The 5 Best Luggage Tags of 2025

Smart luggage tags are electronic devices meant to help you locate your luggage when it’s lost.

We don’t recommend using them instead of analog tags: A tag containing a card with your information is still often the best way for helpful strangers or airline representatives to reach you. But being able to track your luggage remotely can be useful as a second layer of protection against loss or theft.

After surveying the range of smart tags on the market, we think Bluetooth trackers are the best for regular use in luggage, in particular the Apple AirTag (for iOS users) or Tile Pro (for Android users). Instead of attaching these tags to your luggage strap, we recommend hiding them inside your bag where they’re less likely to be damaged — or intentionally removed by a thief.

Although these trackers use the same technology, it’s worth noting that the AirTag has a few advantages over the Tile Pro when it comes to luggage tracking. Both devices pair with your phone initially via Bluetooth, and then work in unison with a broad network of other app users (either Find My or the Tile app) to passively and anonymously track their location once they are out of range.

Find My has a much broader network of users than the Tile app, which gives it the edge for accurate luggage tracking. In practical terms, if you leave your AirTag-equipped suitcase on an airport shuttle, for example, it’s more likely that other people on the shuttle will have the Find My app enabled on their devices than the Tile app, and you’ll be more likely to be able to track your suitcase more precisely.

You can also now securely share your AirTag information with many airlines by using the “Share Item Location” feature in the Find My app, which you can’t (yet) do with the Tile system.

Other smart tag options

In addition to Bluetooth trackers, there are a few other types of smart tags out there, none of which we recommend.

There are smart tags with QR codes or unique website addresses that claim to be user-friendly. We felt these were the exact opposite, requiring the person who finds your luggage to be smartphone or web literate, which, although very likely, is not guaranteed. Also, it adds an extra, and in our opinion unnecessary, step between the person who finds your luggage and your info. If you don’t want to put your home address where everyone can see it, don’t: A phone number or email address should suffice.

There are also a handful of RFID luggage tags on the market, but as with the QR code and other smart luggage tags, they require the finder of the lost luggage to have technical knowledge and, in the case of RFID, a special reader. Some airlines use RFID to track luggage, but unless you only fly with that airline and you’re positive the tag you’re getting works with their equipment, it seems an unnecessary cost for something that will rarely help.

Finally, there are GPS tracking devices that you can use to find your luggage anywhere. These devices typically cost $30 to $40 and require a monthly fee, often around $10 to $20. This is because instead of connecting to your phone via Bluetooth, they connect with cell towers directly, which costs money. They’re essentially a smartphone, without the phone. Or the smarts.

As well as being more expensive, some of these trackers require lithium-ion batteries that exceed the FAA’s watt hour regulations for what you can use in a checked bag. They also have the potential to be fairly creepy. Each company selling these devices mentions that it can be used to track other things. Like your car, or your purse … or someone else’s car, or someone else’s purse.

It’s true that any tracker, including AirTag’s, could be used to track other people. But unlike the companies that sell these GPS devices, Apple has made real attempts to safeguard people from this possibility. If an AirTag is near or on your person for an extended period of time, you’ll receive a notice on your iPhone or Android with information about who the device belongs to and how to disable it. (You can read more about this function in our guide to Bluetooth trackers.)