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Samsung announces Galaxy SmartTag, the tracker for all your valuable items

Updated: Jan 14, 2021, 1:02 PM

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In the shadow of the announcements for the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S21 and S21+ and that of the new Galaxy Buds Pro coming out, Samsung also released another new product: Galaxy SmartTag. Yes, far less exciting than the rest, but it deserves a bit of attention as well. And that’s what we’re here to do!

So, what’s the Galaxy SmartTag? Well, in short, it’s a small battery-powered Bluetooth tracking device. It’s meant to be attached to various items you might lose, so you can easily find them when needed. It has a durable plastic body and a hole you can use to put it on your key-chain or attach it to anything you want to track.

How does the Galaxy SmartTag work?

The main technology behind the SmartTag is Bluetooth LE (Low Energy). But it's not just something you can force to make a sound when it’s in the Bluetooth range of your phone. The “smart” part of the SmartTag is that it can use any nearby Galaxy device to give you the tag's approximate location.

The way this works is through Samsung’s SmartThings Find app. You add the SmartTag through the app and once it’s associated with your account you can trigger a lost alert from your phone. Then, if the Bluetooth signal sent from the SmartTag is picked up by a stranger’s Galaxy phone, for example, let’s say someone walks by the bushes where your keys dropped out of your pocket, you’ll get a notification showing you the area where the SmartTag signal was picked up. The signal is encrypted, so you don’t have to worry about personal information being leaked.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be a stranger’s phone, if you retrace your steps, your own smartphone will be able to pick up the signal and notify you. Once you’re close enough, you can make the SmartTag emit a sound so you can manually locate it.

SmartTags can do more than you think

SmartTags work both ways. Each tag has a button on it which you can press twice to make your phone ring. So, if you tend to misplace your phone, you can have a SmartTag near your desk or bed and use it to find your phone instead of asking someone to call your number. Why press twice? Because a single press of the button can be customized for a number of SmartThings functions.

For example, If you have a smart lightbulb, you can program the SmartTag to turn it on. So, if you have a SmartTag on your car keys, you can turn on the driveway light as you get out of the car. With the influx of smart gadgets and smart appliances, the customization options will only grow.

With Smart Tags Samsung beats Apple to the punch. Cupertino is rumored to be working on a very similar device, known around the rumor mill as AirTag. The functionality of AirTags is expected to be quite similar to what we’ve described already but the signal going through Apple devices and the Find My app.

Of course, both Samsung and Apple’s devices are inspired by the popular Tile tracker. The problem with Tile is that it doesn’t have the massive hardware ecosystem Apple and Samsung do. With Tile, for remote tracking, you can rely only on other people that have the Tile app installed on their phones. Obviously, those are far fewer than iPhone or Galaxy owners, making it much less likely for you to find your lost device.

As you probably already know, if you’ve visited our Galaxy S21 announcement article, Samsung is giving one SmartTag free with every Galaxy S21 preorder. If you’re planning to upgrade to Samsung’s latest and greatest, you’ll have the opportunity to test out this new smart gadget for yourself.

If not, you can always buy it separately for $29.99 a piece. Samsung also mentioned an upcoming SmarTag+ that will use Ultra-wideband technology for more precise tracking, allowing you to look for your lost item using augmented reality. Those will be available later this year and cost $49.99.

Galaxy SmartTags are nothing amazing at first glance, but if you find even one lost item thanks to them, you’ll be grateful they exist. We know some of you are already seeing the potential for quality-of-life improvement.