Find My adds a ton of perks to this item tracker
Item trackers were made for absent-minded people like me. Not a day goes by that I donāt ping my iPhone from my Apple Watch so I can find where I left it. I usually need it so I can open the Find My app to find my keys. Iāve misplaced my phone in the fridge, lost my wallet in the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport, and left my passport behind on the greasy counter of a Queens diner. Given my dismal track record, I was eager to try the $35 Chipolo Card Spot ā a slim card-shaped Bluetooth tracker that works on Appleās Find My network.
I was also a bit wary. The Find My network is so accurate that it borders on creepy, especially when you look at all the recent reports of people discovering theyād been tracked by unknown AirTags. Itās an issue that Apple has officially acknowledged and the company recently said itād beef up AirTag safety features. However, this isnāt an AirTag. Itās a third-party tracker using Appleās network ā and I wasnāt sure how thatād translate in real life.
Chipolo has been around for a while and the Card Spot is not reinventing the wheel. None of the technologies it uses are exactly new. Technically, the Chipolo One Spot was the companyās first Find My tracker. The Card Spot, which was announced back at CES 2022, is just a new form factor. And in the design department, the Card Spot is nearly identical to the Tile Slim.
Truly, I had a difficult time telling the two trackers apart. Theyāre basically the same size and width. Hell, they even share the same price and basic feature set. Both are loud, but neither is dramatically louder than the other. The Card Spot gets up to 105 decibels, while the Slim goes up to 108 decibels. (Thatās about as loud as a power tool and a heck of a lot louder than the AirTagās chime at 60 decibels.) I hid the trackers in a closet under some pillows and had no trouble hearing either one from the other side of my apartment. The Slim has slightly better IP67 water resistance to the Card Spotās IPX5 rating. The Card Spot also has a shorter estimated battery life at two years to the Slimās three. Both are capable of sending you notifications, either when you leave the device behind or when itās found.
So no, thereās not much to say about the Card Spotās hardware. The only thing Iād keep in mind is that itās not the best for slimmer wallets. I keep my ID, credit card, and my MetroCard in my Bandolier case. Thatās not much, but it was still hard to cram the Card Spot in along with all that. I also have a card holder-style wallet and while I could fit the tracker in it, I had to get rid of some other cards to accommodate it. Youāll have a better time with a more traditional bi-fold or tri-fold wallet.
The Chipolo Card Spot (left) looks nearly identical to the Tile Slim (right). Both are better suited to wallets than the AirTag (bottom).
That said, we wouldnāt be talking about the Card Spot at all if it was about the hardware. The CardSpot might look identical to the Slim, but what makes it interesting is it operates more like an AirTag ā albeit with a few limitations. For starters, it doesnāt have ultra-wideband. Youāre firmly stuck within a 200-foot Bluetooth range. That means you still have to rely on sound to find your things instead of fancy AR arrows directing you to an exact location. However, unlike Tileās trackers, the Card Spot can leverage Appleās Find My network when youāre outside that range.
As a quick refresher, Find My works by leveraging Bluetooth signals from other Apple gadgets to relay your itemās location to the cloud. That means every Find My-enabled iPhone you come across acts as a sort of beacon. Itās what makes AirTags so freakishly accurate in more populated areas. Tile has a similar network, but itās not as effective because there just arenāt as many Tile devices out there.
For example, I recently ran some extensive tests to see compare the accuracy of a Tile tracker versus an AirTag when outside Bluetooth range. While I could frequently see the AirTagās location in real-time, several hours could go by before Iād get a rough ballpark of where the Tile was. The Chipolo lies somewhere in the middle.
While commuting into the city with my husband, I had him stick the Card Spot into his wallet (with his consent, of course). He gets off several stops before I do, but I didnāt get notified that I had āleft the tracker behindā until about two stops later. I could see the Card Spotās last-known location was where my husband had gotten off ā but not much else. And while I was notified relatively quickly, it wasnāt helpful in that particular scenario.
Screenshot: Victoria Song / The Verge
What the left behind notifications look like.
That was only one scenario, however. There were plenty of times when I got timely left-behind notifications, too. Iām just saying these notifications work best in situations where you forget your bag at the coffee shop or in a friendās car. As with AirTags, you can also enable Lost Mode. When Lost Mode is activated, youāll get a notification when the Card Spotās been found and can leave behind a number or message so anyone who finds it can contact you. Itāll also lock the Card Spot to your Apple ID so no one else can pair it.
I actually didnāt mind that the Card Spot wasnāt as accurate as the AirTag. It makes it less attractive for off-label uses like unwanted tracking. Whenever I had my husband carry the tracker, I could at times see where he was. Other times, not so much. The day when we commuted in together? It had him at the subway station for hours. That doesnāt mean the Card Spot is necessarily safe, however. If I were a bad actor, Iād still be able to glean sensitive information ā just not as readily or in real-time. Ultimately, this isnāt Chipoloās problem to fix on its own. Itās an industry-wide problem and in this case, Apple would have to do the bulk of the work to make Find My a safer experience. (Though we do have some specific recommendations.)
On the flip side, because the Card Spot uses the Find My network it has some of the same anti-stalking protections as the AirTag. Chipolo CEO Primož ZelenÅ”ek told The Verge that these protections were a ārequirement to be part of the [Find My] programā but that Appleās recent updates to beef up AirTag safety havenāt yet been applied to third-party accessories.
Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge
It might look like a Tile Slim, but it operates like an AirTag
In practice, iPhone users will get a notification if an unknown Card Spot or One Spot has been traveling with them for a period of time. Android users get zilch unless they download Appleās separate Tracker Detect app. My husband got multiple over the course of a few days. Each told him when the tracker had first been seen with him, along with a map showing where heād been. He also had the option to play a sound to try and find the tracker. Given how much louder the Card Spot is, itās easier to find ā so long as you can get a decent Bluetooth signal.
This is a lot better than what Tile recently rolled out, which requires you to manually scan your surroundings. However, you wonāt get any proactive sound alerts like the AirTag. (At least, my husband and I never heard one.)
Find My integration has other perks besides accuracy and anti-stalking features. The Card Spot is so easy to set up. All you do is open the Find My app, select āAdd Other Itemā, and press the Card Spotās tiny button. I blinked and it was done. The best part was I didnāt have to download another frigginā app like you do with Tile. You might not mind companion apps, but as a gadget reviewer, I have way more than I care to count. Making use of what already exists on my phone was a huge win in my book.
Screenshot: Victoria Song / The Verge
Set up is seamless through Find My.
Find My adds a lot of benefits but it has one fundamental drawback: This tracker is exclusively for iPhone owners. Android users will have to opt for one of Chipoloās non-Find My trackers or Tile. These are still great trackers, but theyāre not quite as good at helping you find items lost outside your home. Itās a shame because the Card Spot doesnāt require an extra subscription to get left-behind alerts. With Tile, youāve got to opt for Tile Premium ($29.99 annually) or Tile Protect ($99 annually) to get that particular feature.
Compared to the Tile Slim, Iād pick the Card Spot. The Slim does edge out the Card Spot in a few areas. Iāve actually been quite happy using it until now. But as an iPhone owner who loses things every day, the Find My networkās accuracy is more appealing and makes up for the Card Spotās shortcomings.
Ultimately, this tracker is a great AirTag alternative. A single Card Spot only costs $5 more, itās much louder, and its tradeoffs in accuracy are acceptable for anyone creeped out by AirTags. Itās also a much better choice if you want to track your wallet. AirTags are too round, too thick, and fall out easily. Iād argue Chipoloās One Spot is also more economical for keys because it has a dang hole in it already. No need to buy accessories to make them immediately useful.
So no, the Chipolo Card Spot hasnāt brought anything new to the table. Itās not even the very best at what it does. But sometimes you donāt want the best of the best. You just want something thatāll get the job done without having to think too much about it. That, friends, is the Card Spot to a tee.
Photography by Victoria Song / The Verge