Add ability to ring a Tile from this library

[Alfiegerner]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I'd like to be able to ring my tile without using the app.

Describe the solution you'd like
A clear and concise description of what you want to happen.

Something like a ringMe method on the tile object.

Additional context
Add any other context or screenshots about the feature request here.

'This is filtered down from partner, who said can you please put an icon on our homeassistant UI to ring the remote? I hate the tile app' 🙂

[bachya]

Thanks for submitting, @Alfiegerner! Unfortunately, I am unable to see any sniffed HTTP traffic when the Tile is pinged; it's possible that the app does this directly over a Bluetooth connection (which is not something this library currently supports).

I'll leave this open in case anyone is able to assist.

[Alfiegerner]

@bachya - thanks! Will investigate the Bluetooth sniffing when I have a chance.

[stgzach]

Hi, if you're interested I managed to make the Tile devices sound with the web version. The link is here. Have a nice day.

[bachya]

@ehily Thank you! Would you be willing to submit a pull request here? Our community would appreciate it!

[stgzach]

I would like to but my code is not laid out like yours and I use the web api. So I don't know how I would do it but you can adapt my code if you wish. Have a nice day.

[travisp]

I can't find evidence that the production.tile-api.com supports setting the ring state, although it might be there.

Would it be acceptable to use the web API as in ehily's code in order to set ring state? If so, I'd be open to trying to put together a PR.

Edit: I'm not sure the above code works either. The web interface seems to only expose my phone device, not my regular tile devices, and passing in the UUID from pytile doesn't seem to work.

[bachya]

I'm certainly open to other APIs if they can (a) add meaningful functionality and (b) follow the general design patterns of the library.

[nakaotatsuya]

Hi, thank you for this library. Has this problem already solved?
I found this. http://improwis.com/notes/ble.webt#TileInc.Tile1.0
I wonder if it can help you to be able to ring tiles without the app, though I don't know about this BLE connection.
I hope someone can create the system of ringing tiles without the app.
Thank you.

[nakaotatsuya]

And, I check my Tile by using bettercap, and I got this information below. Most of the characteristics can be only read, not written.
I doubt if I can change the value of 000f handle, but I don't know what is happening.
I couldn't ring a tile without the app, sorry.

┌──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Handles    │               Service > Characteristics               │ Properties  │                      Data                      │
├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 0001 -> 0009 │ Generic Access (1800)                                 │             │                                                │
│ 0003         │     Device Name (2a00)                                │ READ, WRITE │ Tile                                           │
│ 0005         │     Appearance (2a01)                                 │ READ        │ Unknown                                        │
│ 0007         │     Peripheral Preferred Connection Parameters (2a04) │ READ        │ Connection Interval: 16 -> 80                  │
│              │                                                       │             │ Slave Latency: 0                               │
│              │                                                       │             │ Connection Supervision Timeout Multiplier: 400 │
│ 0009         │     2aa6                                              │ READ        │ 01                                             │
│              │                                                       │             │                                                │
│ 000a -> 000a │ Generic Attribute (1801)                              │             │                                                │
│              │                                                       │             │                                                │
│ 000b -> ffff │ feed                                                  │             │                                                │
│ 000d         │     9d41000735d6f4ddba60e7bd8dc491c0                  │ READ        │ ,2h«1c*í03                                     │
│ 000f         │     9d41001835d6f4ddba60e7bd8dc491c0                  │ WRITE       │                                                │
│ 0011         │     9d41001935d6f4ddba60e7bd8dc491c0                  │ NOTIFY      │                                                │
│              │                                                       │             │                                                │
└──────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────

[wieluk]

I don't know if this is still active but it should be possible via api because it is possible with alexa or google.
https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/blog/how-to-use-amazon-alexa-and-google-assistant-with-tile

[kylewilliams321]

Any updates to this?

[Bretthansenpc]

I would love this option!

[StaleLoafOfBread]

@bachya RE:

Thanks for submitting, @Alfiegerner! Unfortunately, I am unable to see any sniffed HTTP traffic when the Tile is pinged; it's possible that the app does this directly over a Bluetooth connection (which is not something this library currently supports).

I'll leave this open in case anyone is able to assist.

I think what is happening is the Tile app sees that it is the device directly connected to the Tile device and sends out the Bluetooth command to ring it. So instead, we need a secondary device to send the command to Tile's API which will then tell your phone which is directly connected to the Tile, to ring it. Fortunately, it seems there are two scenarios we can create to achieve this:

1. Ring a shared Tile:

Can we both ring a shared Tile?
Yes, just make sure both devices have the most up-to-date Tile app version. Both devices can ring the shared Tile as long as the device is within Bluetooth range of the Tile. You can ring a shared Tile one user at a time.

https://tileteam.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205332837

2. Ringing a Tile on a secondary phone

You can ring your Tile from any device logged into your Tile account.
https://tileteam.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203953853-Use-My-Tile-with-More-Than-One-Device

As extra precaution, especially for option 2, Bluetooth should be turned off on the device requesting the ringing in the Tile app. This is to ensure that there's no way it could have issued the ring command direct to the Tile device itself. If I find some time I'll see what I can find but wanted to leave the note here in case anyone else with some time could take this idea and run with it.

[lesleyxyz]

Hi All,

I just implemented this in my NodeJS library if someone wants a reference:
https://github.com/lesleyxyz/node-tile

It's not the easiest to implement unfortunately, but that's a deliberate move by Tile

You can also find an initial attempt of me explaining how the protocol works here:
https://github.com/lesleyxyz/node-tile/blob/main/Tile_Protocol.md

[jeremad]

Hi folks, I implemented a tiny flutter mobile app that can ring a Tile tracker, giver its auth key and and bluetooth mac address, which you can find using this project. If any of you is interested I can publish it. Cheers

[kylewilliams321]

Yes interested

[jeremad]

https://github.com/jeremad/jeretile