Stefan Vorontsov is a Ukrainian volunteer who secretly coaches those who want to leave occupied Ukraine.He told BI what it's like to evacuate and prepare for scrutiny from border authorities.He said the journey's most difficult leg is the border checkpoint, where Ukrainians can get interrogated for six hours.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Stefan Vorontsov, a Ukrainian who fled Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka in early 2022. His organization, Humanity, has helped over 6,000 Ukrainians leave southern and eastern Ukraine.Vorontsov is trying to raise awareness of the situation at the border, and limited his interview to information that he says would not compromise evacuees' safety. The following has been edited for length and clarity.Ukrainians who want to leave Russian occupation have only one path: Russia itself.It's too dangerous to cross the front line, so we must go through either Crimea or Rostov-on-Don. Each one has a border checkpoint that gives Ukrainians access to Russia, but they are incredibly difficult to pass through.The Russian border authorities are constantly screening people to catch pro-Ukraine partisans or punish those with family in the Ukrainian forces. One slip-up may mean you go to prison or never leave.When a Ukrainian evacuee makes contact with us, we give them a "legend." It's the fake story we must create about why they want to enter Russia, about their families and national identity, and about their past.For example, sick people can say they want to visit a Russian hospital, and families can say they want to go to the Black Sea and chill at the beach. Ukrainians in occupied Kherson typically try to leave through Crimea, while those in the Mariupol and southern Donbas areas go through Rostov-on-Don. Vorontsov said Ukrainians in Donetsk and Luhansk typically do not need as much help as travel restrictions are more lax there. Screenshot/Google Maps It's a lot harder for young Ukrainian men, especially those who are flagged by Russia for making pro-Ukraine posts online. For these people, we have to make sure their legend is strong.In most cases, I use Telegram's "secret chat" function to message an evacuee carefully. I have to be delicate with what I tell them because I know that Russia may be able to read every word I write.The Russians search everything about youThere are many reasons Ukrainians did not flee before the Russian army arrived. Many are sick. Many have children. Even though the war is on your doorstep, on your streets, it's so difficult to make the decision to permanently leave your home. Vorontsov's organization, Humanity, said that it's helped over 2,000 Ukrainian children leave occupied territories. Stefan Vorontsov Over the years, I've learned that 95% of an evacuation's success depends on preparation before the person steps out the door.The most important thing Ukrainians must do is clean up their phones.The Russians check everything at the border checkpoint, and they're always looking for people with pro-Ukrainian views.Evacuees must prepare that they could be interviewed for six hours at the border checkpoint, where the guards will meticulously vet everything about them: their phones, their social media posts, and their search history.Anything related to Ukraine can implicate you. Ukrainian words, text messages from family members, photos of the Ukrainian flag, and even the colors of blue and yellow might land you in trouble. The guards can see if you liked or subscribed to a pro-Ukraine social media channel.Maps are especially important to delete. The Russians do not like maps, and they think you will use them for sending coordinates.Photos of buildings or city locations can also be a trap because they might be labeled as evidence of Russian positions.The Russians will look through your phone contacts and call history, and try to find numbers from their database of pro-Ukraine people or Ukrainian soldiers. Even if it is an unknown number to you, you can still be caught if it's related to someone the Russians don't like.We also consider the type of phone our evacuees use. If they use an Android phone, it's very easy for the Russians to recover a lot of their deleted data, like messages and photos from the last two or three years.To help their case, we sometimes tell evacuees to add a bit of Russian flavor to their digital history by following certain Telegram channels or subscribing to pro-Russia YouTubers.Surviving the checkpointOur organization gives free evacuation to those who want to escape, and we try to plan every step for them. We arrange for licensed bus drivers to take them to Crimea or Rostov-on-Don, and if they can't make it themselves to the gathering point, we pay for taxis, food, or hostel stays. Fleeing Ukrainians pose after arriving at Odesa's railway station. Stefan Vorontsov But we have to compete with Russian drivers, who come from the east and offer desperate Ukrainians travel into Russia for $400 a trip. We pay our drivers less than $50 per person.At the border, the interviewers will try to provoke the evacuees. They will ask questions to make Ukrainians angry and catch them slipping if they support Ukraine.This is where an evacuee's legend is so important.If, for example, their brother is in the Ukrainian military, they should never tell the Russians that. They should try to talk about how they hate war and pretend to be as neutral as possible. Sometimes, it's useful to say that they are tired of the Ukrainian government.The consequences of failing the checkpoint clearance can be great. You can be stuck in occupied Ukraine. Or you can go to prison. Or they can send you to a deep part of Russia without telling anyone.Dozens of my friends, colleagues, and evacuees have disappeared while making this journey, and I don't know where they are.Old people, children, and the sick often have an easier time, but it's becoming a lot harder to leave occupied Ukraine. When I left Ukraine in early 2022, it was 40 days after the Russians took Nova Kakhovka. Many of the evacuees aided by Vorontsov are old, have disabilities, or are sick. Stefan Vorontsov Back then, the Russians thought they would take our country quickly. They found photos and information on my phone that revealed I was pro-Ukraine, but somehow I managed to lie my way through to Georgia. Now, they try to break all Ukrainians, even old grannies and mothers.Since January 2024, Russia has also required all Ukrainians to get a Russian passport for permission to cross the border. That's made our work a lot more difficult, and it introduced new complications. Boys and men, even those as young as 15, get pressured to join the Russian army when they apply for a passport.If a Ukrainian can overcome all of these obstacles and pass the border checkpoint, they can travel to Moscow. From there, they can take a train to Belarus or Europe and eventually return to unoccupied Ukraine.The entire process takes about four days. As for myself, I had to pass a second checkpoint and go through another four-hour interview on my way to Georgia, where I stayed for six months. Now, I'm in Western Europe helping to coordinate evacuations.We don't get paid for what we do. In 2024, my organization helped to evacuate 360 Ukrainians, including 106 children, for a total of $23,500. We also evacuated a horse and dozens of dogs and cats.We fundraise for train tickets, bus rides, and other evacuee expenses. We have a mission to save the Ukrainian people, to save the Ukrainian nation. This mission is our driving force, our fuel.

Sportarena Olympiapark Munich SAP Garden / 3XNSave this picture! Rasmus HjortshojStadiumsMnchen, GermanyArchitects: 3XNAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:62500 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs: More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. 3XN completes SAP Garden, a new arena in Munich's Olympic ParkSAP Garden celebrates its opening 27 September, 2024. The project echoes the same democratic ideals as its historic surroundings, uniting sports and local community in a state-of-the-art sports arena.Save this picture!27 September, Munich.Built on the site of the former Olympic Velodrome and with Frei Otto and Gnther Behnisch's iconic Olympic Stadium as its neighbour, the new SAP Garden arena is informed by the legacy of its location and surroundings. The 62,500m arena project is designed by 3XN in collaboration with CL MAP and landscape architects Latz + Partner for client Red Bull.Save this picture!"We are pleased to be opening the new SAP Garden arena, marking a new era for sport in the city of Munich," says Jan Ammundsen, Senior Partner at 3XN. "The project has been a meaningful opportunity for us to extend the architectural legacy of the Olympic Park. It was important for our design to fit the modern sports facility into the existing, historic Olympic Park in a seamless way. We hope that it will become a focal point that gathers locals to experience and take part in sports."Save this picture!The sports arena is the new home of ice hockey team EHC Red Bull Munich and basketball team Bayern Munich while three additional ice rinks serve as training and public facilities. The bowl can gather up to 10,700 spectators for ice hockey and 11,500 for basketball. Beyond the sports facilities, the arena offers three levels of VIP areas, merchandise shops, a large restaurant, a gaming room, offices and conference rooms, a parking garage and a public rooftop terrace.Save this picture!Melting into its historic contextAdding a new structure into Behnisch & Partner's protected Olympic Park landscape posed a complex design challenge: how to respect the integrity of the park while also accommodating the significant spatial needs of the world class sport facility? To solve this, the design team concealed the arena's three additional ice rinks underneath an artificial hill that organically continues the park's existing pathways and landscape design. The arena itself is oval-shaped and asymmetrical in both its height and shape, forming an organic appearance which together with a green roof lets the building melt into the park and the cityscape.Save this picture!"The Olympic Park is both in its architecture and landscape designed around the human scale," says Ammundsen. "The sports facilities are nestled in the green terrain which rolls and undulates around the now iconic structures. SAP Garden is designed with careful consideration for these existing characteristics to both preserve and also add a new element to the uniquely harmonious relationship between the buildings and the park."Save this picture!The arena's faade is dynamic and welcoming with vertical pilaster strips that swing upwards and accentuate the glass-panelled entrances. Each of the 260 pilaster strips are unique in their geometry with the largest being over 18 metres tall and weighing one ton. This gives the building a dynamic faade expression at the same time simple and complex.Save this picture!Place for the publicSAP Garden is designed as a catalyst for activity - both on game days and 'off days'. As a sports arena, it is a destination for the many with the ability to house ice hockey, basketball and a multitude of third-party events. On days with no official activities, it remains a place full of life. Beyond serving as training facilities for the professional players, the arena's three additional ice rinks are built from the vision of improving the local sports infrastructure. All year round the rinks are open for schools, clubs and the public to use, becoming a place that gathers and strengthens local grassroots sports.Save this picture!Above ground, sports fans can browse the merchandise shops while the e-sport community gains a home with the ambitious Gaming Garden - the new gaming hotspot for southern Germany. A restaurant with both indoor and outdoor service lets life unfold between the internal and external spaces while the top of the arena is a new destination for Munich with a rooftop terrace that invites everyone to enjoy the views over the park and cityscape.Save this picture!"We focused very much on what will happen on the ice or on the parquet floor. What happens here is the reason why you come to the building, and we wanted to create an atmosphere of intensity," explains Ammundsen. "Of course, it is also essential that the architecture is clear and intuitive enough that people are able to find their way quickly and move around without difficulty. But when you are sitting in your seat watching the game, the building should fade into the background. Then it is all about the atmosphere."Save this picture!A unique, full scope arena designSAP Garden is at the forefront of arena designs, shaped to create an intense atmosphere and fan experience while being adaptive to its shifting purposes. Switching between an ice rink and a basketball court is a complicated matter as the two are different sizes. To accommodate this and ensure courtside seating for both sports, a unique stand-system has been developed. The existing stands can be shifted in height and slope while mobile stands are added for basketball games, placed on top of the covered rink, to create more seating.Save this picture!3XN's scope also includes the interior design where the use of digital media and light creates a flexible colour palette that can change the ambience of the arena in line with the branding or occasion. As such, the interior is centred around variety of atmospheres and identities. Areas and rooms are individual in their design which lets the users have unique experiences throughout the building. At the same time, all spaces have small design elements in common that tie the building together as a whole, creating an interior that is both cohesive and playful.Save this picture!"There is a reason why we go to arenas, why it is so important to be able to go in person: we want to experience a feeling. I believe that this feeling only arises when we experience something together," explains Ammundsen. "As architects, we want to help make this feeling in the hall as intense and exciting as possible. There are good tools for doing that: sound technology, lighting technology. The main thing is that the experience is something that is special, something that you cannot have anywhere else."Save this picture!SAP Garden is 3XN's third completed sports arena, following Royal Arena and Horsens Stadium in Denmark. The grand opening of the arena takes place on September 27 with an ice hockey game between the four-time German champions EHC Red Bull Munich and the Buffalo Sabres from the National Hockey League (NHL).Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Toni-Merkens-Weg 4, Munich, GermanyLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeMaterialsMaterials and TagsPublished on January 17, 2025Cite: "Sportarena Olympiapark Munich SAP Garden / 3XN" 17 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025757/sportarena-olympiapark-munich-sap-garden-3xn&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Nature, Published online: 15 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08396-8Modelling of the evolution of atmospheric methane emissions from the 2022 Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks shows that the event emitted the largest recorded amount of methane from a single transient event.

Metroid Prime 2026 Wall Calendar $16 | Releases July 15 Preorder at Amazon The Legend of Zelda Hardcover Planner $20 | Releases June 3 Preorder at Amazon Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is planned to launch on Nintendo Switch sometime this year, but Nintendo is already prepping for next year with a new Metroid 2026 Wall Calendar. The $16 calendar is a piece of official Nintendo merch and will launch on July 15 alongside several other themes based on popular franchises. The cover art for next year's Metroid calendar matches the edition from 2021, which appears to be the most recent Metroid edition. Metroid Prime 2026 Wall Calendar $16 | Releases July 15 The official Metroid 2026 Wall Calendar--and the other full-size Nintendo wall calendars--measure 12 inches by 24 inches when unfolded and is printed on FSC-certified paper with soy-based ink. It covers January to December 2026 in a standard daily grid format like you find on most other wall calendars, and each day offers space for writing notes, appointments, and reminders. There are also labels for official major world holidays and observances, as well as moon phases based on Universal Time. The top half of each month features art and renders from Nintendo franchises, but it's unclear if the Metroid calendar will come with any Prime 4 art.While the main part of the Nintendo calendars is for 2026, you won't have to wait until next year to use it, as it includes a planning spread section for September to December 2025 that you can use to organize the last few months of this year.Outside of the Metroid calendar, Amazon is taking preorders for 2026 wall calendars based on Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, and more. There's a modern Super Mario edition featuring 3D character art as well as an 8-bit edition from the plumber's days spent hopping through stages on the NES. The Super Mario Bros. 8-Bit Retro 2026 Wall Calendar includes six die-cut notecards that can be folded to create 3D models of enemies from the original NES game: Blooper, Lakitu, Cheep Cheep, Hammer Bros., Spiny, and Buzzy Beetle.Multiple Pokemon calendars are up for preorder, including mini and full-size wall calendars as well as the Pokemon Day-to-Day 2026 Calendar. This $18 desktop calendar features art from the Pokemon Horizons anime.With the exception of the Pikmin edition, which releases August 19, all of the 2026 Nintendo calendars release July 15.Preorder Nintendo 2026 Wall CalendarsMetroid Prime 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16Mario Retro 2026 Wall Calendar + 6 papercraft characters -- $17Super Mario 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16The Legend of Zelda 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16The Legend of Zelda 2025-26 16-Month Planner -- $20Donkey Kong 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16Pokemon 2026 Day-to-Day Calendar -- $18Pokemon Moves 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16Pokemon 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16Pokemon 2026 Mini Wall Calendar -- $11Pikmin 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16 Preorder at Amazon The Legend of Zelda Hardcover Planner $20 | Releases June 3 The Legend of Zelda fans can pair the 2026 Zelda Wall Calendar with an official weekly planner. The 176-page hardcover book has a grain-embossed textured cover to give it a premium look and feel. The cover has a gold foil-stamped Hylian Crest and franchise logo.The weekly/monthly planner covers September 2025 through December 2026. You can preorder The Legend of Zelda 16-Month Planner for $20 at Amazon ahead of its June 3 release.The Legend of Zelda 2025-26 16-Month Planner -- $20 | June 3The Legend of Zelda 2026 Wall Calendar -- $16 | July 15 Preorder at Amazon Continue Reading at GameSpot

Fallout Shelter is a mobile and desktop, colony building game that takes place within the same universe as other games in the Fallout series. Later released for Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch players, it is completely free to download and play Fallout Shelter, but the game does feature microtransactions, and there is a cash shop that the player may want to spend at least a little money on.

As Nintendo fans pored over the companys reveal trailer for Nintendo Switch 2 and its new Mario Kart game game, one small detail stood out: Donkey Kong looks different.Fans noticed that in first footage for the new Mario Kart game, a new Donkey Kong is racing alongside Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and friends. He looks a little different from the Donkey Kong who appears in recent Donkey Kong Country games. This new Donkey Kong actually looks more like the version of the ape seen in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed to audiences in 2022.Its been over 40 years since the release of the original Donkey Kong game, which was also my debut title, Miyamoto said at the time. Weve also changed his design for the first time since he became a 3D model in the original Donkey Kong Country game. Some of you may have noticed, but for this movie, weve seized the opportunity to give him a comical personality and design reminiscent of the original character.So, yeah, the new Donkey Kong looks less like the version that Nintendos been using in the Donkey Kong Country games made by Rare and Retro Studios, and more like the movie version, which is based on older Donkey Kong arcade artwork. The modern Kong has a softer, less angular brow, more oval-shaped eyes that sit closer together, and an overall slightly more realistic look. The differences are subtle, but the Donkey Kong that will appear in the next Mario Kart definitely looks a little different from the same guy who appeared in Mario Kart 8.Nintendo pulled a similar move with last years Princess Peach: Showtime! Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Nintendo subtly updated Peachs look on the games box art at one point, tweaking her appearance to more closely match the princess look from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.Donkey Kongs new look arrives the same day that Nintendo is launching Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a Switch re-release of the original Wii game. That release, notably overshadowed by the Switch 2 unveiling, makes the contrast a little more stark. Its unclear how widespread this new, Super Mario Bros. Movie-inspired redesign will spread, though; Nintendo and Universal Studios new Donkey Kong Country attraction, which opened at Universal Studios Japan last month, uses the older, Rare-inspired version of DK. Well see who else might have been updated when the Switch 2 and hopefully Mario Kart 9 is released later this year.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.We all have plenty of laundry to do on a regular basis, so a seasonal item we wear less frequently may not work its way into our normal wash routine. How often, for example, do you think to wash your winter coat? No matter how you answer thatbecause, honestly, most people don't think about that one very frequentlylets look at how often you should. The answer depends on a few factors, including how often you wear each coat and the material its made of.Wash wool and leather coatsseasonallyWool and leather coats should be cleaned once per season, provided they get less wear than your other coats. If you wear them often, opt for twice per season. So, wash it once around early November and again in late January to make sure its clean enough to last through early March. Luckily, says Cheryl Nelson, a laundry pro and founder of PrepareWithCher.com, wool naturally repels dirt and odors, so you can get away with slightly less frequent washing than other coats. For tips on cleaning leather and wool, check out my guide here.Exercise caution, though: Wendy Saladyga, Fabric Care Expert and Manager of Technical Performance at Henkel for Persil, points out that while some wool coats are fine to wash in a machine, others are dry clean-only and if you accidentally wash non-washable wool, you could be left with irreversible shrinkage. Check your tag, please!Wash fleece jackets more frequentlyFleece jackets should be washed every few wears, says Saladyga. If you wear yours every day, do it every week. You can get five or six wears out of one, but anything after that is dicier. (Of course, if you notice them getting dirty faster, wash them sooner than that.) Dont iron them and be sure to dry fleece jackets on a line to keep them soft and fluffy.Rain jackets need more regular cleaningRain jackets should be cleaned regularly, since you only wear those when the weather is bad. If you live in a rainy area, opt for a twice-a-month wash schedule. Otherwise, clean them once per month (as long as you actually wore it that month, which you might not if you don't live in a very wet climate). Make sure the jacket is zipped up when you wash it, wash it per the instructions on the tag, and finish it off with a waterproof coating or repellant after you dry it. I have a complete guide on washing raincoats here, since it's actually a pretty involved process. You want a solid repellant to apply when you're done, so consider this set from Nikwax: Nikwax Hardshell Cleaning & Waterproofing DUO-Pack, One-Color 20 oz. / 600ml $22.95 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $22.95 at Amazon Down coats are similar to wool onesYou might think that because the fluffy, absorbent parts of your down coat are tucked away within a repellant surface, you're safer herebut these still need regular washing. Nelson says the filling can still trap oils and odors inside, which means that if this is your daily-wear coat, you need to wash it pretty often. You want to wash down coats as frequently as other coats, so twice per season at least. You do want this to be a gentle process, however, so dont use a washing machine with an agitator. Use a gentle detergentideally one designed for down coatsand dry it on a low heat. Toss in some dryer balls to fluff it back up while it dries, Nelson says, but remove it while its still a bit damp and hang it to dry the rest of the way.General coat-cleaning basicsNo matter what kind of coat you have, there are some general rules to follow for cleaning. Saladyga says that at the very least, you have to wash it once per season, but you also need to spot clean any time you get the coat dirty. A great time to wash the coat, according to both Saladyga and Nelson, is right before you put it in storage at the end of winter, so it maintains its appearance better and is ready when you need it next year. Dirt and oils can set in deeper if left on the fabric while it's in storage. Plus, Nelson says, "The last thing you want is to drop your coat off at the dry cleaner and then not have it during a late-season cold snap."

Cold weather is an especially rough time for keeping track of ones keys so many more layers with so many more pockets really, they could be anywhere. Stick a Bluetooth tracker on your keyring and suddenly finding items is as easy as tapping a button in an app. Of course, these trackers are good for bags, luggage, wallets and even jackets themselves. And if something goes missing out in the city, an anonymous finding network can help lead you to your lost item. We tested out most of the major tracker brands out there, comparing their everyday utility, compatibility, the size of the connected networks and other handy features to help you find the best Bluetooth tracker for you. What to look for in a Bluetooth tracking device Bluetooth trackers are small discs or cards that rely on short-range, low-energy wireless signals to communicate with your smartphone. Attach one of these gadgets your stuff and, if its in range, your phone can ring the chip so you can find it. These tracking devices offer other features like separation alerts to tell you when youve left a tagged item behind, or where a lost item was last detected. Some can even tap into a larger network of smartphones to track down your device when youre out of range. Depending on what you want the tracker to do, there are a few specs to look for when deciding which to get. Device compatibility Like most things from the folks in Cupertino, AirTags only work with products in the Apple ecosystem. The company has opened up access to its Find My network to third-party manufacturers, including Chipolo and Pebblebee. Those finders work with Apple's large tracking network, but only pair with Apple devices. Chipolos classic trackers will work with either Android or Apple devices, as will Tile trackers. Samsungs latest fob, the Galaxy SmartTag2, only works with Samsung phones, but new tags from Chipolo and Pebblebee that rely on Googles new Find My Device network will work with any Android phone (running Android 9 or later). Finding network Crowd-sourced finding capabilities are what make headlines, with stories about recovering stolen equipment or tracking lost luggage across the globe. Using anonymous signals that ping other peoples devices, these Bluetooth tracking devices can potentially tell you where a tagged item is, even if your smartphone is out of Bluetooth range. Apples Find My network is the largest, with over a billion iPhones and iPads in service all running Apples Find My app by default. So unless an iPhone user opts out, their phone silently acts as a location detector for any nearby AirTags. Apple recently increased the AirTags finding power by enabling you to share the location of a lost tag with a third party, like an airline. Chipolo fobs that work on Apples network have the same ability. Now that Googles Find My Device network is up and running, its a close second for the largest in the US. Like Apple, Android users are automatically part of the network, but can opt-out by selecting the Google services option in their phones Settings app and toggling the option in the Find My Device menu. Samsungs SmartTag 2 and related network also defaults to an opt-in status for finding tags and other devices. Tile offers a large finding grid that includes Tile users, Amazon Sidewalk customers and people running the Life360 network. Life360 acquired Tile in 2021, and, according to the company, the Life360 network has more than 70 million monthly active users. In our tests, AirTags offered nearly real-time location data and were quickest to find items abandoned in spots around Albuquerque, including a bar, bookstore and coffee shop in Nob Hill, along with various outdoor hangouts on UNMs campus. Samsung's SmartTags were able to locate our lost items most of the time, though not with the same precision finding accuracy as AirTags. Googles newish Find My Device network was a little slower than Apples network when using the community finding feature, but the accuracy was better than Samsung. In our tests, Tiles finding network wasnt able to consistently locate its lost fobs. Chipolos classic trackers, on the other hand, dont have much of a crowd-sourced network to speak of. Yet as we used the trackers, the size of the finding network started to feel less important in the face of typical, everyday use cases. It was their ability to out-perform in every other way that boosted Chipolos classic trackers to the top of our list. Amy Skorheim / Engadget Separation alerts Heres where a trackers day-to-day utility really shines. A separation alert lets you know when youve traveled too far from your tagged items, which is useful if you want to make sure your laptop bag, or jacket or umbrella always comes with you when you leave the house. These notifications work when youre out and about too. If youve got a Bluetooth tracking device in your wallet and walk out of a restaurant without it, the separation alert should kick in, resulting in fewer lost items. This feature also tells you where your tagged item and phone were last paired, allowing you to retrace your steps if you happen to miss the alert. Each tracker handles left-behind items differently. Both AirTags and Chipolo include the feature by default. Tile trackers require a yearly subscription to enable the alerts (currently $30 per year). And tags working with the Google Find My Device network dont offer the feature at all. Both AirTags and Tiles allow you to turn off separation alerts at certain locations, meaning you can set your home as a safe place where items can be left behind, but alerts will still trigger elsewhere. Chipolo doesnt offer safe locations, but you can toggle out-of-range alerts on a per-item basis. In our tests, the Chipolo sent an alert after we got between 250 and 450 feet away from our tagged item. AirTags alerted us between the 600- and 1,400-foot mark. And Tiles sent a notification after about an average of 1,500 feet. Tile notifications were more consistent when using an Android phone than an iPhone. Connectivity, volume and design The feature you may use most often is the key finder function, which makes the tracker ring when you hit a button in the app. With Apple's AirTags, you can say "Hey Siri, where are my keys?" and the assistant will ring the tag (assuming it doesn't mistakenly think you're asking for directions to the Floridian archipelago). Asking Alexa or the Google Assistant to find your keys will work with Chipolo, Tile and Pebblebee trackers linked to your Android device. The SmartTag2, Tile, Chipolo classic and Pebblebee trackers using the Pebblebee app will also let you double click the device itself to make your phone ring. AirTags and any third party tags running on either the Find My (Apple) or Find My Device (Google) app dont offer this feature. The volume of the Bluetooth tracking device may determine whether you can find an item buried in your couch cushions or in a noisy room. AirTags have a reputation for being on the quiet side, and that aligned with what we saw (measuring roughly 65 decibels). All three versions of Chipolos keychain-style tags and Tiles Pro model were the loudest, measuring between 83 and 86 decibels on average. Design will determine what you can attach the tracker to. AirTags are small, smooth discs that cant be secured to anything without accessories, which are numerous, but that is an additional cost to consider. Chipolo, Pebblebee and Tile offer trackers with holes that easily attach to your key ring, and all three companies also offer card-shaped versions designed to fit in your wallet. Batteries are replaceable for AirTags, Tile Pro and Chipolo One; the first two have a one-year battery life and the Chipolo can go up to two years. Tile Mate and all card-shaped trackers dont have replaceable batteries, which means youll have to replace the entire unit whenever it dies. Pebblebee trackers are rechargeable and come in both a key fob and wallet variety. Stalking, theft and data privacy AirTags have gotten a lot of attention and even prompted some lawsuits for Apple due to bad actors planting them on people in order to stalk them. While this fact may not influence your buying decision, any discussion of Bluetooth trackers should note what steps Apple, Google and Tile have taken to address the issue. Last year, all the major players in the Bluetooth tracker business teamed up to combat misuse and standardize how unauthorized tracking detection and alerts work for iOS and Android. Last year, Tile launched a feature called Anti-Theft Mode, which enables you to render one of its trackers undetectable by others. That means if someone steals your tagged item, they wont be able to use the anti-stalking features to find and disable the tracker. That sort of negates one of the major ways potential stalking victims can stay safe, so Tile hopes ID verification and a $1 million penalty will deter misuse. Separately, Tile was recently hit by a data breach, raising different privacy concerns. The company issued a statement about the event, which it shared with Engadget: Similar to many other companies, Life360 recently became the victim of a criminal extortion attempt. We received emails from an unknown actor claiming to possess Tile customer information. We promptly initiated an investigation into the potential incident and detected unauthorized access to a Tile customer support platform (but not our Tile service platform). The potentially impacted data consists of information such as names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and Tile device identification numbers. It does not include more sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, passwords or log-in credentials, location data, or government-issued identification numbers, because the Tile customer support platform did not contain these information types. We believe this incident was limited to the specific Tile customer support data described above and is not more widespread. We take this event and the security of customer information seriously. We have taken and will continue to take steps designed to further protect our systems from bad actors, and we have reported this event and the extortion attempt to law enforcement. We remain committed to keeping families safe online and in the real world. As a theft deterrent, a Bluetooth tracker may or may not be the best option. Anecdotal stories abound in which people have recovered stolen goods using a tracker but other tales are more cautionary. Neither Apple nor Google promotes its trackers or finding networks as a way to deal with theft. GPS trackers, on the other hand, are typically marketed for just that purpose. How we tested Before deciding on which trackers to test, we researched the field, looking at user reviews on Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers, along with discussions on sites like Reddit. We also checked out what other publications had to say on the matter before narrowing down our picks to Apple AirTag, Tile and Chipolo trackers. When Samsung's SmartTag 2 came out in October of 2023, we added that to our testing, along with Pebblebee's rechargeable Chip tracker. After Google launched its Find My Device network we added compatible fobs from Chipolo and Pebblebee to the mix. Heres the full list of every tracker we tested: Apple AirTag Chipolo Card Spot Chipolo One Spot Chipolo One Chipolo Card Pebblebee Clip Samsung SmartTag 2 Chipolo One Point Pebblebee Clip for Android Tile Pro (2024) Tile Mate (2024) Tile Mate (2022) Tile Pro (2022) Tile Slim (2022) After acquiring the trackers, I tested each one over the course of a few weeks using both an iPhone 11 and a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. I recreated likely user experiences, such as losing and leaving items behind at home and out in the city. I planted trackers at different spots near downtown Albuquerque, mostly concentrated in and around the University of New Mexico and the surrounding neighborhood of Nob Hill. Later, I conducted tests in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. Each test was performed multiple times, both while walking and driving and I used the measure distance feature on Google Maps to track footage for alerts. I paid attention to how easy the app was to use, how reliable the phone-to-tracker connection was and any other perks and drawbacks that came up during regular use. Other trackers we tested Tile Pro and Tile Mate (2024) Tile recently came out with a new suite of trackers, replacing the Tile Mate, Tile Pro, Tile Sticker and Tile Slim with updated models. In addition to fun new colors for the Mate and Slim, Tile added an SOS feature that can send a notification to your Life360 Circle when you triple press the button on the tracker. Its a clever addition that turns your keys into a panic button, something offered by personal safety companies as standalone devices. There are a few caveats: You and the people you want to notify in an emergency will need the Life360 app installed on your phones. If you want your Tile to also trigger a call to emergency services, youll need a $15-per-month Life360 subscription (thats in addition to a Tile membership, which starts at $3/month or $30 annually). And enabling the SOS triple-press disables the ability to ring your phone with the fob. I tested the SOS feature and it did indeed send a text message to my Circle, with the message that I had triggered an SOS and a link to a website that showed my current location. I thought it odd that the link didnt open the Life360 app (which shows the location of users' phones), but I wasnt as much concerned with Tiles personal safety features as I was with the tracking capabilities, which turned out to be less than ideal. For my tests, I planted Tile trackers in a densely populated area of Seattle (about 15,000 people per square mile). After setting the trackers to lost in the Tile app, I waited. After four hours, one of the trackers was not discovered by the finding community, so I went and retrieved it. Another fob I planted alerted me that the tracker had been found by the Tile community after three hours but the location it gave me was off by a third of a mile. I then decided to plant a tracker in the most populated place I could think of the dried fruit and nuts aisle of a Trader Joes on a Friday evening before a major holiday. It still took over a half an hour before another Tile user anonymously pinged my lost tracker. In my tests with Samsungs trackers and the fobs on Googles Find My Device network, it took around ten minutes for them to be discovered. AirTags took half that time and all were tested in a far less populated city. Four hours with no ping and over a half hour before getting a hit in a crowded TJs were pretty long stretches. Our top pick, the classic Chipolo, has virtually no finding network. But if youre getting a tracker for that feature alone, you should go with AirTags if you have an iPhone or the Google-enabled Chipolo or Pebblebee trackers if you use an Android phone. We prefer the Chipolo because it works with either iOS or Android devices, it rings loud, its quick to tell you when youve left it behind and it connects nearly instantly when youre searching for a misplaced tracker around the house. Tile devices also work with both mobile operating systems and its latest models are indeed louder than they were before. But they arent as quick to connect and you need to pay for a membership to activate left-behind alerts. And when you do, those notifications dont kick in as quickly as they do with competing trackers. Bluetooth tracker FAQs Which Bluetooth tracker has the longest range? Both the Tile Pro and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 claim a maximum range of around 400 feet, which is longer than the 200-foot claim for most of Chipolos tags. Apple doesnt make similar claims for AirTags. Any Bluetooth signal, however, is dependent on a few factors. Obstacles like walls and people can block the signal, so a clear line of sight is the only way to achieve the maximum range. Other signals, like Wi-Fi, can also interfere with Bluetooth connections. Even high humidity can have an effect and lessen the distance at which your phone will connect to your tracker. Remember, when considering the range of Bluetooth trackers, the size of the finding network also comes into play. This is the number of nearby phones that can be used to anonymously ping your tracker when your own phone is out of Bluetooth range. As of now, Apple AirTags have the largest network, followed by Googles Find My Device, Samsungs finding community, Tiles Life360 members and finally Chipolos own network. What is the best Bluetooth tracker for a car? Bluetooth trackers are designed to track small, personal items like keys, jackets, backpacks and the like. All trackers have safeguards to prohibit the tag from being used to stalk people, so most will alert someone if a tracker that does not belong to them is detected following them. That means a car thief may get tipped off that theres a tracker in the car theyre trying to steal. That said, youll see plenty of stories about people finding their car thanks to a Bluetooth tracker. Some police departments have even handed out trackers to combat high rates of carjacking. In most instances, the tracker of choice has been AirTags thanks to their wide finding network. How accurate are Bluetooth trackers? Accuracy for Bluetooth trackers can be looked at in two ways: Finding items nearby and finding items misplaced outside your home. For nearby items, youll most often use the ring function on the device to hunt it down. Two tags, Apples AirTags and Samsungs Galaxy SmartTag2, also use ultra-wideband technology, which creates directional navigation on your phone to get you within a foot of the tracker. Accurately finding lost items outside your home depends on the size of the finding network. Since this relies on the serendipity of a random phone passing within Bluetooth range of your tracker, the more phones on a given network, the better. And since Bluetooth ranges and distance estimates are only precise within about a meter or so, getting pings from more than one phone will help locating items. Here again, its worth noting that Apples Find My network is the largest, followed by Google, Samsung, Tile and Chipolo (both Chipolo and Pebblebee have fobs that work with the Apple and Google networks).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-bluetooth-tracker-140028377.html?src=rss