If you already own a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, the Galaxy SmartTag makes an excellent smart home companion to help keep an extra (digital) eye on your stuff. Thanks to Samsung’s Galaxy Find network, it’s easy to retrace your steps — up to 130 yards worth — and recover tagged items, even when offline. SmartTags can also be used in tandem with smart home devices, such as connected lights and smart locks. Samsung’s SmartTags are self-contained location devices based on a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio chip. Inside, there’s a microcontroller, a switch, a speaker, and a small watch battery that should last about one year. They send out a unique coded Bluetooth signal that identifies the device, encrypting the code and changing it every 15 minutes for safety and privacy. Once the tag’s signal has been acquired by the phone, it shows up on its screen and allows the user to trigger the tag to play one of those aggravating tunes from the Find section. Happily, it works the other way around to use the tag to find a misplaced phone. Note: the SmartTag is only compatible with Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Check out our full Samsung Galaxy SmartTag review and Samsung Galaxy SmartTag Plus review to see what the whole “plus” thing is about.
