Byte Tag review
A sad reoccurring truth is that millions of dogs run away from their homes every year.
Whether it’s because they don’t know how to be off-leash, or they get scared of loud city noises and run away, or because they simply go wondering and get lost - there are many random reasons why dogs could lose their way back home. Nobody ever thinks it will happen to their dog… until it does.
ByteTag is one of the many new QR code products on the market, which aim to solve exactly this.
It’s a “smart” dog tag that you can put on your dog’s collar that has been around since 2021.
It’s purpose is that when your dog gets lost, then strangers will have plenty of information to take care of your dog, contact you and ultimately get your dog back to you.
If you want to order one, remember to apply our discount code “PPS15” to get the discount.
Let’s talk about how much it costs and how it works.
Price and quality
We bought one ByteTag with our own money for a total of 19.95 (Price) + 10.05 (Shipping) = 27.00$.
We bought just like a normal person would, so that we wouldn’t get special treatment.
We got the Digital Dogs one, but there’s a total of 23 different styles to choose from.
One minus is that they claim to have a discount that ends today, but it’s a discount that happens every day - that’s a cheap tactic which we don’t approve of.
But a big plus to the tag is that there is no monthly charge. You just buy it once and you can use it forever!
Design-wise, the first thing we noticed was that the tag itself was very light.
It looks cute and small, but it’s just a QR code paper inside some acrylic plastic material.
One weird thing that we noticed was that… the tag we got is not the same tag that is shown in the shop or the videos.
In the videos, it’s a more roundish tag, with a full print on it - not a paper inside of it.
Maybe they changed the style, I don’t know.
Another thing, which I noticed, was that on the piece of paper that came along with it, it said to scan using NFC - but it didn’t work.
Now if they changed the tag style and got rid of the NFC then it makes sense, but otherwise, two small let downs from ByteTag.
These issues however do not change the core functionality of the ByteTag, let us explain.
How does it work?
When you flip the ByteTag around, then you’ll see a QR code behind it.
When you first get the tag, then you need to open your camera or your ByteTag app and scan the code in to register the tag.
You have to register first, and then you can then create a Profile for your dog and put the tag on your dog’s collar.
Then, when your dog runs away and a stranger scans the code manually, then the stranger can open the profile to contact you and they can send you their location
Here is our ByteTag’s QR code for example.
You can try playing the role of the stranger.
Imagine you found our dog and this is the tag that was on our Husky.
Try opening your phone’s camera and scan the QR code.
You should be able to open our ByteTag profile and see our information.
If you buy a ByteTag then you’ll get to create a profile page for your dog as well.
So in total, there’s two things to keep in mind.
1. You can’t put any name on the physical tag itself.
2. You’ll only see your dog’s location if the person finding it scans in your tag and sends you their phone’s location.
So, in simple terms, the tag is nothing more than a fancy way for you to give people a link to your social media page, so that people can contact you, when they catch your dog.
Is it worth it?
Now for the main question… is it actually worth your time and money?
Well, yes and no…
There’s nothing wrong with the QR tags per se, but they are nothing super amazing “dog trackers” either.
At the end of the day, it’s a nice tag - a one step up from a basic, static dog tag.
It’s totally possible that someone finds your dog, looks at your ByteTag profile and brings your dog back to you. But because it doesn’t have live GPS in it, you’ll still rely on other people catching your dog first.
Let’s compare it to other options you might have…
Here’s why ByteTag is better and worse than other options…
| Aspect | Regular Tag |
|---|---|
| Price | ~10€ |
| Affiliate Link | Amazon |
| Why BT better |
|
| Why BT is worse |
|
| Aspect | Apple AirTag |
|---|---|
| Price | ~40€ + 1 battery yearly |
| Affiliate Link | Amazon (AirTag) Amazon (AirTag holder) |
| Why BT better |
|
| Why BT is worse |
|
| Aspect | GPS (Tractive) |
|---|---|
| Price | ~50€ + 5€ monthly |
| Affiliate Link | Tractive.com |
| Why BB better |
|
| Why BT is worse |
|
So in the end, I’d say that the best way to look at ByteTag is to ask yourself:
Do I like the way that it looks?
What do I need? Does this cover my worries, or am I willing to pay more to get actual GPS tracking?
Personally, we like the ByteTags.
We like to use them alongside a regular GPS tracker, as a backup, because the GPS tracker’s battery can run out.
It’s nice to have as many backups as possible, especially if they are free to use.
We put them on our dog’s collar and they have been silently with us, ever since.
If you like it too, then by all means, try it out!
Anything you can do to make sure your dog is just a little bit safer, is a good thing for you and your dog.
If you do decide to get it, remember that you can use our code PPS15 to get it a bit cheaper.
And if you need more tracking, then check out our review on our favourite GPS tracker: Tractive.
