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Apple’s AirTags are ingenious for finding everyday items. But can they be relied on to efficiently manage a fleet of dozens or hundreds of bikes?
At first glance, the promise is appealing: small size, affordable price, and integration into the Apple ecosystem. However, in professional use, the limitations quickly become apparent.
At Connected Cycle, we have been supporting bike fleet operators (delivery, rental, bikesharing, etc.) for over 10 years across multiple countries with GPS trackers designed for professional and intensive use. In this article, we explain why a professional GPS tracker is essential once you scale up.
Apple’s AirTags, like Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTags and Google’s trackers (from the “Find My Device” app), are designed for personal use. They help locate a bag, a keyring, luggage… but they are limited to about twenty units per account and offer no centralized management tools.
Moreover, they are built to preserve the owner’s privacy, making it deliberately complicated—or even impossible—for third parties to track their location.
Connected Cycle’s latest product, the cc521 GPS tracker, is genuinely designed for multi-vehicle management. Our associated web platform, Fleet, allows you to supervise hundreds or thousands of bikes easily, offering advanced features: specific user roles, alerts, reports, APIs, and much more.
AirTags, Galaxy SmartTags, and Android trackers all work on the same principle: no built-in GPS, but rather a Bluetooth signal picked up by nearby smartphones. The system only works if other users of the same ecosystem (Apple, Samsung, Google) pass within a few dozen meters.
Connected Cycle’s tracker, however, integrates a professional GPS, a 4G communication chip, and a multi-country SIM card, ensuring independent, continuous, frequent, and precise location without relying on the density of smartphones nearby.
With an AirTag or its Android equivalent, the location is approximate and depends heavily on the density of nearby users. The update frequency is random and unreliable, especially if some of your bikes are in areas with low foot traffic.
With a Connected Cycle tracker, the position is accurate to a few meters, even indoors (thanks to integrated Wi-Fi positioning where GPS does not work). The update frequency can be configured: by default, one location every 30 seconds when the bike is moving.
This high-frequency tracking is key for quickly intervening in case of theft, as recently illustrated by our client Agilenville (see their testimonial here).
Connected objects like AirTags, Galaxy SmartTags, and Android trackers are tied to a personal account on a mobile phone. There is no dashboard for managing multiple trackers, no role management, and no multi-user access. They are simply not designed for team or business management.
Connected Cycle, on the other hand, offers a complete fleet management platform, including:
– User roles with differentiated access rights
– Grouping and sub-grouping of bikes
– Editable bike statuses (maintenance, in use, stolen, etc.)
– Detailed history of positions, trips, and mileage
– Geo-fencing with zone exit alerts
– Automatic vehicle counting per storage location
– Multiple APIs to integrate data with third-party systems
Fleet : analytics dashboard
AirTags operate with a button cell battery that needs to be replaced annually. Galaxy SmartTags and Android equivalents follow the same logic, offering limited autonomy and a design focused on personal use.
For a professional fleet, annual battery replacement can quickly become a tedious and costly task, especially if the Bluetooth tag is hidden in a hard-to-reach spot for theft protection. Very soon, the maintenance cost outweighs the initially low price of the AirTag.
In contrast, the Connected Cycle cc521 tracker is integrated discreetly into the bike, is waterproof and robust. It is powered either by the bike’s main battery or a hub dynamo for traditional bikes, with a backup battery providing several weeks of autonomy while stationary. Once installed, it operates for years without any human intervention.
cc521 : GPS, 4G, Wi-Fi tracker
Connected Cycle doesn’t just locate a bike: our solution provides actionable data for operational performance, such as:
– Trip and mileage history: Every GPS trace is saved on the platform, enabling precise tracking of real bike usage. This data is invaluable for:
– Triggering preventive maintenance operations (e.g., servicing every 500 km)
– Analyzing demand distribution in free-floating services to optimize station locations or rebalancing logistics
– Bike connectivity: Our cc521 tracker can connect to the bike’s components (like the battery or motor controller) via UART or CAN to retrieve real-time technical data or on-demand:
– Battery level
– Battery health status
– Motor error codes
– Ignition status…
The cc521 GPS tracker can also interact remotely with third-party accessories like a bike lock (see our partnership with ILockIt here) or a powerful optional buzzer.
And as the icing on the cake, our cc521 tracker can remotely disable the electric assistance of the bike.
These features are obviously not available with an AirTag, Galaxy SmartTag, or any Bluetooth tracker on the market, as they are simply not designed to interact with an e-bike.
👉 To discover the full power of Connected Cycle’s Fleet software, request a free demo.
cc521Fleet management
