I’m glad Google is making the Pixel Tag, but I absolutely won’t buy one

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Apple is excellent at building product ecosystems — it’s ready to sell you almost everything you need for your iPhone, from AirPods to AirTags. Comparatively, Google has been slower to expand its Pixel hardware lineup.

There are still glaring holes in the Pixel portfolio, including over-ear headphones and Bluetooth trackers. However, Google might be filling the latter hole with the Pixel Tag, a Bluetooth tracker built for the Google Find Hub network . It’ll be the perfect Android alternative to the AirTag and Apple’s Find My network… or will it?

The news that Google is seemingly gearing up to launch the Pixel Tag is music to my ears. Apple, Samsung, and Motorola already offer Bluetooth trackers for their respective smartphones, and it’s odd that Google doesn’t have its own Pixel tracker for the Find Hub network. Pixel users must be ecstatic to get their hands on the Pixel Tag. As a current AirTag user disgruntled by the experience of using an ecosystem-locked Bluetooth tracker, I’m not eager to buy another one. The Pixel Tag just isn’t for me, unless Google makes the Find Hub network truly cross-platform.

Sometimes, Google’s slow pace of hardware releases works against it. Apple had an easy time making the original AirTag a prolific accessory when it launched in 2021. The reasons behind the AirTag’s success were twofold. Apple had a large Find My network, and it was relatively early in shipping a cheap ultra-wideband (UWB) tracker. These same factors could have the opposite effect for Google and its Pixel Tag. It’s five years late, and the Find Hub network isn’t as large as the Find My network.

The top smartphone brands haven’t just released a single Bluetooth tracker — they’re on their second revision. We have the AirTag 2 , the Motorola Moto Tag 2 , and the Samsung SmartTag 2. That’s without mentioning third-party offerings from Pebblebee, Chipolo, Tile, and other brands. There’s room for Google to compete in the Bluetooth tracker market, but it will have to break the status quo. If it simply makes another AirTag or Moto Tag clone, it’ll become popular only among Pixel users, not in the wider Android sphere.

That could be by design. After all, the AirTag is a hit despite only working with Apple devices. However, this is one of many reasons I’m an unhappy AirTag customer. I bought five of them, and they’re great Bluetooth trackers as long as two simple conditions are met: you need an Apple device handy to locate an AirTag, and that AirTag needs to have battery power to update its location and play sounds. It sounds simple enough, but five years into AirTag ownership, it’s been anything but.

I never stick to one ecosystem, platform, or brand, and that usually nixes plans that involve using ecosystem-locked accessories like the AirTag. Sure enough, the AirTag is a pain to use when I’m daily driving Android phones or Windows laptops. When I don’t have an iPhone or Mac nearby, AirTags are useless. As someone who mixes up the devices they use, both for work and pleasure, that’s a problem. None of this is exactly surprising, but if I’m not content with the AirTag, I probably won’t like the Pixel Tag.