Bluetooth and other trackers for use in Eastern Europe

Question

Planning a trip to various eastern european countries like Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, I am thinking of taking some bluetooth trackers like Apple AirTags, Samsung Galaxy SmartTags or Tiles with me. Main reason is kind of "emergency anchor" when someone of our group gets lost in a crowded place. Of course we'll do all other traditional precautions before...

All systems have pros and cons, but all of them rely on other users with mobile phones around. So far I could see Apple users are widespread in Slovakia (25% market share of Apple in Slovakia), but not that many in Bulgaria or Romania. But would there be a helpful amount of users for Tile or Galaxy SmartTags in these countries? What could be helpful tracking system in these regions?

Answer 1

To find people the best option is simply that each one use the tracking features available on their own phone.

On iPhone this is done via Find My or Messages. You can share your position with any of your contacts (and pick the duration: for one hour, until end of day, or with no defined end), you can revoke the permission whenever you want, you can ask for someone else’s position (they have to accept, of course!)…

You will then be able to view each other’s position on a map, and on recent iPhones you can get the same pointing arrow you would get with an AirTag.

There are similar features in Google Maps (for both iOS and Android), I believe (never used it).

There are also plenty of other apps providing similar services.

This gives everyone much better control On who can track whom.

Also remember it is explicitly forbidden to track people using AirTags.

Answer 2

AirTags and similar devices are best for tracking defenceless people who cannot reliably operate their mobile phones (such as children or elderly people) and for tracking property (bags, cars), or possibly animals.

I can't see how these can help you in your use case. If an adult with a mobile phone gets lost somewhere, they can simply call their friends or their friends can call them. If you want to take extra precautions, you can set up location sharing in whatever app you like. I've seen it in use in WhatsApp, it works also across the iOS-Android barrier.

In addition to that, there are other specialized apps that can locate someone else's phone, which can be helpful in case your friend is lying unconscious somewhere in a mountainous terrain. For example, the Mountain Rescue Service of Slovakia provides a very useful app than can (among other things) send the phone's location to the rescuers. Location trackers relying on other people's phones are not very useful in the mountains.