5 improvements Google’s AirTag alternatives still need before you can fully trust them

Google’s Find Hub network and AirTags alternative trackers have been out for almost two years now, and a lot has happened during that time. What started as a weak network with many bugs, inconsistencies and unreliability issues is now a more solid, widespread and reliable way to find your trackers – as well as your phones, buds or smartwatches – almost anywhere in the world.

However, Google’s network and trackers still lag behind competition from Apple, Samsung, and Tile in some key areas. I’ve been testing and comparing these trackers for quite some time now, so all their shortcomings have become very apparent. Here are six areas where Google should focus its efforts to make its network and trackers the best and most trustworthy.

Okay, look, I know this sounds obvious to you and me. But this is not clear to Google. Among some shocking mysteries that historians will still be talking about in 2080, Google’s Find Hub network doesn’t work if you’re in an area with a weak signal or are completely offline. You get a “Could not load device” error, and that’s it. While I understand this limitation for finding lost devices and trackers at a distance (duh), I don’t understand why the network doesn’t just turn to Bluetooth to detect nearby objects.

So, here we have a bunch of Bluetooth trackers that cannot be easily discovered over Bluetooth. Yes. You read it right. If your tracker is in the luggage hold of a train and you’re on an iffy connection, you can’t check if the bag is still there. If you lose an item while hiking in a remote area, you can’t retrace your steps and ping your tracker until you find it. If you have just arrived in a foreign country and do not have a compatible SIM yet and you want to check if your luggage is nearby, you will not be able to do so. Even at home, if you’re disconnected for a while, your wallet, keys, or other items can’t be found.

And in case you’re wondering, Apple, Tile, and Samsung have found a way to make their trackers discoverable offline over Bluetooth. This was inexcusable in 2024. This is a tragedy in 2026. Fix it, Google. Tomorrow.

Ultra-wideband is the technology that makes it possible to accurately locate nearby trackers. Instead of getting a simple indication that your tracker is nearby, you see the exact distance and direction in which it is, making it easier to locate a lost tracker in challenging situations, whether it’s between couch cushions or in a large bush. However, right now, only one tracker supports UWB on Google’s Find Hub – the Moto Tag. Others don’t.

As far as I understand, all other trackers are choosing to support both Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find Hub, and the UWB implementation between the two networks is not compatible. So they are choosing to abandon UWB in favor of a universal product that appeals to more people. However, Google can avoid this relatively easily.

Trackers like the Chipolo POP, Card, and Loop pack in Bluetooth 6.0 with channel sounding, which can potentially be used for more accurate distance measurement between the phone and the tag. Channel sounding can tell you how far away a tracker is with greater accuracy than current trackers, but it does not give directions. I think once you move a little and see the distance increasing or decreasing, you will be able to figure out the right direction to move forward. Either way, it’s better than nothing, and Google should already implement it in the Find Hub API. Trackers are here, Android 15 added support for Bluetooth 6.0, so the stars are aligned for it to fill the confusing UWB gap.

A reliable tracker won’t let you find an item once it’s lost; You want to prevent as much as possible from losing it in the first place. This is where something like left-back alert comes in handy. When your phone moves away from the tracker, you immediately get a notification reminding you to get it. It’s excellent for purses, keys, bags and backpacks and anyone with a tendency to be forgetful.

Apple, Samsung, and Tile all offer these notifications as part of their default experience. Even third-party trackers on Apple’s Find My can add it because it’s part of the API. However, not on Google’s Find Hub. It’s not part of the specification yet, so tracker makers have had to use their own apps to add the functionality. For example, Chipolo asks you to download your own app on top of Find Hub to get these left-behind alerts, which requires granting the app several permissions and allowing it to run in the background at all times.

The whole purpose of centralizing these trackers was to avoid unnecessary apps with extra permissions, but by leaving out this feature, Google is forcing us to go back to the old way of working. This should be an easy solution, and by adding it to the API, Google takes control of location data and battery usage through the Find Hub. Plus, all trackers across all brands benefit, not just those that have the resources to implement the feature.

When Find Hub first launched, Google missed a very important step in tracking items: your current location in relation to the lost or misplaced item. I spent several months wondering why I couldn’t see my own location and orient myself to where the tracker was on the map, but this has since been fixed.

However, there are still several other missing bits. I don’t like that the default Find Hub map doesn’t show the location of any items. I have to tap once on each device, accessory, or tracker, then go back to the main map for them to appear on the main map. This is a waste of time. Trackers and devices should be visible on the map from the start.

The second failing point of these trackers is that the only way to navigate to them is via a map, which – by design – takes its position at that particular moment and sticks to it. There’s no way to know if the tracker has moved in the meantime or to live-update the directions. The directions are stable. So if someone steals your bag and runs away, you’ll have to keep flicking between Maps and the Find Hub to get updated directions. To be fair, no other competitor has solved this puzzle yet, but if there’s one company that should be able to make the proper link between trackers and changing map locations, it should be Google.

In the same register as the left-behind alert, there is the additional functionality of using your tracker’s buttons to find and ring your phone. It just makes sense: you have two objects that are linked, so why can you only find one, but not the other way around? Imagine you lose your phone at home or drop it on an airplane – why can’t you make it ring?

Samsung and Tile already offer the function for their trackers, while Android-compatible brands like Chipolo, Pebblebee and Motorola once again had to resort to their own apps to implement it. To take advantage of this feature you will need to install another app and allow it to ring on your phone. Otherwise, no dice. Dear Google, it should be relatively easy to add this to the official Find Hub spec and API.

In my opinion, the last five features are essential to making Google’s Find Hub network and its trackers more reliable, more easily recommended, and on par with their competition in all features and capabilities. But there’s one additional thing I’d still love to see Google implement: Location History.

Samsung and Tile already do this. They let you view the tracker’s last 24 hours of activity so you can see where he or she has been, which can be helpful in tracking down any patterns or important information to recover a lost wallet, backpack or luggage. I understand there are privacy concerns over a feature like this, but anyone with nefarious intentions can already manually open the Find Hub every hour, and manually note its location. It’s not that Location History provides invisible information.

Also, I think Google should be able to implement this in a less problematic way. For example, it may be necessary to mark the tracker as lost before location tracking is enabled, or it may automatically delete any location history every time the tracker comes back within range of your device. This should limit abuse, and would be an excellent addition to Find Hub’s capabilities.

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