Smart Tracker Cards
Here’s a thing I didn’t know existed until the other day: credit-card sized trackers that you put into your wallet (or bag) that can be located with Apple Find My. Some come with long-life batteries and others are rechargeable. Some can play a sound when lost. This seems pretty handy for when an AirTag is too bulky.
The first one I stumbled across was this one from Paperwallet but there are also many other options.
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Just a heads up, I bought a couple of these to try them out (a Tile by Life360 Slim and a Nomad Tracking Card) and they, uh, weren't great.
I couldn't get the Tile to work at all and returned it, and the Nomad randomly stopped tracking after a couple weeks and I couldn't figure out how to get it working again. I ended up buying a Belkin wallet insert for a regular Airtag, and while there's a small obvious bump in my wallet, it at least actually works as reliably as my other AirTags.
Also FYI none of these third party trackers support Precision Finding in Find My currently, that's just an AirTag thing right now.
That's good to know...I was wondering if any of these things actually worked. The Paperwallet one seems the most likely to be non-shitty — their wallets are good and they seem to care about quality.
I have a KeySmart SmartCard. Fits in my wallet. Works with "Find My". Wirelessly rechargeable.
Absolutely LOVE it.
Had AirTags on my keys and other items, but couldn't reasonably track my wallet. Not until I found these.
Big, big fan.
Watch out if there is a button on these. Had a ugreen one I liked but it started beeping randomly because the button was too sensitive and my butt would randomly trigger it.
https://bsky.app/profile/kottke.org/post/3lz2aspvnhf2f
These can be useful in the wallet of a person living with dementia. Their caregivers can find them easily if they get lost or disoriented.
I have had the Nomad card in my wallet for months and it works perfectly. I was on a day trip in Portland, Maine, when my phone suddenly notified me that my wallet/Nomad card had last been seen 10 minutes earlier a few blocks away. Apparently, fiddling with my keys I had accidentally knocked my wallet onto the ground. Thankfully the Find My system alerted me and led me back to the spot.
on the flip side, here's a bulky airtag case that has a ten year battery: https://www.elevationlab.com/products/timecapsule
I’m 100% happy with every Elevation Lab airtag holder I’ve tried.
I got the wallet one that smoooothes the disc shape into something credit card sized and works well in my wallet. Probably wouldn’t work as well as these aftermarket cards in a sleeve type wallet, but my wallet’s relatively slim.
The elevation key rings are also waterproof and durable when banged against keys, dropped, whatever. I’ve got their heavy plastic ones with the good adhesive in my cars and their strong fabric adhesive ones in my suitcases and backpacks. (I don’t leave an airtag in every bag, but it’s very quick to move a floating spare to the elevation holders when packing up)
I’ve been meaning to get a 10yr for my truck so I can hide it more deeply in the dash and forget it.
Any readers have experience with Android -compatible flavors of these?
I have a tracker from https://rovistech.com/, which is really one guy in Montréal who disassembles actual AirTags and essentially unfolds them. The 3D printed enclosure is wide and flat, easily slipping into a wallet. It’s main advantage over the card products is that, as a real apple device, it supports precision tracking. Also that it’s one guy in Montréal.
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