This only works on the device itself, and while it can contact the internet or SMS. It's more akin to a self-hosted version of device locating features pre-airt

This only works on the device itself, and while it can contact the internet or SMS. It's more akin to a self-hosted version of device locating features pre-airtag. I think the real utility of tile/airtag/google-find-my-device is the network of other colluding devices listening for bluetooth pings and reporting on the location. Not least because apple (maybe google, don't know) forces your device to send reports if you want to use the feature. Heck, on modern phone OSs, you can't use BLE in apps without turning on the location service.