Tag: Trackers

A Bluetooth tracker speeds up the process of finding lost keys, wallets, remote controls and other things. When you hit the ‘find’ button in the app on your phone, the tracker will emit a high-pitched tune that you can use to locate it, along with the keys attached to it.

As long as you’re within Bluetooth range of the tracker – which is up to around 400ft (120m) with some of them – your phone will connect to it and allow you to make it ring.

In reality, the signal is affected by obstacles such as walls, and your ability to hear the speaker beeping, which means you often need to be much closer than the distance manufacturers quote.

But for those people not disciplined enough to put their house or car keys in the same place, being able to find them when you have no time to look and need to be out the door, a Bluetooth tracker really is a huge time-saver. You just launch an app on your phone, tap on the item you’ve lost and listen out for it ringing. Some even work with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri so you can just ask them to ring your item.

Just remember that that a Bluetooth tracker is not a GPS tracker, so you can’t see its location on a map. Vodafone’s Curve, though, has GPS as well as Bluetooth, so is a better choice for those in the UK wanting to pop a tracker on their cat, dog, horse or any other animal that might roam far away. (They’re not intended to be used for tracking your kids, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t.)

To get around the limited Bluetooth range, most tracker apps will anonymously connect to any compatible tracker and report its location.