I have adhd and lose my keys and phone all the time. My old tile died, it's been a life saver in terms of helping me find my things but I also know it's an absolute trash company that sells my data. Looking for a better alternative, help!

There are Meshtastic-compatible tags. These operate on unregulated spectrum and on the encrypted channel of your choice.

I really like Chipolo. European company.

I have some lora devices, my biggest concern is it's another thing I have to carry. If I lose my keys I have to have the mesh tag on my keys and a separate lora device that's external from my phone, that is not attached to my key ring.

Makes me wish these new FOSS phones that are betting developed would include lora internally.

I've found this article with some options. Anyone have experience with them?

https://protonvpn.com/blog/airtag-alternative

I understand the concern, but there are some low-impact options. Take a look at the Seeed SenseCAP T1000-E. It is thicker than a credit card, but it has the same length and width. It can serve as a tracker. It also works just fine as a personal Meshtastic radio.

The main issue with using a Meshtastic tracker is that there are places where there just aren't enough nodes to make it practical. It generally works quite well in urban areas.

I bet you wouldn't leave the house without pants on. Tie your keys to your pants' belt loops. Buy pants with belt loops or augment already bought ones to fit. Put your phone in a bag and carry that bag everywhere. Make it a habit.

The usual solution is airtags. There’s Android support for them now so there’s no real reason to pick something else.

Official support from apple are they third party apps?

Where's this information that airtags work with android? Besides identifying lost tags and detecting unknown trackers on/around you?

Please share sources.

I've had moto tags and airtags. Now just trying BLE trackers. All I ever used was the make Boise anyway and that is what these do.

Samsung Tag 2 or whatever combined with uTag. Yeah it's Samsung but it's worked well for me.

The official Android support from apple is only through the “tracker detect” app for finding them.

Identifying lost or unknown trackers would fulfill this persons needs in my experience.

It wouldn’t locate the lost keys across the street unless they were using an apple device though.

I've been wearing something like this for years - tied to my belt and tucked in my pocket. There are tons of different variants these days.