Tile's first ultra-wideband tracker will use AR to help you find lost items! Tile Ultra will combine both Bluetooth, ultra-wideband (UWB), and augmented reality (AR) finding capabilities with the ability to seek out objects as far away as 400 feet.
CONTEXT
• To maintain our status as the market leader in the smart tracking category, competitive parity against Apple Air Tags and Samsung Smart Tags, and improve our customers' finding experience.
• Strategically, this launch was important in strengthening our partnership with Google.
• It is the first UWB tracker to work with both iOS and Android. Launching Tile Ultra on Android 12 brings ultra-wideband to Android for the first time.
CHALLENGES
• The current finding experience does not provide any directional or distance information.
• One of the top 5 issues customers have consistently raised is that Tile’s audio is not loud enough.
GOAL
The finding market is more competitive than ever now that Apple and Samsung have entered this space.
1. Innovate and provide a superior finding experience for our customers. Otherwise, we’ll lose market share to competitors.
2. Build a UWB and AR experience.
3. Build a UWB-only experience.
MY ROLE
• Cross-functional collaboration. Stakeholder alignment and negotiation.
• Guided design vision, strategy, UX/UI, illustrations, user research, prototyping, validation, and implementation.
TEAM
Design Lead, Cihang Yang
Android Engineers, Barry Sia and Ian Meyer
iOS Engineer, André Gatti and Charles Y. Choi
VP of Product and Design, Winnie Wong
VP of Engineering, Jossie Haines
Chief Technology Officer, Steve Klinkner
Chief Product Officer, James Selby
Chief Business Officer, Jeff Houlé
CEO, CJ Prober
PRESS
• Engadget
• TechCrunch
We explored a redesign of our core bluetooth proximity finding meter to fit in the design ecosystem we created for our innovative ultra-wideband finding experience.