We Tested These Tile Stickers And Found The Stuff We Always Lose

Cancel that APB on your missing wallet, keys, and phone.

According to a recent study, on average, forgetful Americans spend a total of two and a half days per year searching for misplaced or lost items (looking at/for you, wallet, keys, and phone). That’s a summer Friday and a weekend right there!

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If that weren’t enough, there’s the cash spent replacing the missing merchandise too. That’s a significant waste of both your time and money.     

If you’re especially accomplished in the art of thing-losing, you probably know about Tile, the Bluetooth tracking device that allows you to “ring your things” when they’ve gone missing or find them via a companion app.

BBC One / Via giphy.com

The Tile Pro and Tile Mate have been the savior of countless sets of lost keys thanks to their, well, keychain design.

But if the item you constantly seem to be losing doesn’t have a place to loop a split key ring through, you’re out of luck. If only there were some way you could properly stick a Tile to those all-too-often misplaced things... Well, now there is! 

The Basics

Tile

The newly released Tile Sticker, along with the credit card–sized Tile Slim, joins the flagship Pro and Mate as the brand’s smallest tracker, clocking in at 27mm x 7.3mm (about the size of four stacked quarters). A two-pack of stickers will cost you $30, and as its oh-so-clever name implies, you can stick the tracker to clean and dry surfaces — unlike the Pro and Mate, which work like a keychain, and the Slim, which is designed to slide into a wallet. 

For comparison, the Sticker features a built-in battery that boasts a three-year lifespan. It’s waterproof, and it operates at a 150-foot tracking range. Since the Sticker is the smallest of the Tile products, its ring volume is the quietest of the group and its range is the shortest. Both the Pro and the Mate feature replaceable batteries that last for a year, while the Sticker and Slim will last for three but will need to be replaced entirely. The latter two are both waterproof, while the Mate and the Pro are merely water-resistant. So you can totally dunk the Sticker. 

Who / What It’s For

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The forgetful and disorganized; anyone who is constantly misplacing the same items over and over again; folks who dig stickers and sticking them on things.   

The Good

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We’ve been fans of Tile for a while and were excited to try something smaller, and well, stickier, because not every item we tend to lose worked with the more keychain-friendly options already available. AirPod charging cases, for example, have an affinity for constantly being misplaced. But those days are over thanks to a well-placed Tile sticker. 

Look, these things work, and they work well. You’ll know immediately if you’ve merely left something in your jacket pocket in the hallway (the ring noise is loud and distinct) versus leaving it at the restaurant where you had lunch that afternoon (the map function is on point). In fact, we spent a day tracking an iPad all throughout NYC without knowing exactly where it was headed, but we always knew exactly where it was. Other potential uses: bikes, laptops, travel mugs, cameras, headphones, TV remote controls, chargers, umbrellas, etc. 

Oh, and with the Tile app, the device can work the other way and find your phone (as long as you know where your Tile-tagged device is). No longer will your lost phone be in the last place you look — it will be in the only place you look. Think of all that time saved! 

The Not-So-Good

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Two items that we’re always misplacing are that sneaky little silver Apple TV remote and our never-in-their-case-when-we-need-them sunglasses. Unfortunately, the Tile Sticker couldn’t accommodate either of these wanderers. The Apple TV remote is beveled and doesn’t allow the tracker to actually adhere. As for the shades, unless you’re really good about the whole returning-them-to-their-case thing, there’s just not enough real estate to apply the tracker. Hoping that future Tile tech can become smaller, thinner, and more flexible. 

Choose what you need to track wisely before attaching the Sticker. You’ve really only got one shot, because once it’s on it’s difficult to take off and won’t have the same strength if you want to stick it to something else. Also, be careful if you’ve attached a Sticker to a tablet, laptop, or anything else that you might quickly shove into a bag. Trying to jam it on in there may result in tearing off the Sticker. 

The Takeaway

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Now that you’ve found Tile, your stuff will never be lost again. These trackers are a game-changer for leaving the house on time; you’ll never have to waste precious minutes ransacking your home for your missing whatever. The Sticker works well on some things and not well on others due to its size and the depth it adds to any particular item (so give strong consideration to exactly what you want to stick your Sticker on, and where). In time, these trackers will become smaller, thinner, and more flexible, but until then they remain a great addition to the Tile ecosystem.

Never. Ever. Again.

Miramax / Via giphy.com

Get a two-pack of Tile Stickers from Amazon for $33.60.