Life360 expands pet tracking with new $8 scannable tags and zoomie alerts

Family location-sharing and safety app Life360 is expanding its pet-tracking capabilities on Tuesday with the launch of a new product line of $7.99 scannable pet tags and other pet care features that tap into its tracking network technology.

Life360 expanded into pet tech last year with the launch of GPS pet trackers that leverage the lost-item-finding capabilities that the company integrated into its platform after its 2021 acquisition of AirTag rival Tile. With Tile, the company now offers not just location-sharing features for families, but also the ability for members to track other things of importance — like keys, handbags, luggage, and pets.

Since then, families on the service have added more than 8 million pets to their accounts, the company says.

However, the team found that not everyone wants to attach a bulky tracker to their pet’s collar, and not everyone needs access to location-tracking features or other advanced options like geofences and escape alerts.

In many cases, pet owners just want to put their contact information on a pet’s tag, which is what the new scannable pet tags support.

But there’s a twist. Instead of just providing a pet owner’s phone number when someone scans the QR code printed on the new pet tags, the scan also alerts the family through the Life360 app installed on the family’s smartphones. (The person who found the pet does not need to have the app for this to work.)

This helps in multiple ways — not only does it provide peace of mind to families searching for a lost pet, but it also provides the pet’s location details. That can be useful if the lost pet escapes from the finder’s control and runs off again, as the family will at least have the last known location recorded.

Families can update their contact details through the Life360 pet profile in the app.

In addition, the company is rolling out several new pet care features for families, including tools that let families schedule “care logs” to manage and track whether the pet has been fed, walked, given medication, or had its litter cleaned. Everyone in the family can see these care routines, so they will know if the pet needs their attention.

Another fun feature is “Zoomies Alerts” for GPS trackers, which track the bursts of energy a pet has at particular points during the day or evening. A new Weekly Roundup will recap other routines, like the distance walked or information about who in the family provided the pet with the most care during the week.

With the new features, the company is also making its pet trackers more affordable. Before, the Pet GPS trackers were only available with the higher-tier Platinum and Gold subscriptions, but now they’re included with the $99-per-year Silver bundles, too.