Why does one need item finders when one doesn’t leave the house you’re probably asking yourself. Well, because we’re only human and we all tend to lose things in the home even if we never leave it. That can be anything from your TV remote to your keys, and Chipolo is here to hopefully help. That is, along as you don’t also have a tendency to lose your phone.
Over the past little bit I’ve been testing out the Chipolo Card and the Chipolo One. The card is said to be the thinnest wallet finder on the market while the One has to be the most colourful tracking device out there.The one can easily attach on to your keys, backphone or whatever you have a habit of forgetting or losing.
Chipolo does three things it’s biggest competitor Tile doesn’t do. Create a wallet card, come in an assortment of colourful varieties and offer the best price. But is that lower price point really all it’s cracked up to be? In my time with the two units, I’ve found them quite reliable and no, they don’t reinvent the wheel but that’s not really necessary here. They work exactly as advertised.
Tech averse people have no fear, setting Chipolo up is incredibly easy. You take your Chipolo device of choice, put it next to your phone and hit the small button on the Card or simply by magic with the One. Within seconds a list of items will pop up asking you how you would like to tag the item. It’s then you make the all-mighty decision whether the Chipolo is going to be used to find your wallet, backpack, passport, luggage, stroller (I HOPE NOT) toy, cat, the list goes on. Whatever you could lose, Chipolo is there to help.
Chipolo can work two ways. You can use it to find your missing items, if it’s attached or use the Chipolo device to find your phone in case you lost it. It functions both ways. You can also turn on a “don’t forget” feature in case you have a habit of forgetting to grab your wallet while you run out the door. Chipolo will simply shoot you a notification reminding you to grab it.
The app is simple enough with very clean and organized minimal screens. It has a list of your devices including your phone as well as a map feature to check out where devices are. By looking at the map you can see exactly where items are as well as how many. From my testing I found it incredibly accurate. There is also a settings button that encourages you to buy more Chipolo’s if you want, an option to name locations and of course your regular Permissions and Privacy options. The final screen is simply an add new device.
What is rather neat is when you select a device, I’ll use the Card as an example I can turn on out of range alerts, turn on Google Assistant or Alexa and use Chipolo as a camera sensor to take a picture. However, the picture option is slow and I don’t really know why you would need it. There is also an option to change the ringtone, with 6 different options to choose from, but word of caution I wouldn’t recommend any of them. Unless you’re a big Christmas fan. There’s three holiday songs and three normal jingles. The Chipolo stock jingle is the best option and a simple nice alert that is quite loud.
There are some other neat functions like a Community Search feature, which will let you mark your item as lost so others can find it. If another Chipolo user is near your device you will receive a location update. With enough users in your area this could be a rather neat feature.
One small feature that is proving to be annoying is I get a notification everytime that I close the app saying Chipolo is disabled and not running. I have to keep the app up at all times to keep track of my items. Another thing to consider is the more expensive Card only has a battery life of up to 9 months and a non-replaceable battery. The One on the hand lasts up to two years and does have a replaceable battery making it a great deal for the price, especially when compared to Tile.
If I were to pick only one out of the two devices I’d go with the Chipolo One. For the price and bright colours it’s a great pick. The Card is a little pricey and really only works in your wallet, and you have to be ok with yet another card taking up space. It’s a thin card but it still adds a little chunk (1.5 inches in diameter and 0.23 inches thick).
These are both such simple devices that I trust my dear mother to even figure it out. That’s why I suggest Chipolo as a gift for your loved ones this holiday season, who always happen to lose things. From opening the package to getting a device setup it takes all of about 2 minutes. This is incredibly simple tech that does what it says and you know what, I appreciate that. I love hassle free technology. Both the app and product are fantastic. Now I just wish the company would create a mask with a tracker so I’d never forget mine in the house.
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