While popular with vloggers, Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras have been held back from true greatness by the lack of a phase-detect autofocus system. Finally, the company has rectified that problem with the launch of the S5 II. It has a new 24-megapixel sensor with phase-detect pixels that should get rid of the wobble and hunting that have plagued the contrast-detect AF on Panasonic cameras over the years.

To make it even better for content creators, Panasonic also brought over its new, more powerful stabilization system from the GH6. And you still get the powerful video features you’d expect on Panasonic cameras, like video up to 6K, monitoring tools and advanced audio features. The S5 II is also attractively priced at $2,000 – that’s $500 less than the Sony A7 IV and Canon EOS R6 II, its main competitors.

This is Panasonic’s first hybrid phase-detect autofocus system, so I was very curious to see how it stacks up against those cameras. I also wanted to see if it would let you leave your gimbal at home, as the company suggests in its ads. To find out, I took it around Paris and my hometown of Gien, France. 

Body and Handling

The S5 II’s body and control layout is identical to the S5, and that’s generally a good thing. At 740 grams, it is a bit heavier than its main rivals. However, it’s still a reasonably lightweight video camera that’s comfortable enough to shoot for a full day. 

It has a big comfortable grip, along with lots of manual controls that let you change settings without the need to dip into menus. It has all the controls you’d hope for like a joystick, dedicated AF control and more. The record button is placed on top so it’s easy to find when vlogging, but it would be nice to have a record button on front like the GH6.

Should you need to use the menus, Panasonic has nailed that part, with well-organized categories that make important adjustments fairly easy to find. It’s also quite easy to customize things, so as with any camera, I’d recommend doing that for your own workstyle. 

The 3-inch, 1.8 million dot rear display is the same one as before and is bright and sharp for video work. It of course fully articulates, so you can flip it around for vlogging, hold it high or low and more. The only drawback is that it can get tangled up with any cables, particularly the headphone jack.  

Luckily, Panasonic boosted the OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) resolution to 3.68 million dots from 2.34 million dots on the original S5. It's now decently sharp and clear, addressing one of my biggest complaints of the last model. 

Steve Dent/Engadget

Another welcome update is two fast UHS-II card slots, rather than one UHS-II and one UHS-I slot on the S5. That allows for faster transfer speeds and more reliable backups, if you like to shoot video to two cards at once. It also now uses a full-sized, rather than a micro HDMI jack as before, making it far more reliable when using an external recorder. 

There are of course headphone and mic jacks, but the S5 II now offers 4-channel recording via the DMW-XLR1 hotshoe audio adapter, just like the GH6. It also borrows the latter’s audio interface that gives you a central hub for all audio settings. It doesn’t have a dedicated button like the GH6, but you can assign any function button.

Finally, the batteries are borrowed from the S5 II, and deliver up to 470 shots on a charge or a solid two hours of 4K recording.

Video

Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras are primarily designed for video shooters, so let’s get into that first. The centerpiece of this camera is that new phase-detect autofocus, designed to eliminate the wobble or hunting that happened with past Panasonic models that had contrast-detect only autofocus. So how does it work for content creators

Steve Dent/Engadget

As with other recent models, the S5 II’s system includes regular continuous AF modes along with subject tracking, for both humans and animals. However, it’s not as sophisticated as recent rival cameras like the A7 IV and EOS R6II, though, as it can’t track things like cars and airplanes, and doesn’t distinguish between birds and other animals.

Luckily, the capabilities it does have are on par with those models. It smoothly tracks subjects and has very little lag if they move toward the camera, for example. Face and eye detection is good, though it struggles a bit if the subject turns, and can’t track their eyes if they’re not reasonably close to the camera. It’s also not quite as sticky as rival models. 

Still, it generally tracks focus reliably for interviews, vlogging and other situations. More importantly, the pulsing, hunting and wobbling is completely gone, so you can now rely on the S5 II’s autofocus in most situations.

There is one caveat that may be important to some users. As YouTuber CameraOfChoice notes, the phase-detect AF works great at all 4K and 6K resolutions, and 1080 25p. However, the camera switches to contrast-detect AF at 10-bit 1080p 60 fps and 120 fps resolutions, along with 3.3K 422/10L 25p. I’ve reached out to Panasonic for more information, but if you use those resolutions frequently, you may need to look at a different model. 

Steve Dent/Engadget

With autofocus issues mostly gone, the S5 II is a far more attractive vlogging and video camera thanks to its other powerful features.

You can shoot 5.9K video at 30p using the full width of the sensor, or full-width supersampled 4K at up to 30 fps. 60p 4K video is possible as well, but requires an APS-C crop and some loss of sharpness. The S5 II can also handle 4:3 anamorphic video at up to 6K using the full sensor width, or 3:2 “open gate” video that makes it easier to crop or deliver in social media formats.

There are few temperature-related time restrictions in any of these modes, thanks to the inclusion of a clever fan that only kicks in when you need it (below). Namely, there are no time restrictions on any video at 4K and below, including 1080p 120, while 6K is limited to 30 minutes. Panasonic is the only manufacturer to test its cameras at up to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit, so most users will likely never experience any problems. 

As with most Panasonic cameras, you can shoot 10-bit video with V-log to boost dynamic range. And it’s easier than ever to monitor V-Log. You can not only choose a standard Rec.709 output, but display your own custom look-up-table or LUT, too. You can even record those LUTs as your final video output, giving you unlimited “looks” and potentially saving time in post.

Steve Dent/Engadget

The main video drawback is the lowish data rates (200 Mbps and below) and the lack of any ProRes or All-I internal recording modes. There’s also no external RAW capture, though you’ll be able to add that later for a $200 fee. You can, however, capture other ProRes codecs to an Atomos Ninja V/V+ or BlackMagic Video Assist recorder. 

And that brings up Panasonic’s upcoming S5 IIx, announced at the same time as the S5 II. It’s priced at $2,200 and is mostly identical in terms of features. However, the extra $200 gets you not only RAW external video included but also ProRes capture to an external SSD via the USB-C port. With a small price difference to get such a useful feature, a lot of people might want to wait for this model.

Another terrific new capability is the updated in-body stabilization borrowed from the GH6. It’s now much better at smoothing out vertical step motion than the S5, though there’s still some side-to-side sway. It also has a “Boost IS” for handheld video where you don’t need to move, keeping shots locked off like the camera’s on a tripod. Can it replace your gimbal? In some cases, yes, but you'll have to work carefully as it still can't match a gimbal's smoothness.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Video quality is excellent, with extremely sharp 4K 30p and 4K 60p that’s just a touch less so. Colors are accurate and pleasing straight out of the camera, with natural-looking flesh tones. The 10-bit V-log video delivers a very solid 14+ stops of dynamic range, just slightly below Nikon and Sony models. That gave me plenty of room for extra creativity or to correct over- and underexposed shots. 

The S5 is also good in low light, thanks to Panasonic’s Dual Native ISO system. Don’t expect Sony A7S III-level performance, but the Dual ISO system really keeps noise down at ISOs as high as 12,800 or even 25,600. You’ll of course see noise when you boost shadows at those ISOs, but the grain looks quite natural. Anything below ISO 6400 has very little visible noise. One quirk is that it’s best to use ISO 4000 instead of ISO 3200, as the Dual ISO is set for ISO 640 and ISO 4000. 

As for rolling shutter, the S5 II is middling in this regard. It’s most noticeable in 6K or supersampled 4K modes, but not bad at all with an APS-C crop. I’d rate it as better than the higher-resolution A7 IV and about the same as Canon’s R6 II.

Finally, Panasonic offers a lot of ways to monitor video not seen on rival cameras, including waveforms and vectorscopes. Those features are very useful to video pros, helping them nail exposure and color accuracy. And as mentioned, audio is very easy to work with thanks to a dedicated hub to adjust settings, along with both line and mic inputs. 

Photography

Most people likely won’t buy the S5 II for photography, but it’s not bad at all in this department. It can handle bursts at up to 7 fps with the mechanical shutter or 30 fps in electronic mode. The buffer is quite impressive, as it allows for 200 shots in RAW before throttling – a full 6-seconds of uninterrupted 30 fps burst shooting.

At those speeds the autofocus largely keeps up, though it’s not quite as fast or accurate as the R6 II and A7 IV AF systems. As with video, the photo autofocus isn’t quite as smart or tenacious with subjects as Sony's A7 IV. Still, it’s much better than the contrast-detect AF of the last model and up there with recent Nikon and Fujifilm AF systems.

Despite the fast electronic burst speeds, the S5 II has limited usage as a sports camera. The rolling shutter would impact shots with fast moving subjects, unless you use it in APS-C mode. That’s a feasible option, but it reduces the resolution by half.  

Given how well it handles video, photos are a piece of cake for the image stabilization system. It locks things down so well that I was able to shoot down to a quarter-second or even less and still get sharp images

Despite the shift to a sensor with phase-detect pixels, image quality hasn’t suffered, with dynamic range just slightly below Sony and Nikon models. JPEGs offer a good balance between noise reduction and sharpness, while delivering natural colors and pleasing skin tones. If you want more control, the RAW photos dial up the dynamic range so you can claw back highlights or dig into shadows. 

As with video, it also excels in low light, with very little noise up to ISO 6400, nothing too objectionable at ISO 12800 and usable images at ISO 25600 if you don’t try to lift the shadows too much. Beyond that, the color grain in particular can get too harsh.

Wrap-up

Steve Dent/Engadget

With the autofocus finally keeping up with rival cameras, Panasonic’s S5 II is an awesome full-frame vlogging and video camera option. Priced at $2,000, it’s also a very strong value proposition, particularly for video shooters.

Its primary competition is the Sony A7 IV and Canon EOS R6 II. Both of those cameras are better for photography, but the S5 II is much better for video and particularly vlogging, thanks to the built-in monitoring tools and superior stabilization. If you want a better match of photography and video tools, Fujifilm’s 40-megapixel $2,000 X-H2 is the best option – if you don’t mind stepping down to an APS-C sensor.

In fact, the S5 II’s greatest rival might be the upcoming S5 IIx. I’d argue that many people paying $2,000 wouldn’t hesitate to spend an extra $200 to get some pretty valuable features like ProRes SSD recording. Either way, it’s Panasonic’s best vlogging camera since the original GH5 and should rise to the top of many content creators’ shopping lists.

Bloomberg sources claim Apple’s quest for no-prick blood glucose monitoring is now at a "proof-of-concept stage" and good enough that it could come to market once it's smaller. The technology, which uses lasers to gauge glucose concentration under the skin, was previously tabletop-sized but has reportedly advanced nearer to an iPhone-sized prototype.

It’s been in the works for a long time. In 2010, when Steve Jobs headed up Apple, the company bought blood glucose monitoring startup RareLight. But no-prick monitors are a challenge. In 2018, Alphabet's health subsidiary, Verily, scrapped plans for a smart contact lens that tried to track glucose using tears.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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• Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

• The best Bluetooth trackers for 2023

Spotify's new AI DJ will talk you through its recommendations

The DJ uses OpenAI to tell you about the songs it chooses for you.

Generative AI is absolutely everywhere right now, and that includes Spotify. Its latest feature, simply called DJ, kicks off a personalized selection of music playing that combines Spotify’s well-known personalization tools, like Discover Weekly, as well as the content that populates your home screen, all with some AI tricks. The feature rolls out today across Spotify Premium in the US and Canada.

Continue reading.

Notion's AI editor is now available to anyone who wants writing help

The company only began testing Notion AI late last year.

Last November, Notion, the popular note-taking app, began testing a built-in generative machine learning algorithm dubbed Notion AI. Now it’s ready for launch. Notion said anyone, including free users, can start using its AI-powered writing assistant. More than two million people signed up for the waitlist for the alpha version and, according to the company, most testers weren’t asking it to write blog posts and marketing emails from scratch. Instead, they were using it to refine their own writing. As a result, the company decided to “completely redesign” Notion AI to make it more “iterative and conversational.” The new version of the tool will generate follow-up prompts until you’re satisfied with its results.

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Twitter’s 2FA paywall is a good opportunity to upgrade your security practices

The platform could become less secure – but that doesn't mean you have to be.

Twitter announced plans to pull a popular method of two-factor authentication for non-paying customers last week. Starting March 20th, if you don’t want to pay $8 to $11 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription (hi, that’s me!), you’ll no longer be able to use text message authentication to get into your account. There are still some options to keep your account secure. Software-based authentication apps like Duo, Authy, Google Authenticator and the 2FA authenticator built into iPhones either send you a notification or, in the case of Twitter, generate a token to complete your login, or you can use hardware-based security keys that plug into devices. We walk you through the options if you want to stick around on Twitter.

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Uber puts a cute lil ride tracker on the iPhone lock screen

The app now supports iOS 16's Live Activities feature.

Uber

Uber has rolled out an update for its iPhone app that shows whether it's time to head out the door and meet the ride you ordered. You even get a cute car icon moving along to illustrate it. The company has launched support for Live Activities, an iOS 16 feature that puts real-time events from compatible apps on top of the lock screen and on the iPhone 14 Dynamic Island when your device is unlocked.

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Mac Mini computers with M2 and M2 Pro are the cheapest way to get Apple's latest processors, and now Amazon is sweetening the deal a bit more. The entry-level 256GB Mini M2 is on sale at $580 for a savings of $19 over the regular price, while the 512MB Mini M2 is $770, or $29 off. And if it's the 512 Mini M2 Pro model you're seeking, it can be found at $1,250, netting you a $49 discount. These appear to be Amazon's new normal prices, but they're less than we're seeing at Apple's Store.

The Mac Mini is tiny but mighty, with the M2 model easily powerful enough for productivity chores and multitasking. The M2 Pro, meanwhile, is a low-key content creation demon, beating the Mac Studio's M1 Max version and on par with the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M2 Max.  

On top of that, you get killer connectivity, with two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, HDMI 2.0 (with 4K 240Hz and 8K 60Hz output), two USB-A ports, a headphone jack and gigabit Ethernet (upgradeable to 10 gigabit). The M2 Pro model adds two additional USB-C ports, making it even more useful for creatives with a ton of accessories.

The Mac Mini M2 won't replace your gaming machine, but it can handle nearly everything else you throw at it. We wouldn't recommend the overpriced storage or RAM upgrades either, as the M2 is much more efficient with RAM than typical PCs. Still, if you're looking for a cheap but powerful Mac, this is the way to go. 

There was speculation that Samsung could use smartphone-to-satellite technology in its Galaxy S23 much like Apple has for the iPhone 14, but that didn't happen in the end. Now, the company has unveiled a new standardized 5G NTN (non-terrestrial network) modem that will enable two-way communication between smartphones and satellites. The technology will allow users to send and receive calls, text messages and data without the need for a cellular network, and will be integrated into Samsung's future Exynos chips.

The aim is to allow people in mountains, deserts or other remote areas to communication with others in critical situations. 5G NTN conforms to 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP Release 17) standards, meaning it works with traditional communication services from chip manufacturers, smartphone makers and telecoms.

Samsung

However, Samsung indicated that the tech could eventually be used to transmit high-definition photos and even video, on top of texts and calls. It simulated the tech using its Exynos Modem 5300 platform "to accurately predict satellite locations and minimize frequency offsets caused by Doppler shift," the company said. That will help pave the way for hybrid terrestrial-NTN networks "in preparation for the arrival of 6G," said Samsung VP Min Goo Kim. 

At CES 2023, Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon Satellite, technology that would allow smartphones to send messages when no cellular signal is available. It'll work in smartphones that have both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and X70 modem system, plus some additional radios. Since Samsung's Galaxy S23 has both chips, it was thought the device may offer satellite communication technology to match Apple's iPhone 14. 

However, Samsung mobile experience VP TM Roh said it wasn't the best moment, as satellite functionality is still fairly limited. "When there is the right timing, infrastructure and the technology is ready, then of course for Samsung Galaxy, for our mobile division, we would also actively consider adopting this feature as well," he told CNET in an interview.

Uber has rolled out an update for its iPhone app that gives you the capability to see at a glance whether it's time to head out the door and meet the ride you ordered. The company has launched support for Live Activities, an iOS 16 feature that puts real time events from compatible apps on top of the lock screen and on the iPhone 14 Dynamic Island when your device is unlocked. 

Uber's take on Live Activities is a window that includes the live progress of a ride, its latest estimated time of arrival and the trip status, such as whether your driver is already waiting for you and if the ride has been completed. It also shows the vehicle type and the license plate number of the ride you're waiting for. As MacRumors notes, Apple announced that Uber would support Live Activities at WWDC last year, and the feature has been in testing in select regions over the past months. This is a wide release that gives you access to the feature anywhere in the world. A company spokesperson also told the publication that the Uber Eats app will support Live Activities in the coming months.

In addition to Live Activities, Uber has updated its app to simplify the homescreen experience, as well. It has a new Services tab where you can find all of the company's services available in your city, as well as a new Activity Hub that tracks past and upcoming rides and Eats orders. 

Artifact, the personalized news curation app from Instagram's co-founders, no longer has a waitlist. The app is live in the Apple App Store in most English-speaking markets, as well as on Android. Starting today, you'll no longer need a phone number to use Artifact unless you want to create an account and move to a different device. 

In addition, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger's team has added more features, including a social element. There's now the option to upload your contacts to see if a certain article has gained traction with your friends. A badge will appear next to an article that's popular enough among your contacts.

Systrom told TechCrunch that you can't see which of your specific friends have read a story or how many. There's a threshold before the badge appears too, so you won't be able to just upload a single contact and use the feature to track what they're reading. These, apparently, are privacy considerations, but they overlook the fact that you'll need to upload your contacts' details to use it.

In another time, Artifact might have tapped into Twitter to see what the people you're following are reading (akin to the Top Articles feature for Blue subscribers). But with Elon Musk severely restricting Twitter's APIs, that may no longer be viable.

Eventually, Artifact will have a way for users to share and comment on articles in the app. The beta version already has a Discover feed of things people are sharing. Naturally, users can like and comment on those shared articles.

The app now has a stats feature that visualizes the categories you've been reading most often, as well as the publishers you've been reading the most. Artifact is grouping articles into more narrowly defined topics as well. Meanwhile, you can now indicate when you don't like an article or publisher and the app will show you less of that. It's possible to block publishers too.

I've been using Artifact for a few weeks and I'm enjoying it so far. Unsurprisingly, the suggestions have become more attuned to my tastes the more I use it and tell it what I don't want to see. It reminds me a bit of Facebook's old Paper app, my favorite thing Meta has built to date. Artifact doesn't have anything like the social graph of Facebook, but given that the Instagram guys are behind it, it's hard to bet against their new app finding success.

Since it started opening up its generative AI-powered chatbot in Bing earlier this month, Microsoft has granted more than a million people access to a preview of the tool, while millions more are on the waitlist. Until now, the only way to access the chatbot has been through the Edge desktop browser. But Microsoft is already bringing it to more products, services and devices.

Starting today, those with access to the chatbot through their Microsoft account can use it on the Edge and Bing mobile apps for Android and iOS. Tapping the Bing button at the bottom of the namesake mobile app will start a chat session. In the Edge mobile app, you can fire up the chatbot from the homepage.

On top of that, you can start using the chatbot in Skype. Users can converse with it one-on-one or add it to a group chat. You might use the chatbot to help plan a trip and let everyone else see the suggestions at the same time, or settle a debate by asking it to clarify which movies an actor has appeared in over the last decade. It can translate information between more than 100 languages too.  

There's also another way to use the chatbot. Microsoft has added voice control on both mobile and desktop. While it's early days for the chatbot, it could finally spell the end for Cortana after years of the voice assistant gradually fading into the background.

Microsoft notes that it could (and probably will) bring the chatbot to other apps, such as Teams,. However, it said that it's still fine-tuning the chatbot, which has run into a number of speed bumps after more people got their hands on it.

Bose's portable Bluetooth speakers have made several of our latest shopping guides, thanks in part to the long battery life and loud, bright sound that carries well outdoors. They're also among the most expensive out there, but several models including the Smart Speaker, Revolve+ and S1 Pro are now on sale at Amazon with savings of up to 30 percent.

While Bluetooth speakers are often commodity items, Bose's SoundLink Revolve ($179 or 18 percent off) and Revolve Plus ($229 or 30 percent off) have premium features. Bose has eschewed typical plastic materials for a fancy "single-piece aluminum enclosure" that's resistant to spills, rain and splashes with an IPX4 rating. And by outputting music from 360 degrees, they sound the same to anyone in the vicinity. The only drawback is bass that lacks some oomph. 

If you want more low end and don't mind spending more, Bose's Portable Smart speaker is also on sale at $319, for a savings of $80 (20 percent). Also a 360-degree speaker, it has a well-rounded low end and bright dynamic sound with plenty of nuance. It's more geared toward home use, offering WiFi, voice and app control, along with support for Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music, Chromecast and more.

Finally, if you really need big sound for outdoor parties, the Bose S1 Pro Bluetooth speaker is on sale for $599, or $100 (14 percent) off. It's designed for rugged use and supports not only wireless Bluetooth, but wired inputs from a guitar, DJ setup and more. You also get Auto EQ and other speakers to maximize sound output, whether you're inside or out. 

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If you’ve ever been derailed from an on-time departure by a set of lost keys or misplaced wallet, you’ll benefit from a Bluetooth tracker. These small devices attach to your stuff and use your smartphone to keep tabs on where they are. There aren’t a ton of players in the field yet, but we tested out some of the most popular options to see what each tracker does well so you can decide which is the best Bluetooth tracker for you.

What to look for in a Bluetooth tracker

Bluetooth trackers are small discs or cards that rely on short-range, low-energy wireless signals to communicate with your smartphone. Attach one to your stuff and, if it’s in range, your phone can “ring” the tracker so you can find it. These devices offer other features like separation alerts to tell you when you’ve left a tagged item behind, or where a lost item was last detected. Some can even tap into a larger network of smartphones to track down your device when you’re out of range. Depending on what you want the tracker to do, there are a few things to look for when deciding which to get.

Device compatibility

Like most things from the folks in Cupertino, AirTags only work with other Apple products. The company has opened up access to its Find My network to third-party manufacturers, including Chipolo, though. Its One Spot and Card Spot finders work with Apple's large tracking network, but only pair with Apple devices. Chipolo’s classic trackers will work with either Android or Apple devices, as will Tile trackers.

Finding network

Crowd-sourced finding capabilities are what make headlines, with stories about recovering stolen equipment or tracking lost luggage across the globe. Using anonymous signals that ping other people’s devices, Bluetooth trackers can potentially tell you where a tagged item is, even if your smartphone is out of range. Apple’s Find My network is by far the largest, with over a billion iPhones in service all running Apple’s Find My app by default. So unless an iPhone user opts out, their phone silently acts as a location detector for any nearby AirTags.

While Android phones outnumber iPhones globally, they don’t have a similar, unified “find-my”network. (Though, reports that Google may be working on AirTag rival means such a system may be coming.) In the meantime, Tile offers the second-largest finding grid, with every smartphone that runs the Tile app acting as incognito locators. After Life360 acquired Tile, the 47 million users of that app were added to the 50 million existing Tile users, creating a sizable network.

In our tests, AirTags offered nearly real-time location data and were quickest to find items abandoned in spots around Albuquerque, including a bar, bookstore and coffee shop in Nob Hill, along with various outdoor hangouts on UNM’s campus. Tile trackers were able to locate our lost items most of the time, though not with the same pin-point accuracy as AirTags. Chipolo’s Spot trackers operate on the same Find My network and perform on par with the AirTags. Chipolo’s classic trackers, on the other hand, don’t have much of a crowd-sourced network to speak of. Yet as we used the trackers, the size of the finding network started to feel less important in the face of typical, everyday use cases. It was their ability to out-perform in every other way that boosted Chipolo’s classic trackers to the top of our list.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Separation alerts

Here’s where a tracker’s day-to-day utility really shines. A separation alert lets you know when you’ve traveled too far from your tagged items, which is useful if you want to make sure your laptop bag, or jacket or umbrella always comes with you when you leave the house.

These notifications work when you’re out and about too. If you’ve got a tracker in your wallet and walk out of a restaurant without it, the separation alert should kick in, resulting in less lost stuff. This feature also tells you where your tagged item and phone were last paired, allowing you to retrace your steps if you happen to miss the alert.

Each tracker handles left-behind items differently. Both AirTags and Chipolo include the feature by default. Tile trackers require a yearly subscription to enable the alerts (currently $30 per year). Both AirTags and Tiles allow you to turn off separation alerts at certain locations, meaning you can set your home as a “safe” place where items can be left behind, but alerts will still trigger elsewhere. Chipolo doesn’t offer safe locations, but you can toggle out-of-range alerts on a per-item basis.

In our tests, the Chipolo sent an alert after we got between 250 and 450 feet away from our tagged item. AirTags alerted us between the 600- and 1,400-foot mark. And Tiles sent a notification after about an average of 1,500 feet. The notifications were not consistent on an iPhone, but worked well when operating with an Android phone.

Connectivity, volume and design

The feature you may use most often is the simple “find my keys” function. If you have your phone, but no idea where your tagged keys are, you can tap a button in the tracker’s app to make the tracker ring. The ability to consistently and quickly connect with your phone is important for making it out the door with less stress. Tile and Chipolo classic trackers will also let you double click the device itself to make your phone ring, but AirTags and Chipolos running on the Find My app don’t offer this feature.

The volume of the tracker may determine whether you can find an item buried in your couch cushions or in a noisy room. AirTags have a reputation for being on the quiet side, and that aligned with what we saw (measuring roughly 65 decibels). Chipolo’s keychain-style tags, both the Apple-only version and the device-agnostic version, and the Tile Slim wallet tracker were the loudest, measuring between 83 and 85 decibels.

Design will determine what you can attach the tracker to. AirTags are small, smooth discs that have no way of securing to anything without accessories, which are numerous, but that is an additional cost to consider. Both Chipolo and Tile offer trackers with holes that easily attach to your key ring, and both companies also offer card-shaped versions designed to fit in your wallet. Batteries are replaceable for AirTags, Chipolo One and Tile Pro. Tile Mate and all card-shaped trackers don’t have replaceable batteries, which means you’ll have to replace the entire unit whenever it dies.

Stalking and stealing

AirTags have recently gotten a lot of attention for bad actors planting them on people in order to stalk them. While this fact may not influence your buying decision, any discussion of Bluetooth trackers should note what steps both Apple and Tile have taken to address the issue. If an AirTag is detected moving with you and apart from its owner, the device will ring to alert you of its presence. If you have an iPhone, as long as you have location services and Bluetooth turned on, you’ll automatically get an alert on your phone, with no further steps required. If you have an Android, you can download a special app that can detect unknown AirTags. Tile offers a similar feature through its standard app, and it doesn’t require a Tile account to search for suspicious nearby trackers.

As far as combating theft goes, a Bluetooth tracker may or may not be a good option. Anecdotal stories abound in which people have recovered stolen goods using a tracker — but other tales are more cautionary. Neither Apple nor Tile promote their trackers or finding networks as a way to deal with theft. GPS trackers, on the other hand, are typically marketed for just that purpose.

How we tested

Before deciding on which trackers to test, we researched the field, looking at user reviews on Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers, along with discussions on sites like Reddit. We also checked out what other publications had to say on the matter before narrowing down our picks to Apple AirTag, Tile and Chipolo trackers.

Here’s the full list of every tracker we tested:

• Apple AirTag

• Tile Mate

• Tile Pro

• Tile Slim

• Chipolo Card Spot

• Chipolo One Spot

• Chipolo One

• Chipolo Card

After acquiring the trackers, I tested each one over the course of a few weeks using both an iPhone 11 and a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. I recreated likely user experiences, such as losing and leaving items behind at home and out in the city. I planted trackers at different spots near downtown Albuquerque, mostly concentrated in and around the University of New Mexico and the surrounding neighborhood of Nob Hill. Each test was performed multiple times, both while walking and driving and I used the measure distance feature on Google Maps to track footage for alerts. I paid attention to how easy the app was to use, how reliable the phone-to-tracker connection was and any other perks and drawbacks that came up during regular use.

Best Overall: Chipolo One

Hands-on testing is great at smashing assumptions, and that’s what happened with the Chipolo One. This tracker’s crowd-sourced finding network cannot compare with AirTag or Tile. In fact, when I left the Chipolo for 24 hours just outside the busy student union at UNM, I was never alerted that a member of the Chipolo community had detected my item. But as I used it and pictured how most people would use a tracker on a daily basis, the device proved its worth and earned its spot on my keyring.

The One is a small and colorful plastic disc with a hole. It works with both Apple and Android devices and requires an app which is simple to use and easily pairs new trackers. The app and tracking experience on an iPhone and a Galaxy phone were nearly identical, working equally well on both platforms. It rang the loudest of all the trackers, so hidden items were quickly found around the house. Unlike other trackers, there was never a delay between pressing the Ring to Find button and hearing the trill. The ring delay for AirTag was never more than a few seconds and Tiles would generally connect and ring after no more than ten seconds. While that’s not a deal-breaking delay, it could add to the stress of rushing out the door.

Where the Chipolo One truly set itself apart was with its separation alerts. I would only get a half to two blocks away (or an average of 350 feet) before getting an alert asking if I’d forgotten an item. Neither AirTag nor Tile ever beat Chipolo to the punch. The alerts were consistent whether I was forgetting an item at home, at a coffee shop, or inside my car.

As far as losing stuff out in the wild, it will get you back to the spot where your phone and tracker were last paired. That means if you miss an alert or don’t have them turned on, Chipolo will give you directions (via your maps app) and take you right to where you left your item. In one test, I had a friend hide the tracker nearby when I wasn't looking. I left the area and returned hours later, using the last location information to lead me within a few feet of the tracker. Ringing the tracker then made it easy to find. Of course, if someone walks off with your tracked item, the Chipolo will be harder pressed to help you out.

If you’re concerned about lost luggage when you travel or if you worry you may lose things on trains or buses, this isn’t the tracker for you because of its much smaller finding network. But if you’re looking for a dead simple way to find your keys and make sure your jacket leaves the bar when you do, the Chipolo One is hard to beat.

Best for iPhones: AirTag

AirTags work with the Find My app, so they don’t require any additional downloads. If you’ve used the Find My app before, you’ll likely understand how this works. These are the quietest of the trackers we tested and each time you press the Play Sound button, the tags only ring for seven seconds. You’ll need to keep pressing if you don’t find your item right away and AirTags can’t be used to ring your phone.

As for separation alerts, AirTags were consistent, always delivering a “left behind” alert when I traveled about 1,200 feet away, or about three square blocks, without an item. You can turn off separation alerts for any given tracker, as well as designate certain locations, such as your home or workplace, as exceptions for the notifications.

One feature that AirTags have that no other tag offers is the ability to tap into the ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless protocol. This allows you to play a fun game of hot and cold with an item when it’s within about 25 feet of your iPhone. Directional arrows and a diminishing distance meter on your iPhone’s screen point you to an item without having to ring it. This worked reliably about 75 percent of the time in my tests; sometimes it was just easier to ring the item when the directional finding couldn’t keep a lock on the tracker. UWB is supported by iPhone models 11 and later and while newer Galaxy and Pixel phones also support UWB, no Android-compatible tracker has been released, though, Tile has announced one that will.

AirTag’s ability to locate a lost item out in the city is almost eerie. I had someone (who was not carrying an iPhone) take my bike with a tracker hidden under the seat to a location a little over a half mile away. I set out a few minutes later and toggled on Notify When Found in the Find My app. Within three minutes, I received a notification that the bike had been “seen” near an address. Tapping on Directions navigates to Apple Maps, which took me to a spot about 30 feet from the bike. Had it been obscured from view, I could have then used the Find Nearby button to activate the UWB locating features. Ringing the tag was too quiet to hear on the sidewalk.

If you want the same scary-precise community finding features, but with a louder ring and a hole in the tracker, the Chipolo One Spot is a solid option. It doesn’t offer UWB capabilities, however, and the separation alerts are the same as with AirTags (letting you get 1,200 feet away before a ping, versus an average of 350 feet with our top rec, Chipolo One classic).

Best for Android: Tile Pro

Tile will work with either Android or Apple devices, but the experience is much better on Android. Certain connectivity issues and a lack of alerts that plagued the iPhone experience did not show up in tests with the Galaxy phone. One caveat to note is that Tile requires a subscription to enable separation alerts. Tile Premium goes for $3 per month or $30 per year and includes location history and item reimbursement of up to $100 on items that you register with the company, they’ll also send out a fresh battery once a year. Tile stands out as the only tracker company offering reimbursement — even without a subscription, they’ll pay out up to $25 for items that you register with them.

The Tile Pro is a key-fob shaped device with a metal keychain hole that feels sturdy. The Pro’s ring was just a few decibels quieter than the Tile Mate (78 versus 82 decibels), but the connectivity range was better with the Pro, and it was more accurate in finder network tests. On top of that, this is the only current Tile device with a replaceable battery, which lasts about one year.

For the lost-item tests, I had a friend take the Pro to random locations. After turning on the Notify When Found feature, an alert would arrive between five and ten minutes later saying my lost item was “found by the community.” The map details were typically accurate within about 100 feet or so, though it occasionally thought the Tile was at a business next door to where it actually was. Without the UWB feature, precision finding of an item was trickier. In one test, the tracker ended up in a noisy pub. While the directions pointed me to the right location, it would have been difficult to find the item if I hadn’t spotted my friend, as the ring function was useless among the din.

Best wallet tracker: Tile Slim

The Tile Slim is louder than both the Pro and the Mate, and nearly equals the loudest tracker we tested, the Chipolo One. It works with both Android and Apple devices and its thick credit card shape fits in the slots of a typical wallet (though it often won’t connect when inside an RFID-blocking wallet). The separation alerts you’ll get if you pay for a Tile subscription activate at about the same distance as the Tile Pro, letting you get around 1,500 feet away before pinging you about a left-behind item. When using an iPhone with Tile trackers, separation alerts rarely came and connectivity between the phone and tracker was spotty at best, even in close proximity. If you use an iPhone, the Chipolo Card Spot is equally loud, runs on Apple’s vast Find My network and consistently gives you a left-behind alert at around 1,200 feet.

Twitter announced plans to pull a popular method of two-factor authentication for non-paying customers last week. Not only could this make your account more vulnerable to attack, but it may even undermine the platform’s security as a whole and set a dangerous precedent for other sites.

Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, adds a layer of security beyond password protection. Weak passwords that are easily guessed by hackers, leaked passwords or phishing attacks that can lure password details out of a user can all lead to unwanted third-party account access.

With 2FA, a user has another guard up. Simply entering a password isn’t enough to gain account access, and instead the user gets a notification via text message, or uses an authenticator app or security key to approve access.

“Two factor authentication shouldn't be behind a paywall,” Rachel Tobac, CEO of security awareness organization SocialProof Security, told Engadget, “especially not the most introductory level of two factor that we find most everyday users employing.”

Starting March 20, non-subscribers to Twitter will no longer be able to use text message authentication to get into their accounts. The feature will be automatically disabled if users don’t set up another form of 2FA. That puts users who don’t act quickly to update their settings at risk.

If you don’t want to pay $8 to $11 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription, there are still some options to keep your account secure. Under security and account access settings, Twitter users can change to “authentication app” or “security key” as their two-factor authentication method of choice.

Software-based authentication apps like Duo, Authy, Google Authenticator and the 2FA authenticator built into iPhones either send you a notification or, in the case of Twitter, generate a token that will let you complete your login. Instead of just a password, you’ll have to type in the six-digital code you see in the authentication app before it grants access to your Twitter account.

Security keys work in a similar way, requiring an extra step to access an account. It’s a hardware-based option that plugs into your computer or connects wirelessly to confirm your identity. Brands include Yubikey, Thetis, and more.

Security keys are often considered more secure because a hacker would have to physically acquire the device to get in. 2FA methods that require a code to get in, like via text message or authentication app, are phishable, according to Tobac. In other words, hackers can deceive a user into giving up that code in order to get into the account. But hardware like security keys can’t be remotely accessed in the same way.

“Cyber attackers don't stand next to you when they hack you. They're hacking you through the phone, email, text message or social media DM,” Tobac said.

Still, putting any 2FA behind a paywall makes it more inaccessible for users, especially if the version put behind the paywall is as widely used as text-based authentication. Fewer people may be inclined to set it up, or they may be ignoring the pop-ups from Twitter to update their accounts so that they can get back to tweeting, Tobac said.

Without 2FA, it’s a lot easier for unauthorized actors to get into your account. More compromised accounts makes Twitter a less secure platform with more potential for attacks and impersonation.

“When it's easier for us to take over accounts, myths and disinformation increase and bad actors are going to increase on the site because it's easier to gain access to an account with a large following that you can tweet out whatever you like pretending to be them,” Tobac said.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk implied that paywalling text-message based 2FA would save the company money. The controversial decision comes after a privacy and security exodus at Twitter last fall. In the midst of layoffs, high-level officials like former chief information security officer Lea Kissner and former head of integrity and safety Yoel Roth left the company.