Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Tile was acquired by Life360 again in 2021.
- Thus far, the Life360 app has supported Tile monitoring, however not full system setup.
- Life360 has now up to date its app with full Tile assist, elevating questions on how lengthy the previous Tile app will stick round.
Bluetooth trackers are a kind of improbable trendy conveniences whose worth chances are you’ll by no means correctly recognize till you invite them into your life — after which rapidly end up unwilling to go with out them ever once more. Trackers are getting even higher on Android with rising UWB assist, however in terms of the basic strategy, there are few manufacturers higher recognized than Tile. Its trackers have been round for over a decade, however just a few years again we discovered a couple of controversial acquisition that was within the works, as oft-maligned household monitoring app Life360 purchased up Tile. Whereas the connection between the 2 has thus far allowed for slightly respiratory room, it’s beginning to really feel like that’s lastly altering.
Immediately, Life360 shares that Tile trackers are actually absolutely supported throughout the Life360 app. You’ve already been capable of observe Tile {hardware} in Life360, however the Tile app itself was nonetheless required for vital setup and configuration steps. Going ahead, that’s now not mandatory, and house owners can take full benefit of Tile gadgets with no need something however the Life360 app.
Should you’re already a Life360 fan, that is excellent news, however the app has greater than its fair proportion of detractors. Past simply disgruntled customers strong-armed by their households into sharing private location knowledge within the identify of “security,” Life360 has confronted some well-deserved criticism for its insurance policies concerning promoting consumer knowledge for revenue.
Proper now, even following the Life360 app’s absorption of all performance wanted to assist Tile trackers, you continue to have the choice to simply stick to the previous Tile app. However with Life360 utilizing language like “One App to Monitor It All” and “No extra switching forwards and backwards” in its announcement of immediately’s information, you’d forgive us for feeling slightly paranoid that the corporate is leaning more and more on its main app, in what might very quickly be to the Tile app’s detriment.
