Review & Competition: iHere Smart Key Finder & Selfie Remote

If you ask my close friends and family they will tell you that I am forever losing my personal possessions. Not on a permanent basis. Just long enough to make me late for the train or cause moderate panic as I convince myself that the very-expensive-to-replace keys to our holiday cottage have been left behind on the beach!

My husband has often jokingly said he’s going to get me some kind of key-tracker for Christmas but it has never materialised. When I was asked to take a look at iHere – a smart key finder and selfie remote, I was therefore keen to give it a go.

 A neat little white triangle fob, the iHere comes with its own USB charger, avoiding the need to constantly replace expensive batteries or the entire device that is the norm usually for this kind of device. It took me just over an hour to recharge the iHere fully via my tablet’s USB connection.

Quick charging via USB for a long lasting battery is a unique feature of the iHere.

The iHere’s full functionality requires downloading a free app for your smartphone. The app is available via Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Once you have the app installed and have synced it with your iHere (takes just a few moments), have attached your iHere to your keys, wallet, suitcase, child’s rucksack etc. you can get started on tracking all manner of things.

The main functions that iHere offers are:

1. Find your iHere and whatever object it is attached to. Attach your charged iHere onto an object via the fob then when you need it, go to the app on your phone, hit ‘find’ and the iHere will play a varied loud tone repeatedly when within range of it, making it simple to track it down. If it is out of range (I got well over 20m away and outside the house before it lost connection) then the iHere beeps single beeps and your phone tells you the last place that the iHere was detected.
2. Find your phone. If losing your keys/wallet/bag is not the issue but you’re forever forgetting your phone then iHere can help with that too. Make sure to set-up the ‘Call Phone’ as your default option under the ‘Click’ tab on the app. Then all you need to do when you want your phone is to press the iHere’s button and it will call your phone for you. It will even make your phone audibly ring when it has been put onto silent mode or vibrate – something that impressed me as I tend to keep mine on silent all the time.
3. Find your car. Constantly losing your generic looking hire car in unfamiliar multi-storey car parks? You can set the iHere default under the ‘click’ tab to ‘Car Finder’, press the iHere ‘s button when parking your car, wait for it to confirm the location has been found on your phone and then set off for a trip, with the iHelp app ready to assist you in locating your car when you get back. It will give you a direction to follow and approximate distance. Of course, it doesn’t need to be your car, it could be any stationary location or item you need to navigate back to – your tent in a busy campsite for instance, a bus stop, the portaloos at a large event…the possibilities are infinite.
4. Take a selfie. I’m not a massive selfie taker but being a blogger it is inevitable that the occasional selfie is required, particularly when I’m out and about without another adult to assist with pics. Given I take a lot of nature and landscape shots, some of which really require a over-extended arm selfie stick to get the right height/vantage point, a selfie remote is a pretty handy thing to have. With the iHere, you can set the app default to ‘Take Selfies’ under the ‘Click’ tab and then take a picture using the iHere button. Really handy for shots where you want a good deal of distance from the camera although on the downside, you are unable to use zoom functions (on my iPhone 6S Plus at any rate).
5. Record audio memos. This is probably the more tenuous of the iHere’s useful app features but I still found uses for it. By setting the app on your phone to default to ‘Voice Recorder’ on the ‘click’ tab you can use your iHere to immediately start and finish recording audio clips without having to unlock your phone. Why do you need this? Well I would imagine it would be handy as a blogger if you want to discreetly record an interview with someone without putting them off their stride (with their consent of course). For me, it is handy for very quickly grabbing an audio recording of bird song – something I’m trying to teach both myself and the girls at the moment. By the time I’ve unlocked my phone and hit record normally, the bird has usually stopped singing. This makes it a lot more instant.

The range on the iHere is fairly good, with the app functioning to locate an iHere signal within a 75ft radius, which my own testing supported. For me, this was more than sufficient for tracking down my everyday items and it seemed to function through walls without issue, the super loud alarm tone working brilliantly.

I liked the way you could quickly check your iHere battery status, customise your app to take a picture of the object your iHere is attached to, change its name or select/deselect a ‘separation alarm’ when you get disconnected from it ( a useful feature for little tots’ backpacks to alert you if they wander off when out on a trip somewhere crowded?). Although I only tested out one, the iHere app can support up to 8 iHere devices, meaning you can keep track on multiple items simultaneously. The app can also be updated to add extra functionality over time although I am unaware of any future plans at this point.

The only issues I faced were the device very occasionally getting confused by multiple walls when tracking back to a location via the ‘Car Finder’ function and the ease with which you could accidentally overwrite the recorded location of your car (or postbox, goat, granny etc.) by inadvertently pressing the iHere button a second time whilst away from the original location.

As for the iHere’s charge time? Well the manufacturer claims it can last for weeks. Mine is yet to need recharging although when I first got it and tried it out without properly charging it, it did bleep sadly at me until I finally relented and gave it some juice meaning you’re unlikely to be caught short when it finally is time to recharge.

The iHere retails at $19.99  – approximately £13.70 at the time of writing, although its international shipping cost of $15 (approx. £10) brings the cost closer to £24. Nonda is a fast growing Californian start-up company that has already won awards for its products so it is worth watching out for them going forward. The overall cost including UK delivery is comparable with competitor key finders on the market with similar functionality (though they have fewer capabilities and no charger from what I’ve seen).

I am fortunate to have a brand new iHere ready to give away to one lucky reader! For your chance to win your own smart device locator and selfie remote, just enter your details via the Rafflecopter widget below and leave a comment telling me what object you would use an iHere to track.  If you prefer, you can follow one of the other simple entry options instead / as well. See the Rafflecopter widget for full details. The competition is open until midnight on Monday 16th May 2016. T’s & C’s are available via the widget below. 

N.b. entries via a visit to the Baby Routes Facebook page need to be traceable so don’t forget to like the page or a post on there or leave a comment so I can verify your entry.

Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was given an iHere to test out for the purpose of this review and one to give away. All opinions, writing and lost keys remain as ever, entirely my own.