Samsung's SmartTag 3 is smaller, lasts up to 790 days and adds iPhone support

Samsung has taken the wraps off the Galaxy SmartTag 3, its third-generation Bluetooth item tracker. According to The Verge, the new device pairs a more compact body and longer battery life with a handful of new tracking features — and, for the first time in the line, support for iPhones.

A squircle without the keyring hole

The SmartTag 3 adopts a squircle silhouette that echoes the original SmartTag, but The Verge points out one significant change: the cutout for a key ring is gone. Anyone who wants to attach the tracker directly to keys or a carabiner will need to buy one of Samsung's protective cases. The tracker does carry an IP67 rating, so it should handle dust and splashes without trouble.

The redesign pays off in size and weight. Samsung says the SmartTag 3 is 35 percent smaller and 33 percent lighter than the SmartTag 2 it replaces.

Battery life stretched to 790 days

The new tracker is also about 10 percent more power-efficient, and its replaceable CR2032 coin cell is rated for 550 days of normal use — or 790 days in power-saving mode. Because the battery can still be swapped by the user, the device avoids the throwaway fate of sealed trackers.

iPhone support arrives

The biggest platform change is iOS compatibility. Earlier Galaxy SmartTags worked only with Samsung phones, locking out everyone else. The Verge reports that Samsung does not appear to be chasing AirTag owners directly; instead, the company frames cross-OS support as a way to share tracking information with friends, family or a dog walker when a lost object — or a pet — needs finding.

Whether phones from other Android manufacturers are supported as well remains unclear. The Verge says it has asked Samsung to confirm and had not received an answer at the time of publication.

New alerts and precision finding

The software side gains notifications that trigger when a tag enters or leaves a defined area, movement-detection alerts for smaller shifts, and a location-history feature for retracing where a tag has been. Location reporting runs on Samsung's own Galaxy Find Network rather than Google's Find Hub, which arrived after the SmartTag 2 launched. Once a user is within roughly 200 feet of the tag, ultra-wideband and Bluetooth 6.0 Channel Sounding combine on supported handsets for more precise detection.

South Korea first, wider rollout in 2027

The SmartTag 3 comes in black and white, but initially only in South Korea, where it goes on sale October 7. Samsung says additional markets will follow in 2027, though it has not confirmed a US release date or pricing. For context, The Verge notes the SmartTag 2 cost $29.99, comparable to Apple's current AirTag and Google's new Pixel Tag.

Why it matters

Item trackers have been among the most tightly ecosystem-locked gadget categories: an AirTag needs an iPhone, and until now a SmartTag effectively needed a Samsung phone. By opening the SmartTag 3 to iOS, Samsung is treating mixed-device households — where sharing a tag with a partner, relative or dog walker matters more than brand loyalty — as the real market. Just as telling is the decision to keep tracking on the Galaxy Find Network instead of Google's Find Hub, signalling that Samsung intends to maintain its own device-finding mesh even as Google builds a cross-Android equivalent. The trade-offs are real: losing the built-in keyring hole pushes buyers toward an extra accessory purchase, and a rollout that starts in a single market and will not widen until 2027 leaves most of the world waiting to see whether the battery and sharing gains are worth the switch.