9 best key finders and GPS trackers to help you find your stuff

The Tile pro is the company’s most premium item tracker and is a superb choice, no matter if you’re an Android user or an iOS user. With the 2022 refresh, it’s only got better. It no longer has that squared-off design, ditching it in favour of a sleeker, car key-like-fob shape. It still features a metal keyring hole, which has been moved to the centre for easier attachment to your keys, so it now lies flush instead of sticking out at an angle. It’s also super simple to set up, using the Tile app. 

It has the longest range of all the trackers in this list – able to ping your item up to 122m away, and it also happens to be one of the loudest key finders we’ve tested. We could hear this little guy pinging from the other side of the house. It’s a little heftier than some other key finders, but if that’s because it has to accommodate a louder speaker, we don’t mind too much. It’s also IP67 waterproof, so, if you accidentally drop your keys into a pool, your Tile will survive. Sadly, there’s no ultra-wideband tech inside the Tile pro, so you won’t get any precision finding, like with the AirTag.

Like every other Tile, it works two ways. Lost your keys? Ping the Tile from the app on your phone or ask the Google Assistant. Lost your phone but got your keys? Double press the button on the side of the Tile pro and your phone will start ringing, if it’s in range.

If your keys are out of range and lost, simply open the app and set it to notify you when a Tile user comes into contact with your item. The Tile pro also has a QR code stamped onto the back of it, so, if someone finds your Tile, they can just scan the code and bring up your contact details.

Tile has an optional premium subscription for £29.99 a year or £2.99 a month. You get access to smart alerts (so you’re notified if you leave your item behind) and free battery replacements.

Read the full Tile pro review

Although Eufy is best known for its robot vacuum cleaners and home security cameras, last year, the Anker sub-brand launched its own key finder to rival Tile, Apple and Chipolo.

The Eufy SmartTrack link is a tiny square-shaped key finder, much like the Tile mate, but it has a grippier design as well as a QR code if it’s ever lost. It’s powered by a removable CR2032 coin battery and is rated to last a year before needing to be replaced.

While it’s quick and easy to connect to the Eufy security app and ping your keys or set up smart alerts whenever you leave your things behind, the big selling point is it works with Apple’s Find My app, so it can enlist an entire network of iPhones to help you find your things.

Even if you’re not an iPhone user, the link also works with Android devices, via the Eufy app, despite the company saying it is iOS only. That makes it better than the Chipolo one spot, which really only works with Apple devices. It’s loud, has a long 80m Bluetooth range, is water-resistant and, costing less than £15, it’s also one of the cheapest key finders on the market.

The AirTag is a quintessentially Apple product. It’s a tiny 32mm badge-sized stainless steel disc that sits inside a white case. On the top is an Apple logo, and you can personalise the rear with an emoji or your initials. It’s nice and small and pretty unobtrusive when attached to your things, although, the metal does scratch pretty easily.

Annoyingly, there’s no keyring hole on the AirTag, so you do have to shell out for an AirTag accessory, which can bump up the price considerably. But, as an item tracker, it really shines when it comes to physically locating your stuff, thanks to its use of ultra-wideband technology.

UWB is more precise than Bluetooth, so you get extremely accurate turn-by-turn directions to your device, which takes place in an augmented reality environment. It doesn’t have the loudest of speakers, and we were slightly frustrated that it only chirps three times before we had to ping it again, but the UWB augmented-reality experience does help in that regard.

When your item is lost and out of range, other nearby Apple devices will begin pinging it, giving you constant updates on its location. This is one huge advantage over its competitors, considering the sheer number of Apple devices in the world. There’s also a nifty NFC (near-field communication) feature, so if a good Samaritan comes across your lost item and taps their phone against your AirTag, they will be able to see your contact details.

AirTags also have “left-behind” alerts, so you can receive notifications if you leave the pub while your keys are still on the table.

Read the full Apple AirTag review

The Chipolo one spot does away with most of the Apple AirTag’s design annoyances, working with the Find My app.

Like the AirTag, it has access to Apple’s entire ecosystem of devices, so if your lost item comes into contact with an Apple device, you’ll be pinged, making the Chipolo tracker – with its smaller user base – much more useful.

The speaker is also considerably louder than that of its Apple rival, and while the one spot doesn’t have the neat, augmented-reality, precision-finding feature found on the AirTag, it does have a keyring hole, so you don’t have to go out and buy accessories. It works the same way as the AirTag – you can ping it from the Find My app and track it from the map. Sadly, it’s only water-resistant, so it’s unlikely to survive a dip in the pool, but it does have the same one-year battery life. Be warned, though, that the battery is a little harder to take out than the AirTag’s.

It doesn’t look as nice as the AirTag, either, but it is more rugged and doesn’t scratch as easily. Overall, it’s a superb alternative to the Apple device. One spot won’t work with the Chipolo app, however, so if you’re an Android user or want a key finder that will work with both Apple and Android devices, have a look at the standard Chipolo one tracker below.

Read the full Chipolo one spot review

The Tile mate is the company’s most popular key finder, and that’s really because it’s the most affordable one out of the four options.

It bears that same squared-off design as all the previous models, with the handy keyring hole in the corner, although it’s slightly thicker. It also has a QR code imprinted onto the back, so people can scan it and help get it back to you if they stumble upon your item – a worthy compromise for the lack of NFC integration. On the other side of the key finder, you’ll find that nifty reverse finding button, which enables you to ring your phone if you can’t find it in your house – a feature that works wonderfully.

The range of the mate has also been improved. You can detect it up to 76m away from the tracker – that’s 15m more than the previous version. While the speaker still isn’t as loud as the pro, it was louder than the AirTag, so it’s enough for us to be able to hear it from the other side of a room. If you just want a basic key finder that won’t break the bank, this is the tracker for you. Sadly, the current-generation mate no longer has a removable battery, so, you’ll have to replace the whole thing after three years, but it does features an IP67 waterproof rating.

Read the full Tile mate review

Before the Chipolo one spot came out, there was the Chipolo one. It looks exactly like the spot, complete with the nifty keyring hole and the circular disc shape, but it comes in a whole range of bright, fun colours, instead of just boring black. It’s also extremely loud, so you’ll be able to hear the Chipolo one chirping from a distance, at a range of up to 60m. It also has that same reverse finding integration found on the Tile. Two clicks will have your phone beeping constantly until you open up the Chipolo app to turn it off.  

Unlike Tile, which requires you to purchase a subscription if you want to receive “left behind” alerts, which – as the name suggests – alert you if you leave an item behind and out of range, Chipolo offers this service for free. It also offers up a few neat gimmicks, such as a selfie snapper – open up the camera in the Chipolo app and double click the button on your key finder to snap a picture without having to tap on your phone.

There is also a more expensive Chipolo one model, called the ocean edition (£29, Amazon.co.uk). It’s exactly the same as the cheaper device, but it’s made out of recycled plastic, recovered from the ocean. If you buy this model, Chipolo will donate $1 to Oceanic Global, a non-profit organisation aimed at cleaning up plastic waste from our oceans.  

The Tile slim is the ideal item tracker for wallets, luggage tags and notebooks. It’s about the same size as a credit card but made out of tough plastic and double the thickness, making it perfect for any narrow spaces. Just like the Tile mate, it has a Bluetooth range of 72m, and it sounds even louder than the older model – we were able to hear it when our wallet was buried in a pile of cushions. There is also a reverse finding button, so you can ping your phone if you lose it somewhere in the house.

Just like the Tile mate and Tile pro, the Tile slim has a QR code embedded into its surface, so if any kind soul stumbles upon your wallet, a scan of the code will bring up your contact details if it’s been put into lost mode. Of course, if no one actually finds it, Tile’s network will be put to work, and you’ll get alerted whenever the location updates. It also now has an IP67 rating, so it can survive some time in water. The battery isn’t replaceable, so, once the slim dies, you’ll have to buy a new one, but it’s rated to last a good three years – you’ll get a notification when it’s nearing the end of its life.

As with all Tile products, if you subscribe to Tile premium for £29.99 a year or £2.99 a month, you’ll also get smart alerts, which ping you if you leave home, or anywhere else, without your wallet.  

Ever lost your TV remote down the side of the sofa, then found yourself spending precious minutes with your hand down each crevice, only to realise it was underneath the dining table all along? If this sounds familiar, the Tile sticker is the item tracker for you.

It’s an itty bitty tracker with an adhesive backing that attaches to the surface of any object. It’s particularly good for items without holes – TV remotes, laptops and bikes are ideal candidates. The adhesive is super easy to apply to your things as well, only taking a few hours before it felt secure enough for us to fiddle with.

Being so small, you might not expect the range to extend very far, but Tile has managed to bump it up to 76m – putting it in line with the Tile mate and Tile slim. There’s no QR code on the Tile sticker – it’s really just too dainty for one, but it’s IP67 waterproof, so it will survive a dip in the sink (and pool if you take your remotes there).

It works like any other Tile product, meaning that, yes, despite its size, there’s still a reverse finding button on the side for you to ring your phone if you’ve somehow got your TV remote but have lost your mobile. It’s one of our absolute favourite item trackers.

Escape artist owners: if you frequently find yourself chasing after a dog who has broken out of the garden or legged it out of the park, you’ll want to get yourself a pet tracker, and our top pick is Tractive’s GPS tracker for dogs.

It’s a robust box-like device that attaches easily to a dog collar and comes in snow, coffee and midnight blue colourways. It feels sturdy enough to withstand any unexpected zoomies or moments of escape, and is packed with a bunch of features to boot. As well as giving you your doggo’s real-time GPS location, you’re also able to set up a virtual fence, so you’ll be notified the second your pooch leaves your garden.

We were also big fans of the activity monitoring feature, which gave us recommended hours to walk our dog and provided stats on active minutes, resting minutes and calories burned – a useful feature for any animal on a vet-approved diet, although we wish it also provided data on how many kilometres our dog had walked. All this is topped off with some really neat social features, which had us walking our hound, trying to get to the top of the exercise leaderboard and beat Trixie. It also lasts a pretty long time, and charged itself up to full in less than a couple of hours.

The only real downside is the price. Because the tracker uses GPS to locate your pooch, it needs a cellular connection to find them, so you’re essentially paying for a SIM card on top of the price of the tracker itself. This is fairly normal for any GPS tracker, but it does add an ongoing subscription fee that might put off cash-strapped pet owners. There are two tiers – a basic subscription can cost as little as £3.75 per month, while a premium subscription, which includes worldwide data coverage, the ability to share your pet’s data with family and friends, access to location history and data export, costs £4.17 per month.

In 2022, Tractive also released a new GPS tracker for cats, with all the same features as well as a more feline-friendly design that attaches to almost any collar.