Tracking tags are a simple idea, but easy to get wrong. While the shortcomings of Google’s Find My Device network lie largely with Google, having the right hardware is just as important, and that’s where I feel Pebblebee’s Android trackers really shine. So far they are the best you can get.
Hardware
Pebblebee offers a trio of Android Find My Device trackers. There is a clip, card and label. Each has its own use case.
The Clip is the most generic of the three and also the cheapest at $29.99. The tracker has a circular design with a built-in hole. This hole can be used with a traditional key ring, but comes in a box with a carabiner-like clip. I used this to attach the clip to my backpack, where it has been firmly attached ever since. The Clip’s hardware also includes an LED light around the edge of the hardware to show battery and pairing status. There’s also a full-size USB-C port for charging the internal battery.
Next up is the Card, a tracker dedicated to living in your wallet that costs $34.99. The card is about the thickness of two or three credit cards and can easily fit into even the thinnest of wallets. I use a very small Peak Design Slim Wallet and the Pebblebee Card fits perfectly with my cards and documents already inside. The card, unlike the Clip, requires its own magnetic charger to top up the internal battery. This is inherently a bit more cumbersome, but it works well enough considering you only have to do it every year and a half (at least by Pebblebee’s estimation).
Finally, there’s Tag, which also costs $34.99. This is the smallest of the series and comes with an adhesive sticker and a rubber sleeve to help you attach it to different places. It seems ideal for something like a bike or other hard surface object, but the small size also makes it the most versatile of all. It’s equally good for tracking a large item or just slipping into a tiny little spot in your bag. Like the card, it requires a charger, but the charging cables are interchangeable if you buy both devices.
Establish
Setting up the Pebblebee tracker for the Find My Device network is dead simple and can be done entirely through your Android phone without the need to install any new apps. After unpacking, you will receive a QR code that leads to a web application with easy-to-understand instructions. But even if you skip it, it’s pretty simple.
Each of the trackers has a button under the logo that activates the pairing mode. I’ve found that a slow double tap is the most reliable way to trigger a quick pairing on my phone. I also found them to connect much faster than the Chipolo trackers I had set up before.
After the Fast Pair UI appears on your phone, setup is as simple as linking it to your Google account, then diving into each tracker in the Find My Device app and setting the item name and type. Everything is super easy.
How well does it actually work?
But the big question, of course, is how well it all actually works.
It’s a mixed bag.
Here’s the good news. Pebblebee, I feel, has the best Find My Device hardware available for the Android network today. In my experience, Pebblebee trackers are more reliable compared to Chipolo’s options. If they are nearby, they will connect within seconds and usually succeed in establishing a connection 90% of the time. So, simply put, it works.
But the downfall here is the Find My Device network itself. The network is not yet fully deployed and only works (by default) in “high traffic” areas. That said, it just won’t work in a house in the suburbs. So, hypothetically, if I leave the tracker in a bag in a friend’s car and they’re not using an Android phone, it’s unlikely to be found unless they happen to be driving through a busy part of town. I strongly feel that Google made a mistake by making this the default setting, even though it offers better privacy overall.
The second disadvantage is the polling rate, where the network seems to be struggling to find nearby trackers. On a trip to Paris, where the network is even less widespread than in the States, I noticed that the tracker in my hotel room (right by the door) didn’t update once while I was gone all day. I’m hoping to learn more about how these trackers update as I travel around the States in the coming weeks, but so far I’m not very impressed with how often the trackers actually update their location.
This also applies only at home. One of the things that really excited me about Find My Device was that Google said it would leverage Nest devices and be able to tell you how close your device is to a specific speaker or smart display in your home. This is totally cool and would be super useful for finding your keys or wallet, but it doesn’t work nearly as well as I’d hoped. Some devices will tell me they’re “near Office Nest Hub” but others will just tell me they’re “near home” which, to be honest, is useless information. Even if they give me a specific device, it’s often not the one they have closest to (although it’s true that I definitely have more Nest devices in my home than the average user).
There is also a lack of ZCU, a necessary talking point. UWB (ultra-wideband) allows you to locate the Apple AirTag with precise directions from a nearby iPhone. Samsung offers the same with its Galaxy SmartTag 2. But Pebblebee doesn’t. The Find My Device app uses Bluetooth to give you a rough estimate, but it’s much more cumbersome and relies on multiple guesses to help you find the tracker. Is he a businessman? Absolutely not, especially when I see it many Android phones don’t even have the necessary hardware. But I can’t help but wish that Pebblebee would offer this in a future version of their trackers. So far, it looks like Motorola will be the first to offer this functionality.
The bones of a good tracker are in the Find My Device network, and the Pebblebee hardware seems up to the challenge, but actual use was disappointing.
Final thoughts…for now
I’ve been waiting a year in impatient anticipation for AirTag-like trackers to come to Android. Discovering the Google Find My Device network was exciting and I was so ready to start using trackers.
But now that they have arrived, they are simply incapable.
As my colleague Damien explained in his review of Chipolo trackers, the current state of these trackers on Android is “pathetic”. However, I don’t think this is the fault of the hitchhikers themselves. Especially in the case of Pebblebee’s capabilities, which seem solid on a hardware level, it’s really just a matter of the shortcomings of the Find My Device network and how it’s implemented in Android.
And it seems that Google is willing to admit that things are not as they should be. The company says improvements are on the way and admits that the default “high traffic” setting just doesn’t work in most cases. I don’t see this default changing any time soon, what would a return to this privacy decision look like far worse than if Google made it everywhere to begin with.
So with that in mind, this is not the final verdict. I think it’s too early to call because even with Google’s built-in flaws, the network isn’t fully available yet. We will continue to test these trackers in the coming months as they go online worldwide.
But for now, I think Pebblebee has the strongest offering. Between better connectivity, rechargeable batteries, and the hardware itself, it’s the best option available today. And it’s a shame that Google is holding it back from its true capabilities.
Where to buy Pebblebee’s Android trackers
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