Tile Trackers

Tile -- now Tile by Life360 after they got bought by family tracking service Life360 in 2021 -- is the OG maker of Bluetooth trackers. But since Apple introduced their super popular AirTags, Tile has been playing catch-up. Apple launched AirTags using their vast Find My network of nearly a billion Apple devices, making locating AirTags just about anywhere a reality. So in response, Tile joined up with Amazon Sidewalk to expand their community network (at least in the US, Amazon Sidewalk doesn’t work outside the US) to all those supported Echo and Ring devices out there in the world, seriously expanding their locating network. Fortunately, so far the privacy and security of Amazon Sidewalk looks promising according to privacy watchdog EFF. Quick privacy PSA: With anywhere-tracking, you might be tempted to track down your stolen stuff on your own, Batman-style. Please don't do that. Mostly, it's dangerous. But also, you could end up harassing an innocent person.

Less than a year after the AirTag was introduced, people were surprised to find trackers hidden in their bags and cars. Agh! Bad actors figured out they could use these well-meaning doodads to track people’s movement without their consent. Since only the trackers’ owners could see their location, one could be following you around in your pocket without you knowing. Again, Apple was pretty quick to try to introduce a solution. Unfortunately, Tile wasn’t as speedy. Last year they finally did announce a “Scan and Secure” feature that lets anyone scan their surroundings for a Tile through their app, even if you don’t have an account. So if you’re worried that someone might have slipped a Tile in your bag, you can find it and disable it. A decent start, but you still have to download the Tile app.

Here's a concern: If anyone can easily find and disable your Tiles, that might make it easier for people to find and steal your stuff -- which is what some people try to use trackers to prevent. Faced with this conundrum, Tile came up with a pretty extreme “solution.” Their Anti-Theft Mode makes Tiles undetectable by the “Scan and Secure” feature while also trying to make sure that no one will want to use them for stalking. It works like this: you can only turn on Anti-Theft Mode if you verify your identity with multiple factors, including a selfie and government ID. The idea is that people won’t commit a crime (like stalking) if they’re not anonymous. Questionable, but OK. There’s more. Anti-Theft Mode users also have to acknowledge that, woah, hang on a sec, that “personal information can and will be shared with law enforcement at our discretion, even without a subpoena, to aid in the investigation and prosecution of suspected stalking.” No matter what the justification is, that’s a line we never like to see in privacy policies. It also cheeses us off when safety and privacy are pitted against each other.

Tile also say that anyone who’s convicted of using Tiles for stalking will be subject to a one million dollar fine. We get it, Tile! You want to discourage stalking. But we’re not convinced this is the best way to go about it. And we wouldn’t stake our safety on the idea that stalkers are highly rational people who weigh the pros and cons of their actions. Anyhoo, if you do think you’re being stalked with an undetectable Tile in “Anti-Theft Mode,” the company urges you to submit a Google Form and wait for a Tile team member to be in touch. Is it just us or does that seem to put a heck of a lot of pressure on Tile's team? One of Tile’s goals is “giving law enforcement the information they need to pursue justice for victims” and they’re probably right that Anti-Theft Mode will help with that. But wouldn’t it be better to stop the stalking the moment it starts, instead of building a case against your stalker after you find out they’ve been stalking you? You can do better, Tile, we believe in you.

Aside from all that! Tile by Life360’s privacy practices aren't great. They may collect information about you from third parties. They may also share your personal information with third parties for “tailored advertising purposes.” They say they can share de-identified data to third parties, including advertisers This is where we remind you that privacy researchers have found that de-identified data, especially data that includes location information, can be pretty easy to re-identify making hard to be totally anonymous.

On the bright side, it seems like you can opt out of "monetization of your data--even in aggregate form" inside the app. That's good but it would be way better if you weren't opted-in by default in the first place. Their privacy policy is also very clear about not selling your location related to their Tile products. That's cool! But that’s probably because the company that owns Tile, Life360 was outed for selling precise location data on millions of it's users in 2021. They were recently sued for selling location data without users' consent. That's very bad. Worse, it's something they they seem to still be up to for other Life360 products. Oh and, Anti-Theft Mode activated or not, their privacy policy also says it’s up to them to decide if your information should be shared with law enforcement. Specifically, “if in our sole discretion, we determine it is necessary to (a) conform to the law, comply with legal process, or investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities.” That’s unfortunately getting to be pretty common, but we still really don’t like it. Here’s something we do like to see: anyone can delete their data! It would be a good idea to take them up on that.

What’s the worst thing that could happen with Tile trackers? Well, someone could take your umbrella at a coffee shop, find your tracker, accuse you of stalking them, then Tile might hand over your personal information to the cops on a hunch. Or, your movements could be tracked by a well-hidden Tile without you knowing it, because your stalker is confident they won’t be caught and you don’t know to be on the lookout. Yikes. All in all, we're quite worried that Tile by Life360's trackers could come with *privacy not included.