Afraid that your suitcase will also get lost at Schiphol? Follow him with these gadgets | Tech

The problems at Schiphol are piling up, also for suitcases. Every day, hundreds (and by some estimates even thousands) of suitcases and backpacks get lost somewhere between check-in and the baggage claim on the other side. They are left unattended and do not arrive – or sometimes as mustard after the meal – at the final destination.

Fortunately, there is a cure for this modern travel ailment. For a few bucks you can buy a small tracker, which you put in the suitcase or hang it on the handle. You can then keep track of where your belongings are located on your phone in real time. Because these gadgets use Bluetooth, they can be taken on board without having to be turned off or put on airplane mode.

Such a location tracker has a loudspeaker with which it betrays its position, at least within earshot. Beyond that, it comes down to the accompanying app, but above all to the presence of other devices. Most trackers do not have a special GPS chip on board (which would make them more expensive and energy-consuming) but make contact with other Bluetooth devices.

That way they can still connect to your smartphone, even if it is miles outside of the normal Bluetooth range. Compare it with how in ancient times the buckets of water were passed on in a human chain during a city fire. This of course means that there must be enough devices in the vicinity to form such a chain. It won’t work in the middle of the Sahara, but at a busy airport that’s never a problem.

And especially not if you have a AirTag (35 euros), because Apple boasts a network of more than 1 billion devices. In other words, there’s always an iPhone, MacBook, iPad, or EarPod nearby to pick up the location and relay it to another Apple factory product.

You can then trace your suitcase via the ‘Find my’ function on the iPhone. Please note we wrote iPhone, not smartphone: AirTags are very finicky and don’t play with competitors. There is yet another drawback. The smooth checker disc is stylishly designed, but therefore lacks such a handy hole for attachment to a cord or key ring. For that you have to buy a separate accessory that can be more expensive than the entire tracker itself.

Arch competitor Samsung has its own tracker: the SmartTag. It is slightly cheaper (30 euros) and does have a mounting hole. Unfortunately, this tracker is also quite unique, because it can only be linked to Galaxy phones and tablets.

Since Samsung has to lose out to Apple in terms of numbers, the network of Bluetooth devices is less robust. It can do more tricks, because you can also use it at home to turn on the smart lamps, for example. But of course you don’t buy anything for that along the way.

For anyone who doesn’t want to own a phone from the two giants — or don’t want to be tied down to a single party exclusively — there are Tile’s trackers. They just work with any phone, whether it’s running Android or iOS. This pioneer also offers more choice, for example an ultra-thin tracker that fits in the wallet. The standard variant is called Tile Mate and costs 25 euros, that includes keyhole. The network is smaller than Apple’s, but still extensive, because a number of Amazon devices are also included.

Check carefully whether you have a Tile whose battery can be changed; that is the sustainable choice and then he can go on holiday again next year. Another catch is that certain functionalities, such as smart notifications, are behind a paywall and cost 3.50 euros per month.