We’ve all done it and every time we do, we promise ourselves that this was the absolute last time. Sound familiar? Well, it turns out there’s a simple and affordable solution to the problem. It’s called a Bluetooth tracker.A Bluetooth tracker is a small gadget you can attach to your things to keep an eye on them. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy (also known as BLE or Bluetooth 5.0) to wirelessly connect to your mobile device and transmit data to that device through the connection.

Each Bluetooth tracker has a unique signature that is only known to its owner once they connect the Bluetooth gadget to their user account on the accompanying mobile app.

This way, the tracker and the app can recognize each other, ensuring the tracker cannot be tracked by outsiders and its location is only known to the owner. The only exception to this rule is when the owner decides to share their tracker with another user within the app, giving them permission to track the finder from their account as well.

Because this connection is set up with Bluetooth Low Energy, both the device and the gadget use a truly negligible amount of power.

The tracker can last anywhere upwards of 6 months and your phone can last all day without you having to worry it will run out of power. The tracker itself has a few basic components that you can find in any model Bluetooth tracker.

Power SourceThis is almost always a small lithium-ion battery (also known as Li-ion battery or LIB). The batteries range from the standard coin shaped ones to custom-made batteries that specifically fit the shape of their respective Bluetooth tracker.These batteries can be rechargeable, which eliminates the additional cost of having to replace the battery, but also means shorter periods between charges as rechargeable batteries usually don’t last as long as replaceable or non-replaceable batteries do.

Most commonly, the replaceable or non-replaceable battery used is the CR2025 or CR2032 coin-shaped one. Whether the battery is replaceable or not depends on the company that made the tracker and on the features that a particular model Bluetooth tracker offers. For example, water-resistant Bluetooth trackers, like the Rio Tag Plus, don’t have a replaceable battery to ensure the tracker stays water-resistant.