I lose my TV remote all the time — and this sticker tracker has come to my rescue

No tracking device has shot up in my estimation more over the years than the Tile Sticker. When first introduced around five years ago, the sticker suffered from limited range and a hard-to-hear alarm. But Tile has worked mighty hard to improve this device to the point where the Tile Sticker 2024 ranks among the best key finders out there, especially if you're looking to track down objects that aren't always easy to equip with a tracking device.

The current version of the Tile Sticker has spent the last few months firmly attached to my Apple TV remote, and it's more than earned its salt by letting me know when the remote control has slipped between couch cushions, hidden under a blanket or placed far from its designated storage space by someone in my household.

While I'm using the Tile Sticker to keep tabs on my remote control's location, this Bluetooth-based tracker is flexible enough to track a whole range of valuables. It's a great option for some specific use cases where you won't run into the device's lingering limitations. I'll explain what I mean in this Tile Sticker 2024 review.

Tile Sticker 2024 review: Price and availability

Like the Tile Mate, the Tile Sticker costs $25, making it the cheapest Tile tracker you can buy. And much like its key finders, Tile likes to sell the Sticker in multi-packs, with a four-pack of devices costing $90. If you like the idea of tracking multiple devices, buying multiple Tile Stickers at a discount seems like a fine idea.

The Tile Sticker is the least color-conscious of any of Tile's devices. You can get the Sticker in any color you like, so long as it's black.

Tile Sticker 2024 review: Design and features

Devices like the Tile Mate and Tile Pro are meant to attach to key chains, backpacks and other valuables with straps, hooks or fobs. But what if the thing you want to track offers nothing but smooth surfaces?

That's where the Tile Sticker comes in. As the name implies, the bottom of surface of this tracker has an adhesive that you press onto the surface of something you want to monitor from an Android or iOS app on your phone. I've mentioned that I've got the Sticker stuck to an Apple TV remote, but Tile touts other possible use cases like tracking laptops, luggage, passports and more.

In my experience with my TV remote and the Tile Sticker, that adhesive keeps things attached very convincingly. I can pick up the remote by pinching the sides of the Tile Sticker without the remote threatening to come loose.

Past Tile Stickers have been perfectly circular, and while the 2024 version is less rectangular than its Tile counterparts, it still maintains some rounded edges.

There's a small button on the side of the Tile Sticker that you use to pair the device with your phone over Bluetooth. Pressing that button twice buzzes your phone, and with Life360 app integration, you can also set it to send an SOS alert to your Life360 contacts. (As with the other Tile trackers, you have to choose one option or the other.)

I wouldn't count on the Tile Sticker for easily performing either the phone buzz or the SOS alert, as that button can be rather hard to locate and press when the tracker is flush against the surface of the object you're tracking. Really, the main function of the Tile Sticker is its best use case — when you can't find the object it's attached to, you fire up the Tile app, press a button and listen for the alarm to help you pinpoint the tracker's location.

A long-standing question with the Tile Sticker is whether you really want to add what is essentially a knob-sized protrusion to the otherwise sleek surface of whatever it is you're hoping to track. On something like a TV remote, that's a trade-off of functionality over form I'm willing to make. I might not be so sanguine about the jarring look and feel if it involved one of the best laptops or best iPads, though.

Tile Sticker 2024 review: Performance

At a range of 250 feet, the Tile Sticker covers the smallest area of any Tile tracker, emphasizing the point that this device is best for keeping tabs on objects around the home. The Tile Sticker, like other Tile trackers, also relies solely on Bluetooth so long-range tracking or precision finding features like the ones supported by Ultra Wideband-equipped trackers are out of the question.

In this round of Tile tracker testing, all the 2024 models came up well short of their listed ranges when I took the trackers out into a park and measured how far I could stand from them before losing contact with my smartphone. In the case of the Tile Sticker, I got as much as 55 feet away before the Tile Sticker dropped out of sight on the Tile app; most of the time, the range was limited between 30 and 50 feet.

That's not ideal for keeping tabs on things outside of the home, but if you're using the Sticker on household objects like a remote control or a tool chest or something else that's unlikely to wander too far off, you'll find the Tile Sticker a lot more effective. Within close range,

it's pretty easy to hear the 100-decibel alarm, too, when you're using the Tile app to find a nearby Sticker. That said, for times when the Sticker-equipped remote gets stuck between couch cushions, it can be hard to hear that alert from a room way.

Tile Sticker 2024 review: Verdict

For objects like keys, the Tile Mate is the better option, assuming you don't want the more precise finder features for iPhones and Galaxy devices supported by the Apple AirTag and Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 2, respectively. But for keeping tabs on the location of simple household items, it's hard to beat the convenience of the Tile Sticker, especially when you consider that device's low price and slim profile.