Open-source, non-vendor specific alternative to Tile?

[u/Odd-Aside456]

I had a "Tile" that I kept in my wallet for a while. It was great since I lose my wallet all. the. time...

The battery in the tile has since died, and it's had me wondering if there are non-vendor-tied alternatives and server software I can self-host? If not, this would be an awesome niche for someone to get into with the open-source community.

I love things like AirTags, but I would guess there really wouldn't be a way to do a non-vendor tied version of something like that as it relies on the whole Apple ecosystem out there. Maybe a version with built-in cellular or Meshtastic could work to some degree. But the Tile just tells you where it was last connected to your device, or where it is in relation to your device if still connected.

Any idea on open-source solutions that a man who frequently misplaces his wallet and tv remote can look into?

[u/asimovs-auditor]

Expand the replies to this comment to learn how AI was used in this post/project.

[u/ninjersteve]

The strength of tile is the user base and centralized servers. When your tiles are out of Bluetooth range for you, other users who are in Bluetooth range of your tiles and have the app are telling the servers where your tiles are.

If you only need them for locating things in Bluetooth range of your phone there may very well be a product out there but you are losing the “long distance” functionality.

In that case, there’s no need to host anything at all because there’s no purpose for a server. It’s just the app locally on your phone to provide hot and cold Bluetooth range/signal strength and trigger the locator sound.

[u/Odd-Aside456 → u/ninjersteve]

TBH, I never knew that was a feature of Tile. I mostly lose things around my house, or accidentally leave things at friends / family member's houses / church, lol! But that's good to know. So, tile benefits from the ecosystem in a very similar way to the AirTag then.

[u/joninjax1 → u/Odd-Aside456]

You lose them, or the spouse looses them and blames you? Not that there is much difference! :D

[u/TJonesyNinja]

A lot of people talk about the benefits of the tile/airtag network but if you do want an option without a managed network look into mesh LoRa like meshtastic or meshcore. You can set up sensor devices that broadcast their gps location. You should also be able to set them up with an audio alarm to find them when nearby. There are a few companies making some shaped like a thick credit card or large keychain.

[u/ohv_]

I guess meshtastic 

[u/mpking828 → u/ohv_]

Good guess... they have credit card form factors now...

https://www.seeedstudio.com/SenseCAP-Card-Tracker-T1000-E-for-Meshtastic-p-5913.html

https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wismesh-tag-meshtastic-gps-lora-tracker-ip66

[u/ohv_ → u/mpking828]

I have a number of the T1000. They are bulky 

[u/Vegetable-Slide-5752]

Check out ESP32-based trackers with meshtastic firmware, you get the last known location without needing any corporate network

[u/BrandnerKaspar → u/Vegetable-Slide-5752]

as long as a meshtastic network is in range. I don't see this working for, say, finding your suitcase that is in a room inside an airport for example.

[u/AdFew8591]

for the wallet and remote case you can avoid the global network problem. put a few BLE listeners around the house and record which one last saw a cheap beacon. that gives you a last known room locally and a tag with a buzzer handles the final few metres. cellular or Meshtastic makes the tag much bigger and more power hungry so it stops being wallet shaped. the hard part isnt the server its finding open hardware that lets you trigger the buzzer

[u/Outrageous_Ad_4801]

if its mostly around the house check out espresense with cheap ble beacons. you just drop a couple esp32 boards in key rooms and home assistant tracks which room your keys or wallet are in without needing any cloud service.

[u/404invalid-user]

tile is technically non vendor as it's available for iOS and android, you can also replace the battery if you know how to solder or even then some you can just bend the tabs over to make a spring (they take off the shelf button batteries).

meshtastic would probably be your best bet as it solves the main issue with selfhosted tracker but you would need two, one for in your wallet and one to connect to your phone, cellular ones are just physically too big because they need more hardware and I bigger battery to support that.

There's a reason why selfhosted versions of tile are popular it's because its just you using it with apple, Samsung and tile they have a big network they can take advantage of so if your phone is out of range it connects to other phones