Trackers that work with Apple Find My or Google Find Hub are a simple, reliable and convenient way to keep track of luggage, wallets, bags, keys, vehicles and other valuables without needing a SIM card or ongoing subscription.
In busy areas, location updates are instant and provide an accurate location of your item, within a metre. Like any crowdsourced tracking network, update frequency and precision can vary depending on how many participating devices are nearby. This is normal and applies to all trackers using Apple Find My or Google Find Hub.
You may sometimes notice that:
- the location stays in the same place for a while
- a range appears instead of an exact location
- updates are less frequent while travelling in a vehicle
These are normal characteristics of Apple Find My and Google Find Hub and do not mean anything is wrong with your SecurityBase or AusFindr tracker. This behaviour is determined by how the Apple and Google tracking networks operate, so you can expect the same behaviour from other trackers using these networks, regardless of brand.
The reason is simple: Find My and Find Hub trackers use nearby phones and other participating devices to help report their location.
How does a Find Hub or Find My tracker report its location?
The easiest way to think about it is this:
Your tracker sends out a Bluetooth signal saying, essentially, “I’m here.”
When a compatible Apple or Android device comes close enough to detect that signal, the device securely and anonymously reports the location through the Apple Find My or Google Find Hub network.
That location is then displayed in your Find My or Find Hub app.
The nearby phone does not need to belong to you. It could belong to someone walking past your luggage at an airport, another shopper in a shopping centre, someone near your parked car, or another passenger at a train station.
This happens automatically and privately in the background.
Location updates depend on nearby devices
Your tracker broadcasts its Bluetooth signal regularly, but that doesn't mean your map updates every time it broadcasts.
A location update requires a suitable device to:
- come within Bluetooth range of the tracker;
- detect its signal;
- determine its own location; and
- securely report that information to the Find My or Find Hub network.
Sometimes you may receive several updates within seconds. At other times, the displayed location may remain unchanged for quite a while. Both are perfectly normal.
Why hasn't my tracker's location updated yet?
The location shown in Find My or Find Hub is the most recent location reported by the network.
For example, imagine your bag was detected at an airport at 10:15 am. If nobody carrying a participating device comes close enough to the bag for the next 30 minutes, your app can continue showing the 10:15 am location.
That doesn’t mean the tracker has stopped working. It simply means this is the last place where the network detected this tracker.
As soon as another suitable device detects it, it will report a more recent location.
This is why trackers normally perform particularly well in places such as:
- airports
- shopping centres
- offices
- hotels
- city streets
- public transport
- residential areas
- busy car parks
There are usually many phones and other devices around to assist the network.
In quieter or remote locations, there may be fewer opportunities for the tracker to be detected, so updates can take longer.
Why can the location sometimes show an estimated area?
You may also sometimes see a circle around the tracker’s position rather than a precise point.
The circle represents the estimated area in which the item was detected.
Your tracker isn’t sending latitude and longitude coordinates directly to the app. Another device, usually a phone, detects its Bluetooth signal, and the network uses information from that device to estimate where the tracker was detected.
For example, a phone outside in an open area may have very good network and GPS reception, while a phone inside a:
- large building
- underground car park
- warehouse
- high-rise building
- vehicle
may have less precise location information as the device that is relaying the location might not have good network or GPS connectivity.
When there is greater uncertainty, Find My or Find Hub can show a larger circle.
A smaller circle generally means the network has greater confidence in the location.
The key point is that the circle size reflects the location information available to the network, not the quality of the tracker itself.
How do location updates work while I’m driving?
This is another situation where expectations can differ from how Find My and Find Hub actually operate.
If you put a tracker in a car and start driving, you should not expect to see a continuously moving dot following the vehicle along the road.
Location updates still depend on devices in the Find My or Find Hub network detecting the tracker. When a vehicle is moving, the opportunities for connecting to other devices to relay its location can be very limited.
You might therefore see something like:
Home → no update for several kilometres → major intersection → shopping centre → destination
rather than:
Home → Street A → Street B → Street C → Street D → destination
The tracker hasn’t stopped communicating between those locations. Those are simply the locations where the network was able to generate and report a useful location update.
When the vehicle slows down, stops in traffic, enters a busy area or is parked somewhere with people nearby, you’ll see a location update within minutes.
Why can updates sometimes be very frequent?
The opposite can also happen.
Put your tracker in luggage travelling through a busy airport and there may be hundreds or thousands of suitable devices passing nearby.
As a result, you may see frequent location updates as your luggage moves through the airport.
If you then place the same suitcase in a storage area with very few people nearby, the location may remain unchanged for much longer. Nothing has changed with the tracker.
What has changed is how many devices around it can report its location.
Does Bluetooth range mean I can only track something nearby?
No. The Bluetooth connection only needs to exist between your tracker and a nearby device participating in the network.
Your own phone can be hundreds or thousands of kilometres away.
For example, if your suitcase ends up at Melbourne Airport while you are in Adelaide, a nearby participating device in Melbourne can detect your tracker and report its location through the network.
You can then see that location from Adelaide, and the same thing would happen if your item is overseas.
This is what makes Apple Find My and Google Find Hub so useful for finding luggage, wallets, bags and other valuables without requiring the tracker to contain its own mobile phone connection.
Why does it look like my item is at my neighbour’s house?
Sometimes your tracker may appear to be at a neighbouring house or nearby property.
This can mean the tracker was picked up, or “pinged,” by your neighbour’s phone or another nearby device in the Apple Find My or Google Find Hub network.
For example, your tracker is inside your house, but if your neighbour’s phone detects it, the network may use that device to help report the tracker’s location. This can make the map look as though the tracker is next door, across the street or slightly further away than it really is.
This is normal and does not necessarily mean your item is actually at that location. In most cases, it corrects itself when your phone or another nearby device picks up the tracker again. If the item is nearby, you can also use Play Sound when you are within Bluetooth range to confirm where it is
What is considered normal behaviour?
All of the following can occur during normal operation:
- The location stays unchanged for a period of time.
- Several updates arrive close together and then no update appears for a while.
- The location suddenly moves from one place to another rather than showing the complete journey between them.
- Updates are more frequent in busy areas than quiet areas.
- A wide location circle is displayed instead of an exact point.
- Location updates are intermittent while travelling in a vehicle.
- A tracker that has not updated for some time suddenly updates when someone carrying a compatible device comes nearby.
None of these behaviours, by themselves, indicate that your tracker is faulty.
They are normal consequences of a tracking system that uses nearby devices to report locations.
Tracker Card vs GPS tracker: what’s the difference?
Tracker Cards and GPS trackers are designed around different technologies.
Apple Find My / Google Find Hub Tracker
A Tracker Card uses nearby devices within the Apple or Google network to report its location.
This provides several major advantages:
- no monthly subscription
- no SIM card or mobile plan
- very slim design
- long battery life
- works across a very large crowdsourced device network
- ideal for wallets, luggage, bags and other valuables
Location updates depend on another suitable device being nearby.
GPS tracker
A dedicated GPS tracking system uses satellite positioning to calculate its location and usually a mobile network connection to transmit that information back to you.
This allows much more frequent tracking and can be more suitable when you specifically need to monitor the movement of a vehicle or asset continuously.
However, GPS tracking systems are:
- considerably more expensive to purchase
- dependent on a SIM card or mobile data connection
- subject to an ongoing subscription or service fee
- larger than Bluetooth trackers
- more power hungry
- dependent on regular charging, a larger battery or a hardwired power connection
Frequent location reporting consumes considerably more power, which is why vehicle GPS trackers are often connected directly to the vehicle’s electrical system.
Neither technology is inherently better. They solve different problems.
For keeping track of luggage, wallets, bags, keys and other everyday valuables without an ongoing subscription, the Apple Find My and Google Find Hub approach provides an excellent balance of size, battery life, coverage and cost.
For applications where continuous or very frequent vehicle location reporting is essential, a dedicated GPS tracking system may be more appropriate.
The most important thing to remember
Apple Find My and Google Find Hub trackers are designed to provide a simple, low-cost and highly practical way to keep track of everyday valuables, without needing a SIM card, mobile plan or ongoing subscription.
They work by using the enormous network of nearby Apple or Android devices to help report the location of your tracker. In busy areas, this can result in very frequent and accurate location updates, while in quieter areas updates may take longer.
When viewing your tracker in Find My or Find Hub, think of the displayed position as:
“The most recent place where the network detected my tracker.”
Sometimes that location will update very quickly, while at other times it may stay unchanged until another suitable device comes nearby. The location shown can also vary in precision depending on the location information available to the nearby device that detected it.
This is how the Find My and Find Hub networks are designed to operate.
For luggage, wallets, bags, keys and many other everyday valuables, these networks offer an excellent combination of global reach, long battery life, compact tracker designs and no ongoing subscription fees. And because they use the phones and devices already around us, they can help locate an item even when your own phone is hundreds or thousands of kilometres away.
For most everyday tracking needs, that makes Apple Find My and Google Find Hub trackers an extremely useful and convenient solution.
For a more detailed explanation of how the technology works, see our guide How does a Tracker Card work?
