It’s been three years since Life360’s $205 million acquisition of AirTag competitor Tile. The company announced Monday its new lineup of lost-item Bluetooth trackers, featuring a sleeker redesign in new colors—aqua blue, green, navy blue, and pink. The devices now have several new functionalities, such as an integrated SOS feature, an extended Bluetooth range, and more.
This is the first time Tile has launched new products since the family locator service bought the company in 2021. The lineup also follows Life360’s becoming a public company.
Tile revamped its four trackers: Tile Mate ($25), its “everything tracker” for items like keys and backpacks; Tile Pro ($35), which has the loudest ring and longest Bluetooth range; Tile Slim ($30), designed to fit easily in wallets and passport holders; and Tile Sticker ($25), its smallest tracker that can adhere to losable objects like a TV remote.
The most notable upgrade is the new multi-function button that triggers a Life360 SOS alert. In the event of an emergency, members can triple-press the device to silently notify their designated emergency contacts that something is wrong. This quick and silent notification may be crucial in situations where the user isn’t able to make a phone call or send a message. Members also have 15 seconds to cancel the alert by swiping the setting off on their phone.
SOS alerts are free for all users. However, members can pay extra for Life360 to alert third-party emergency dispatchers, who call the member and coordinate with the necessary authorities, such as law enforcement or emergency medical services. Life360 offers three subscriptions– Silver ($8/month), ($15/month), and Platinum ($25/month).
“We’re on a mission to keep members of our families safe and close to the people they love,” Life360 senior director of product David Steinwedel, told TechCrunch. “It’s the first time that we had a new launch since the acquisition. It’s been a long time coming… we have this real focus on family safety and family connections, which is why SOS makes so much sense to us. It’s a real standout, differentiated feature for this lineup.”
In addition to the SOS functionality, other updates include extending the Bluetooth range for Tile Mate, Slim, and Pro. Tile Pro now ranges up to 500 ft. compared to the previous model’s 400 ft. Tile Mate, Sticker, and Pro also have a louder ring than the previous models.
Meanwhile, the four new colorways are bright and fun and likely meant to appeal to families looking to assign specific colors to different members or items for easy identification and organization.
In 2022, Life360 integrated its service with Tile. This integration allows Tile users to access the Life360 app and its features, including the ability to view the location of Tiled items on the Life360 map and ring the Tile to locate nearby items. Additionally, both Life360 and Tile can ring a missing phone, even if it’s on silent. Any member of your Life360 Circle can ring the Tile and locate nearby items.
Source : Techcrunch
