I recently got a small keychain device for free as a cheap promotional item. It looks like one of these: https://powerstick.com/powertag/
It asks that you install this app: Spot 2.0 Bluetooth Finder
Some concerns right away:
- It requires an account
- It said that my password was too long
- It seems that these apps will need 24/7 access to location in order to work properly, so I’m not comfortable making an account on some app I’ve never heard of
So my questions:
Q1: If someone is given a similar device, is there a FOSS app that they can use it with? So far I’ve found:
-
BLE Radar (FDroid, GitHub). It looks promising and I haven’t played with all the custom profiles yet. While I was able to connect the device and see it on a map, I don’t see an option to ring the device from the app. Since it’s a key ring, I imagine most people would use it to find their keys in their home, for which the speaker would be helpful.
-
iTracing2 (FDroid, GitHub). This one is very minimalistic, and while I could get it connected, it seems to only work in the
device > phonedirection, where you can press a button on the keychain to initiate an action on the phone (ex. ring the phone)
Q2: If someone wanted to get a good quality version of this, which brands do you recommend? Ideally it would be accurate and be compatible with some FOSS app(s).
I remember seeing Chipolo mentioned in some other thread here, but I don’t know if they meet those requirements
UWB looks very cool for finding things from the phone (without the tracker ringing). Samsung Smart tag 2 does this.
I’ve picked up a Moto tag that has UWB and works with Google’s find my network - my understanding is that this will work like apple air tags which can use any iPhone to report and track it’s location. Though it’s not doing all of these things just yet!
These 2 videos, whilst slightly rambling, covered a lot.
I know you said you’re looking for an Android app but have you considered using Home Assistant? I’ve had success with cheap BLE tags I got off AliExpress. I use a few $5 ESP32 chips for various things including BLE tracking. The only thing is I’m not sure how straight forward sending an alarm signal would be. I track if I took my trashcan to the curb on Tuesdays.
