[ale] Slightly OT: Android EUFY air tags limitations

[neal at mnopltd.com]

FYI, there was a bit of a splash in the Android world when the EUFY 
tracker tags were announced.    "Works with Android AND iPhone".

We jumped on that, primarily 'cause we have an upcoming cruise and were 
hoping to give ourselves an edge if our bags were lost on the way to 
Galveston the day before embarkation.

Well, We've been attempting to test them these last few days, and have 
gone through 5 perky interchanges with their support people, who, while 
not strictly speaking "hostile witnesses", are really trying to not 
communicate the limitations.

To save fellow Android users, here is my last attempt to tease out the 
facts:



Ok, the limitations of the EUFY tag ought to be stated in a clear FAQ.  
My goal is simply to locate my two pieces of luggage after I land in 
Texas before I have to get on a cruise ship.

Here is what I am coming to understand:

A) For nationwide tag location, the android app is totally useless, as 
there are insufficient numbers of devices running the android app.

B) The EUFY tag can be loaded into an Apple IOS smartphone via their 
normal Find My capability.   This then makes use of a large number of 
iPhones in use. Their collective Bluetooth range is what makes tags 
viable.

C) There is NO LINK between EUFY cloud services and Apple Cloud services 
w.r.t. Tag location.

D) Your response below suggests that the EUFY app must be installed on 
an iPhone.   Installing a 3rd party app is a lot to ask of a friend.   
It is unclear what that EUFY app is going to accomplish.

Based on what I understand above, if all I want to do is occasionally 
locate airline luggage, then what I should do is give these two tags to 
my friend that has an iPhone, load them into Find My, and occasionally 
borrow them for trips.  Then if lost, I have to call my friend Max and 
say "Hey Max, where do you see my tags?".

You would have far fewer questions like this if you were clearer about 
the limitations up front.



On 2023-02-10 06:07, eufylife support team wrote:
-- -- -- -- --[#TNP606069047]-- -- -- -- -- Dear nea***,

Thank you for your reply.

Sorry, I am a little confused about "I visit my friend and identify my
two tags on his iPhone". May I double confirm if you added the two
tags on your friend's iPhone? If that's the case, the tag's location
should be updated on your friend's iPhone. Also, please be sure to
check the following:

1. Make sure the user's eufy Security app location permission is set
to "Always Allow".
2. The Android system needs to ensure that the eufy Security App is
not under the battery optimization plan.The IOS system needs to ensure
that the background refresh witch of eufy Security App is turned on.