Sourcing Bluetooth trackers

What a tracker does alone. A short-range radio beacon and a buzzer. It tells your own phone that it is nearby and, when it is not, tells you where it last was. That covers keys down the back of a sofa and nothing else.

What a network adds. Other people's phones detect the beacon silently and report an encrypted location, so an item hundreds of kilometres away can be located without anybody knowing they helped. This is the entire value proposition of the category, and it is a platform asset — not something a factory builds.

So establish the terms before production. Which network does the device join? Is the integration formally approved by the platform, or is it an unofficial implementation? Under whose account is it registered? What are the ongoing obligations, and can access be withdrawn? A tracker whose network access is revoked becomes a beeper with your brand on it, in your customers' hands.

Ask about the app for the same reasons as any connected product: whose it is, whose developer account, where the data goes, what the retention is, and what happens to sold units if the factory changes platform.

And be careful with range claims. Range is a function of transmit power, antenna design, the case material and the environment, and the figure on a box is a best case in open air. No range figure appears on this page; measure it yourself indoors, through a wall, with the tag inside a bag.

The problem it exists to solve. An item tracker slipped into a bag or a car can follow a person, and the same silent network that makes lost property findable makes a person findable. Every serious platform now treats that as a safety issue rather than an edge case.

What is required. Since 2024 the major mobile platforms support a cross-industry specification for detecting unwanted location trackers: an unknown tracker travelling with someone is surfaced to them, and can be made to sound so it can be found. A product that does not implement it is one platforms can refuse, marketplaces can remove and regulators can take an interest in.

So put it in the specification, in writing, and ask for evidence of conformance rather than an assurance. A supplier who has not heard of it is telling you that their reference design predates the requirement, which is a straightforward reason not to buy it.

Test it. Give a tag to somebody who does not own it, have them carry it, and confirm that their phone alerts them and that the tag can be made to sound. This is a fifteen-minute test that a specification sheet cannot substitute for, and it is the single most important thing to verify on a sample in this category.

And understand who answers for it. Selling under your own brand generally makes you the manufacturer for regulatory purposes, so a safety design gap in the factory's firmware becomes your problem the moment your logo is on the case.

Battery and replaceability. Most trackers run on a coin cell, and whether the user can replace it decides the product's life. A coin cell is also a serious child-ingestion hazard: several markets require secure battery compartments and specific warnings for products containing them. Specify the compartment design — a screw or a tool-required catch rather than a slide — and confirm the marking requirements for your market.

Antenna and case. The case material, the ground plane and how the antenna is laid out decide real range far more than the transmit power does. A metal-effect case or a thick keyring loop can cost more range than a chipset change gains.

Sound. The buzzer is what actually finds a tag in a room, and it is routinely under-specified. Ask for the sound level at a stated distance and test it inside a bag inside a cupboard, which is where things actually get lost.

Water and dust. An IP rating is the outcome of a defined test on a defined unit — ask which test, on which model, by whom — and confirm it survives the battery compartment being opened and closed, because that is the seal that fails.

Radio compliance is the same as for any Bluetooth product: qualification with a Declaration ID against a member company, plus each destination market's own equipment approval. The marks are trademarks on top of both.

Business licence and business scope (经营范围) first, then the two questions that matter: which finding network and on what terms, and does the firmware implement unwanted-tracking detection. The hardware conversation comes third, because it is the part that is nearly identical everywhere.

Ask who owns the firmware and who can change it. This is a category where a safety requirement can change and a fix has to be shipped to devices already sold. A supplier who cannot push an update is selling you a product you cannot correct.

Sample tests, in order of importance: the unwanted-tracking alert on a phone that does not own the tag; the sounder inside a bag inside a cupboard; range indoors through a wall; battery compartment security and whether it survives repeated opening; and the app setup on a fresh phone in your market's language.

Then take one apart: the antenna layout, the ground plane, the sounder mounting, the compartment seal and the battery contacts.

Every supplier on this site is a manufacturer, and the registered-scope check is one of the things confirmed before a listing goes live.