Apple’s new Find My app will find your devices even if they’re offline

GPS coverage works even without Network/WiFi coverage. I find it very, very unlikely inertial tracking using iPhone inertial sensors would be accurate up to 30 miles.

Could you provide a source please on the fact that iPhones use inertial navigation for predicting location (either public or private apis)

Using just MEMs based accelerometers, your position error would be hundreds of feet within a minute or two. Gyro and compass can slow the error down a bit, but not enough to be within a road width over 30 miles.

I think it's more likely that GPS was working in the anecdote above. It would be hard to find a place that had 30 miles of road and couldn't get a GPS/GLONASS fix.

It just crowdsourced the bluetooth range of people connected to the internet who are willing to run the app, which is a really small zone of moving flashlight cones, densely clustered near civilization.

I really needed Tile to work in the middle of nowhere. It's not an all-terrain device. And honestly, if it's not going to work in any location, it means I can't ask it where I dropped my thing, while engaging in outdoor activities. That was what I wanted it to be for.

I needed Tile to take new batteries too. That said, Apple devices are also battery hostile, and I despise Apple for pushing that trend.

I also wanted to not have to give personal details to use Tile. I can think of procedures for operation that obviate personal identification, passwords and periodic logins to accounts, and if Tile didn't offer the option, then the motive for why they left that part out is clear and user hostile.

Apple should not be penalized for offering something inherently more private than the competition.