Samsung may be taking a more Apple-like approach to smart tags

There are countless UWB-based tracking products in the market that are compatible with Android devices. Samsung would obviously want you to buy the ones that it sells under the SmartTag brand.

Even if you do buy one from a third-party, the UWB functionality should technically work, but it appears that Samsung might be taking an Apple-like walled garden approach to smart tags.

A Reddit user has found several technical reasons to claim that Samsung is limited the UWB technology on its phones for third-party tags. This simply means that you won't get the full benefit of this technology unless and until you use a Samsung Galaxy SmartTag with a Galaxy device.

The user found that their Galaxy S24 only enables the UWB Direction Engine when a Samsung smart tag is detected, keeping it disabled for third-party trackers. This essentially pushes the phone to “UWB Lite,” in that precise direction finding features such as angle of arrival, elevation, and augmented reality arrows are kept disabled.

A comparison between the Galaxy SmartTag+ and a Moto Tag from Motorola on the same Galaxy S24 Ultra yielded different results. The device offered all of these features for the SmartTag+ but none for the Moto Tag.

However, this behavior appears to wary. Some users have noted in another Reddit thread that all UWB functionalities work just fine for a Moto Tag on Samsung phones. Others did back up the claims made in this post, and some even flayed Samsung for essentially taking the Apple route for this technology.

There may be other factors influencing the UWB behavior for third-party tags on Samsung phones, as the restrictions don't appear to be set in stone.