uTag allows the use of Samsung SmartTags with any Android device.
Breaking Another Walled Garden.
Andrew Liszewski is a senior reporter who has been covering and reviewing the latest in gadgets and technology since 2011. Since childhood, he has had a great passion for everything related to electronics. Among the latest developments in the tech world, Samsung's SmartTags and the Galaxy Find network offer similar features to Apple's AirTags and Find My network, including precise location capabilities through ultra-wideband (UWB) radios. However, one of the limitations is that these devices are only compatible with Samsung Galaxy devices.
To expand its use, Kieron Quinn developed an open-source application called uTag (short for Universal Tag), which allows SmartTags to work with Android devices running Android 11 or later. Samsung's SmartThings app, used to set up and control various smart home devices, is compatible with any Android or iOS device. However, it has a software check that limits the configuration of the SmartTag tracker only when the app is running on a Samsung Galaxy device. Some features of the SmartThings app, such as SmartThings Find, which allows users to track the location of SmartTags on a map, depend on software that is only available on Galaxy devices thanks to Samsung's One UI user interface.
uTag provides an alternative for tracking and mapping functionality to SmartThings through a companion app for Android that replicates most of the features of Samsung's apps. This includes notifications when a Tag is left behind, the ability to share its location with others, activate its ringtone, and check the location history.
In addition to enabling the use of a SmartTag on a non-Galaxy device, Quinn claims that uTag is the "first tag tracking app on non-Samsung devices that supports precise tracking" through UWB, a feature that is not yet available in Google’s Find My Device app. uTag also offers functionalities that are not present in Samsung's SmartThings app, such as the option to automatically scan for unknown Tags, showing notifications when one is detected. With the SmartThings app alone, scans to find unknown Tags must be initiated manually, which limits its usefulness.
uTag is available for free through GitHub as a downloadable APK for Android. During installation, the app will download and install a modified version of SmartThings that disables hardware restrictions for Galaxy devices and allows communication with uTag. It will also be necessary to log in with a Samsung account in both the SmartThings app and uTag for the latter to access the necessary Samsung APIs. While there is a risk in entering credentials in third-party applications, this is why Quinn decided to launch uTag as an open-source app, allowing users to review exactly what it does with that information.
