Google’s Pixel Tag is on sale at $29.99, and the tracker’s location can be shared with up to 10 people in the Find Hub app, TechCrunch reported on November 10. Apple caps the equivalent feature on an AirTag at five other people. Google announced the tag in August and said it would reach shelves on November 11.

Both companies set out the limits in their own support material. Google’s Pixel Phone Help page for Find Hub says: “You can share your accessory or tracker tag with up to 10 loved ones so you can all locate your valuables in the app.” Apple’s Find My guide says: “You can share an AirTag or other item with up to five borrowers in addition to yourself, for a total of six users per item.”

Google’s own price figures differ slightly. The August announcement lists a single tag at $29 and a four-pack at $99. The Google Store lists it from $29.99, the figure TechCrunch used in calling it “the $29.99 device,” and TechCrunch puts the four-pack at $99.99.

Make Tech Easier reported the $29.99 price and the 10-person sharing limit before launch. New here is that the tag is now on sale, and that Google’s sharing figure can be set against Apple’s published limit, which the earlier report did not cover.

What sharing a Pixel Tag involves

Sharing runs in three steps in the Find Hub app, according to Google’s support page. The owner opens Find Hub, selects the accessory, taps “Share ownership” and sends an invitation by text, email or Quick Share. The recipient has 24 hours to accept the link, which opens on an Android device and prompts a Find Hub install if the app is missing. The owner then confirms the share in the app’s settings.

The steps work only on Android 9 and later. Google says it takes several minutes after sharing is completed to detect the location of the accessory, for the shared owner’s privacy. An accepted invitation shows a four-digit PIN under the shared device, offered as added security.

Either side can end the arrangement. A primary owner can stop sharing with a named person from the device settings; a secondary owner taps “Leave sharing.” Once sharing stops, only the device owner can find the item’s location. Removing a nearby tracker tag from Find Hub also deletes its associated data, including the device it was paired to and the owner’s email address.

A separate feature covers items already missing. When a tagged item such as luggage is not nearby, the owner can generate an encrypted web link to its location and send it to a third party, including an airline. The link expires after seven days and can be switched off at any time.

Apple’s limit is five borrowers, six users

Apple’s figure should not be flattened into a single number. The Find My guide counts five borrowers in addition to the owner, for six users per item. Apple lists conditions for the feature: iOS 17 or later, two-factor authentication and iCloud Keychain. The steps are covered in a guide to sharing an AirTag with family and friends.

TechRepublic, in an August comparison of the two trackers published before the Pixel Tag went on sale, put AirTag 2 sharing at “Up to 5 other people” and listed that tracker at $29 for one and $99 for a four-pack. On the Google Store figure, the Pixel Tag costs 99 cents more than Apple’s single tag.

Hardware, network and the Android requirement

The Pixel Tag is oval rather than round. TechCrunch lists it at 1.1 inches wide, 1.8 inches from top to bottom and 0.2 inches deep, against an AirTag’s 1.26 inches across and 0.31 inches thick. The Pixel Tag weighs 0.4 ounces with the battery included. It comes in silver and a pale green.

Google says the body is stainless steel with IP67 water and dust resistance, and that battery life runs up to one year to start, with a cell the owner can replace; TechCrunch identifies it as a CR2032. Those durability and battery figures are Google’s claims rather than independent test results. The tag has a speaker, with three volume levels in Find Hub and a maximum of about 80 decibels, and a button that rings a misplaced phone when pressed twice.

For close-range searching, the tag pairs Bluetooth with ultra-wideband and Bluetooth Channel Sounding to give distance and direction cues on screen. Out of Bluetooth range, it falls back on Google’s crowdsourced network of more than a billion Android devices, with end-to-end encrypted location data plotted on a map in Find Hub. Tags put into Lost mode can show a finder the owner’s email, phone number and a short message, and an item is marked found once it returns to range. Google also offers Left Behind alerts to flag items left behind.

The tag supports NFC, which Google did not mention at the August announcement; TechCrunch added the detail to its launch article after publication. A tap opens the tag’s settings rather than a contact page, the use Apple makes of NFC on the AirTag.

Pairing runs through Fast Pair on devices running Android 9 or newer, and the tag can be located and rung from a Pixel Watch or a browser, or by asking Gemini through Pixel Buds. Samsung already sells the Galaxy SmartTag3 to Android owners. Bellroy began selling keychain cases for the Pixel Tag on the Google Store alongside the launch.