I tried TILE
A product Review
I’m excited to have a new techy device called TILE. They help you find things like your keys or wallet. I first heard of this company from my boss who told us a funny story about how her husband swore he’d checked his coat pocket for her keys, and they were not there. They had been to an apple orchard with the kids and had a hectic day. They couldn’t find her car keys anywhere. She remembered that she had the TILE device on her keys, so she picked up her iPhone to command the TILE app to locate her keys. When she did so, the device on her key chain played a little tune which just happened to come from her husband’s coat pocket. LOL! Isn’t that always the way?!
I’m not one to misplace my keys very often. In fact, I rarely ever lose things permanently. In my boss’ chaotic home, she has small children, a device to find keys made sense to her. It’s easy to lose focus with active little ones. Since my handcrafted ornament on my keychain was falling apart after 40 years, I knew my luck would run out. I had a cylindrical piece of wood with my name carved into it as my keychain. It was easy to grab, if the keys were laying around it was easy to know they were mine. I love it because it was given to me by dear friend. I treasured this keychain. But occasionally, recently, the wood comes apart from the metal ring and I drop the keys. When I heard about TILE I decided that it might be best to replace my wooden ornament for the TILE.
I viewed the TILE website and saw that they offer devices besides key chains. They have something about as big as a credit card that fits in your wallet, and a small round thing they call a “sticker”. The sticker is something that can alert you if you leave something behind. I perused the sale section and found a combination of a key chain and a wallet card on sale and it included the premium membership in the price. In a nutshell, the premium plan will reimburse you for up to $100 if they can’t locate the item. In my case, this would help me cover the cost of buying a new electronic key for my car. There is a Premium Protect plan that reimburses for up to $1,000. You are required to upload a photo of the one thing on which you wish to place the coverage.
Being a quilter, I chose the TILE that was decorated colorfully, with a pattern that resembled a quilt. I’m hoping that these bright colors will be easily visible in my purse. The wallet card is the same colorful print. I am happy that both devices are quite light in weight. I expect that the batteries may last about as long, or longer than the battery in my car key fob. I will make a note to check the TILE battery at the time of year that my car key begins fade.
It was easy to set up the devices. I installed the TILE app on my phone (for free) and instructions for pairing the devices appeared. They walk you through the set-up. It’s as easy as pressing a button. To my surprise, I can also make the device locate my iPhone, or rather, help me locate it by following a sound. Now when I say I don’t lose things, the exception is that sometimes I forget where I set down my phone. The signal on the phone works even if the ringer is turned off. It’s an awesome feature. When I lived alone and didn’t have a home phone, this would have been a handy thing to have.
This is brand new to me and I haven’t had any problems with it, so I can’t speak to the customer service of TILE Digital. I had a question and found the chat feature quickly answered me to my satisfaction. I find that since my hearing is still good, I can easily hear the sound played by the devices. Even my 95-year-old mother who has poor hearing noticed the sound, and she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids. For persons quite hard of hearing, this may not be as useful.
Last, there is a QR code on the back of each device. It’s meant to be scanned by someone who finds the device. Conceptually, a person would find your keys, scan the QR code and receive instructions on how to return the keys to you. However, until I read the manual, I hadn’t even noticed that the code was there. It’s very tiny. If I’d happen upon a lost one of these, I wouldn’t even notice the code. I have two different QR code scanner apps that I tried on one of my devices. One scanner would not respond to it. The other did not launch a website. It gave me an error message.
I believe the purchase of the TILE keychain and wallet card were a worthwhile purchase. That the premium membership for a year was included, even a nicer value. In a year my membership will auto renew for $29.99. You are not required to have a membership for the TILE devices to work. The reimbursement of permanently lost items is the reason for the membership. I may pass on the renewal next year. Paying $29.99 for $100 coverage doesn’t sound like a good thing to me. However, I do recommend this product for folks who may lose their keys and phone from time to time.
