The best luggage trackers

A Bluetooth tracker broadcasts a signal a few meters. It has no GPS receiver and no cellular radio. When a compatible phone passes within range, that phone anonymously reports the tracker's location to the network, and you see that report in your app.

• In an airport, they work very well. Phone density is extremely high, so updates are frequent and accurate to a terminal or a baggage area.
• In a cargo hold at altitude, they do not work at all. No phones, no updates. The tracker will show its last known position, which is usually the departure airport.
• In a remote warehouse or on a truck, they work intermittently. Updates depend entirely on someone with a phone walking past.
• They cannot be used to track a person's movements in real time. Both major networks include anti-stalking alerts that notify someone if an unknown tracker is traveling with them.

So the realistic expectation is this: you will know which airport your bag is at, and usually which part of it. That is genuinely valuable - it is the difference between an airline telling you the bag is 'in the system' and you telling them it has been in Charles de Gaulle baggage services for eleven hours. What to do if the airline loses your luggage covers what to do with that information, and the published compensation limits that apply once you have filed.

Network density above everything else, because it is not one feature among many - it is the product. A tracker on a sparse network is a coin cell in a plastic case. Then which phone you carry, which determines the network available to you. Then battery replaceability, since a sealed tracker is disposable. Then format, which decides where in the bag it can live.

We have not tested detection latency in airports ourselves and we do not run a testing lab. Network coverage claims here reflect the publicly documented structure of each network rather than our own measurements - our methodology sets out the distinction.

• GPS trackers with a SIM and a monthly fee. They genuinely work in a hold, but the subscription cost over a few years exceeds the value of most bags and the battery needs charging.
• Unbranded trackers on proprietary apps. No network means no detection, which means no product. These are the most common thing sold in this category and the least useful.
• Trackers with non-replaceable batteries at disc prices. A disposable device at a rechargeable price is a poor trade.
• Smart luggage with built-in trackers. Several airlines restrict non-removable batteries, and you cannot move the tracker to a different bag.

1. Put it inside the bag, not on the outside. An external tracker is removable by anyone. Inside a packed suitcase it works fine and cannot be detached.
2. Put it somewhere you can describe. If you need to tell an airline where the tracker is, 'in the front pocket' is more useful than 'somewhere in the bag'.
3. Check the battery before a long trip. A coin cell lasts about a year, and it will die on the trip that matters if you never check it.
4. Screenshot the location before you talk to the airline. A timestamped screenshot is a far more effective thing to show a baggage desk than a live app you have to explain.
5. Pair it with a [luggage tag](/luggage/best-luggage-tags). The tracker tells you where the bag is; the tag tells whoever finds it where to send it.
6. Do not let the tracker be the only thing you planned for. A tracked bag can still arrive three days late - what not to pack in checked luggage covers what has to be on you rather than in it.

Coin-cell trackers installed in a device are generally accepted in checked baggage, and several major airlines have explicitly confirmed their position on Apple AirTags specifically after earlier confusion. The general lithium battery rules are the ones to know: spare batteries and power banks must be in carry-on baggage and are prohibited in checked bags.

That prohibition is about spare and uninstalled batteries, not about a coin cell inside a working device. If you are carrying a power bank, that is the item the rule is aimed at, and it comes out of the checked bag before you hand it over - power bank rules for flights sets out the watt-hour thresholds and what changes when a bag is gate-checked.

Trackers behave differently in a foreign airport, because the thing that finds your bag is the density of other people's phones around it. Best luggage trackers for international travel covers which network to buy into, why no roaming plan is needed, and what to expect from a quiet regional airport.

The hardware matters far less than the finding network behind it, and that is decided by the phone in your pocket rather than by the tracker. AirTag vs Tile for luggage puts the two side by side on the only specification that locates a bag.

If you have not decided whether a tracker earns its place, are luggage trackers worth it sets out the case and the four things a tracker genuinely cannot do.

Every recommendation that starts with an AirTag assumes an iPhone, and Apple publishes no Android app at all. Best luggage trackers for Android covers the Google Find Hub picks that work from an Android handset, with no subscription on any of them.

A tracker tells you where the bag is; a tag tells whoever is holding it how to reach you. Run both, and keep the tracker inside the bag where it cannot be lifted off. Custom luggage tags: what to put on one sets out what belongs on the contact tag and what should never go on it.