater who doesn't see some of the bonuses of the integration and security they have.

But to believe that Apple forcing 30% of all revenues from companies just to be allowed to sell on the app store isn't going to seriously harm competition is delusional. Virtually any business who isn't in Apple's position will be hurt by 30%.

I'm also not going to support "0". There's fees and it should be acceptable. However, there are legit questions about the ethicalness of Apple participating in the market, while also controlling and dictating that market.


We like making anologies. so here's a loose one.

THink of Apple as the regulatory body of the government over the economy. They can pick and chose what businesses are allowed to exist. every business must pay 30% of all revenues in tax to them.

that regulatory body than comes and sets up competition to you. but it doesn't have to pay 30% tax.

if you don't see why that's ethically questionable, than i'm done.
You don’t run a business do you?

You talk about business 101 in your patronising and arrogant manner, but yet literally rule one in any business is covering your costs.

I do. Apple does. You would. It’s annoying to have to spend money but to make money it’s essential. The 30% is irrelevant if you factor it in with your costs.
 
May I suggest to you a can on a string?
iu
ONLY IF I CAN GET THE CANS FOR FREE! OH, AND THEN I WANT THE STRING FOR FREE! AND THEN I’LL WANT YOU TO CONNECT THE STRING TO THE CANS FOR ME FOR FREE!
 
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Ok, I have to ask--anyone who is defending Tile on even one iota of this nonsense, did you actually own or otherwise use Tile at all?

I used Tile for several years, and often enough, it was a bag of annoyance and hurt. The Tile app had to run constantly in the background (hello battery!) and often lost connection to the tiles. Their last iteration decided to constantly display a pop-up to sign up for their annual exchange program. I gave up and finally deleted the app, never replaced the tiles.

Anecdotally, I contacted their customer service several times for connection issues but they quickly defaulted to blaming Apple for everything wrong with their app.

I just got my AirTags and all of them respond without an issue, and never lose connection; it works, works well, and I don't have to think about "if" it's going to work when I use it.

Originally, Tile was a great idea with incredibly flawed execution, crippled by buggy software. Frankly, Tile had their opportunity to make quality software and hardware but failed miserably at it; they decided to spend money on marketing instead of making quality product.
 
We’re not talking about “every business” though. We’re talking about an App on the Apple AppStore as that’s where the 30% you’re talking about applies. Another tip for you, the MAJORITY of companies in business, i.e. making a profit and thriving on the AppStore are making LESS than $1,000,000. Let’s say they are ALL making $999,999. 15% of that isssss - $149,999.85. SO, that says that the majority of companies making a profit on the Apple store are doing so from $149,999.85 revenueor very likely much less! However, you would like me to believe that a company on the SAME AppStore would NOT be able to run their business or make a profit from $750,000. As that idea runs counter to real world examples, as I said, we’ll just have to disagree.
These are businesses that would not exist if Apple did not provide the opportunity. The reason these leaches are focused on Apple is developers actually make money on Apple’s platform and much less on Android. They fail to understand that it’s the constant development of new features and tools that they create for themselves market aggressively to sell their platform to consumers then give access to developers to expand on what they have built, that makes it a success. Apple will not put their survival in the hands of 3rd parties again as like current events shows, they can not be trusted.
 
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sounds like they dont like competition when its not in their favor. or they desperately wanted to be bought by Apple and instead, Apple made their own product.
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. Tile's only exit strategy was to get bought. Fact is, their product is so bad neither Apple nor Samsung were willing to consider an offer to acquire. I haven't hear Tile whining about losing the Android (Samsung) market.
 
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I think we're witnessing the "iPodization" of Bluetooth trackers.

MP3 players existed before Apple made the iPod. We all know that story.

But what Apple brought to the table was a slick product, that could hold an enormous amount of songs (at the time), and software that made it easy to use. (Rip, Mix, Burn)

And eventually they created their own music store that literally changed the entire music industry.

So here we are today. Bluetooth trackers already exist... notably Tile who has been around for 8 years. There is also TrackR, and maybe some others.

Then Apple comes in and offers a solution that few other companies can offer... products that integrate well with iOS devices and a network of over a billion of those devices. It looks like they built a helluva product and service.

Perhaps "AirTag" will become synonymous with "Bluetooth tracker" the same way "iPod" became synonymous with "any MP3 player"

And like how those Microsoft Surface tablets kept being called "iPads" on the NFL... :p
 
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I have not used it personally, but if Tile works on all platforms and allows sharing seems to me like its the better product. I don't mind Apple's closed system so much since they are always the niche and the smaller market share, so no they do not control humanity's life like Windows or MasterCard/Visa
 
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Ok, I have to ask--anyone who is defending Tile on even one iota of this nonsense, did you actually own or otherwise use Tile at all?

I used Tile for several years, and often enough, it was a bag of annoyance and hurt. The Tile app had to run constantly in the background (hello battery!) and often lost connection to the tiles. Their last iteration decided to constantly display a pop-up to sign up for their annual exchange program. I gave up and finally deleted the app, never replaced the tiles.

Anecdotally, I contacted their customer service several times for connection issues but they quickly defaulted to blaming Apple for everything wrong with their app.

I just got my AirTags and all of them respond without an issue, and never lose connection; it works, works well, and I don't have to think about "if" it's going to work when I use it.

Originally, Tile was a great idea with incredibly flawed execution, crippled by buggy software. Frankly, Tile had their opportunity to make quality software and hardware but failed miserably at it; they decided to spend money on marketing instead of making quality product.
This is likely why Apple created their tags to begin with. Considering they already had the find my network it made sense. This may be why they stopped carrying Tile too. If Tile was poorly built and designed and their support staff was sending complaints to Apple, why not just build you own. Problem solved. It would be awesome if that came out in one of these cases.
 
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Ok, I have to ask--anyone who is defending Tile on even one iota of this nonsense, did you actually own or otherwise use Tile at all?

I used Tile for several years, and often enough, it was a bag of annoyance and hurt. The Tile app had to run constantly in the background (hello battery!) and often lost connection to the tiles. Their last iteration decided to constantly display a pop-up to sign up for their annual exchange program. I gave up and finally deleted the app, never replaced the tiles.

Anecdotally, I contacted their customer service several times for connection issues but they quickly defaulted to blaming Apple for everything wrong with their app.

I just got my AirTags and all of them respond without an issue, and never lose connection; it works, works well, and I don't have to think about "if" it's going to work when I use it.

Originally, Tile was a great idea with incredibly flawed execution, crippled by buggy software. Frankly, Tile had their opportunity to make quality software and hardware but failed miserably at it; they decided to spend money on marketing instead of making quality product.
I too got one when they where on Kickstarter. The think lasted a few month or so and I couldn’t replace the battery so I was like eh not worth it. Then they made ones with a replaceable battery so I bought a pack. They really only worked for me when both were right next to each other. When I got them one didn’t work at all. I contacted customer service and they basically told me too bad.
 
The better one IMO is the one that actually works. And in my experience tile doesn’t.
 
Given that approach nobody would or should invent any accessory for Apple devices because ultimately Apple will put them out of business.
If your product cannot be patented, and you cannot offer features (like cross-platform functionality, licensed designs, variety or lower price), that the first party cannot or will not offer, then one risks being displaced. That is true for companies that create products that are not dependent on Apple, just as much. As an example, Clubhouse was first, but Discord’s “Stage” is basically a direct competitor and is very likely to be overwhelmed. However, the alternative is to attempt to build a completely standalone device or service and that is even harder for most people.
 
It doesn’t even use your information what would the say? Do you give Apple permission to not use your information to help others. It doesn’t cost anyone anything

Well your location IS information. Perhaps there's something in there about your Bluetooth signal and location info being used anonymously to update the location of lost items on the Find My network. I'm sure Apple's lawyers have it covered, if it needs to be.
 
Sure. But that should still be a users choice whether to risk themselves or not. Not Apples. They can bury it in the menues and give numerous popups warning about the risk all they want. That's fine. WHERE I think its too much is the outright refusal to allow the 3rd parties. Which in my mind indicates that they are likely more driven by monetary decision making than outright security.


Let them do whatever with Android. but the fear is that if Tile no longer can compete in iOS they walk away and only are available on Android. Resulting in ONLY Airtags available for IOS devices. this is a lack of competition and Apple historically when they haven't had competition, min/maxes at the users expense.


I am one of those who will switch platforms depending on featuresets. if Apple can no longer deliver the competing products, apps and development space that is in Android, I'll switch for the next generation. Heck, I'm only back in Apple land after numerous Android devices. I will switch back if Apple can't deliver.


Apple's lucky that Google, Facebook and the like aren't directly teaming up. we already have seen Netflix and Amazon outright reject the App store model and refuse to do in-store purchasing because of the Apple cut and controls. Epic is just another company falling behind that. for now, the iOS ecosystem is still bringing in enough money. but what if that changes? It'll end up similar to Apple Home kit which quite frankly, sucks compared to the comptition, has few developers, which ended up in a massively reduced availabillity of features. that's not the direction i Think anyone of us should want with iOS as well.

we're starting to see the App store walls crack because companies are getting tired of giving 30% of all revenues to Apple.
Apple is a business and they want to make as much money as possible, their investors demand it. I'm sure that the decisions they make are a mix of both financial and security benefits.

At the end of the day users will decide what happens to a platform. For most users, the direction Apple takes is the right choice for the majority of users. Many people on these forums forget that the average user cares very little about many of the issues brought up here, like this one. If Apple makes a better product they won't care that Tile is gone.

They want as seamless as an experience as possible so they can carry on the tasks they really care about and Apple does that better than anyone else.

I use Apple products when I want a seamless experience and I play with Android and Windows when I want to tinker.
 
I have not used it personally, but if Tile works on all platforms and allows sharing seems to me like its the better product. I don't mind Apple's closed system so much since they are always the niche and the smaller market share, so no they do not control humanity's life like Windows or MasterCard/Visa

That's probably the only good news for Tile... AirTags don't work on Android. :p

So perhaps Tile should put less reliance on iOS and start focusing on making the best trackers for Android.

Though after reading all the negative comments from Tile users in this thread... it doesn't sound like Tile works very hard on making great products.

I wonder... if I could snap my fingers today and make AirTags nonexistent... what would Tile do tomorrow?
 
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I've had multiple Tiles through the years, because they were the only usable choice, but barely so. I live in a region with ~ 200,000 people, and the Tile app usually says 50 - 60 people in the network nearby.

My first ones I had to replace about every year, due to not being able to replace batteries, looking at how many of these they have sold, this would be a sizeable amount of ewaste.

I have three Tile Pros from 2018 with replaceable batteries, the app have never given me a notification if the batteries are about to run out. Battery status have also been very inaccurate for me, the app says battery level is high, and the Tile are nearby (next to me, batteries were recently replaced with brand new ones), yet they have multiple times not given any sound when prompting them to do so. Only when I yet another time replaced batteries, they would give location sounds.

If they work on improving their products, app and general reliability, I would likely get new Tiles, but I am tired of the poor experience I have had with them for years.

I believe Apple making AirTag can make such trackers more mainstream, also increasing sales for Chipolo, Tile, and the general competition, if they play their cards right (threatning with lawsuits, etc, over improving their products, won't put them in a better place, when not improving their own products).
 
I really beg to differ. I really don’t think tile was good before Apple. I really don’t think they’ve ever made a good product.

honestly I feel the same about intel. Only their super high end stuff was really any good. And I wouldn’t say it was worth the price.

Epic is their own problem. I think their game has really slipped since their fight with Apple updates just seemed recycled. Plus there business model is to take money from children to make money
Agree. I really loved the Tile idea when I first heard of it, but never bought in because I wasn't sure of the robustness of the network. Then I bought a few for a trip to Hawaii. I think I was able to see the location of a bag once in an airport that missed a connection. So, OK, but not very confidence building to use it in case a bag really got lost. Then the Tile app was constantly draining my battery. I just re-downloaded the app and see that two/three batteries are dead were last "seen" 683 days ago.

Very happy to finally get AirTags.
 
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This crowd you speak of seems to have grown stronger over the last few years. Of course, it is hard to know who is behind the keyboard of these comments but I'd suspect they might be inexperienced at seeing the bigger picture. Apple is great - at the same time, pretty much all they do is to lock users in tighter and tighter. Either play by their rules or don't... and get lost. There is no grey space and no arbitration process via some independent institution like in the case of Tile and the FindMy network exclusivity. This is why the anticompetitive hearings currently going on are somewhat important towards determining the near-term direction of the industry. Microsoft, and then Google, got hammered earlier on and perhaps it is now Apple's turn. Power is great as it can shape industries for the better but it can also discourage innovation from smaller startups due to the enormous moats built out by the incumbents over many years. The Apple sweethearts/sycophants seem to believe that the only place from whence innovative ideas can spring forth is 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino. If anything, this crowd is just repeating monopolistic capitalist apologia. Again, I am a huge fan of the company's progress and products but at some point, overwhelming power is overwhelming. In an ironic way, perhaps the voices saying 'Apple took the risks and now has the right to take their reward' should switch to calling for the reduction of the company's power in order to allow the next behemoth to take over. After all, new standards and products mean all new ecosystems to buy into! Just think of how great that will be for the economy... :rolleyes:
That’s where the non Apple people like yourself get lost in the details. The FindMy network is not exclusive it is open to 3rd parties. The 3rd party Ultrawide is in development. It cannot be used simultaneously with another network as that would make it completely insecure and create device conflicts as well.

We “Apple sweethearts/sycophants” trust the direction and choices they make and vote for them with our dollars. We have done so consistently from the days when they were almost dead. Through the ridicule of every product release as a clear failure to today when those same claims are just to manipulate their stock price to profit of them.

Apple still only represents a 1/3 of users worldwide so there should be twice as much opportunity on Android, but yet here we are with companies and haters fixated forcing Apple to be Android, but then do so for free.

It is their store which these same people made fun of. The truth is Apple is a Business and if laws make it to where the App Store is no longer profitable enough, it will become a hobby for a while and then die on the vine because the resources they are reinvesting now come from its profits. Once it becomes a drain those resources with be focused on something they can control. That effects the users and the developers. They have no fear in killing popular but unprofitable products. Think Newton.
 
I have not used it personally, but if Tile works on all platforms and allows sharing seems to me like its the better product. I don't mind Apple's closed system so much since they are always the niche and the smaller market share, so no they do not control humanity's life like Windows or MasterCard/Visa
Control humanity?! Open your eyes and look at the rest of the world! Most of humanity is in dire straits- they’re definitely not worried about bloody windows or credit cards.

I’m not one of ‘those’ people normally but come on. Choose your words better.
 
Tile and Spotify are the ones sounding anti competitive. They had years to get ahead of others and as soon as someone else comes in. Let's go complain to the governments. I mean why is Tile not chasing Samsung. Spotify keeps bragging about it's subscriber numbers but talks like it is the underdog and up and comer. Give me a break. I have an idea do better and stop wasting the governments time.
 
Am I too late to build a flashlight app?

Nothing new. Competition is competition. Products win. Products lose.
Apple has made multiple products, late to market, that are better than the competition.
Apple has made multiple products, late to market, that pretty much failed.

Good option:
Make a new Tile that beats AirTag in a few ways, hole for attachment + replaceable battery + find me capable ... below Apple's price point ... and you may be competitive.

Bad option:
Jump on the Apple is bad wagon, ... where you must start a lawsuit, engage congress, ...
People will just stop supporting you even faster.
 
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