The tiles do have that audible ding feature that's nice for keys, like stuck in the couch, for example.

AirTags also have an audible sound that can be played, I use this feature for when I lose my keys

Ah, thanks. I had assumed they didn't based since there weren't any visible holes for a speaker.

It's actually a really cool design, the entire white half of the shell _is_ the speaker diaphragm!

You mention privacy concerns and wanting to use Google in the same paragraph.

Google is definitely no champion of privacy. But at least they don't sell your precise location data.

Do they use it to target ads directly?

Also check your cellular carrier's privacy settings, like CPNI. https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/verizon-is-tracking-iphone-us...

The privacy tradeoffs someone is willing to make will vary person-to-person. For many, Google only using precise location data for Ads and (probably) not shipping it off to random data brokers is a good tradeoff for powering and using the many products they offer - eg. YouTube, Maps, email/calendar, etc. Even for life360, it's very likely more than 50% of their userbase is fine with this given the features Tile and Life360 provide them.

Also, if Google already knows where I am at all times, then having them also handle some location tags would entail no further loss of privacy.

Because they purchase it

But they don't need to purchase it, they've already got it. I think the idea is they aren't willing to sell it as it's key to their business, and they'd rather not make a little more off selling it and risk their competitors leveraging it.

First sentence says it all.

I didn't mention wanting to use google. I do think it's unfortunate that android users don't have a privacy protecting item tracking solution. Airtags are a wonderful product.