Chipolo Loop and Card Review: Rechargeable AirTag Alternatives With Find My Integration

1 week ago 10

It's been implicit 4 years since Apple launched its Find My web accessory program, and dissimilar the AirTag, Find My-compatible devices person been evolving. Chipolo precocious came retired with a brace of caller accessories that integrate with ‌Find My‌, the Loop and the Card.

Prior to this review, I saw immoderate complaints that anterior Chipolo products stopped moving aft a fewer months, truthful I wanted to bash a longer review. I've had them for a small implicit 2 months, and truthful acold they've been moving arsenic intended.

Chipolo Loop

The $39 Loop has a circular shape, and it's bigger than the ‌AirTag‌, but lighter due to the fact that it doesn't see a replaceable artillery inside. It connects to the ‌Find My‌ app similar an ‌AirTag‌, and it shows up wrong the Items tab. You tin connect the Chipolo Loop to thing and it works astir precisely similar an ‌AirTag‌.

You request an accessory if you privation to link the ‌AirTag‌ to keys oregon akin objects, but Chipolo's Loop has a built-in flexible silicone loop astatine the top. The attachment constituent is heavy and feels sturdy adjacent though it's pliable.

The Loop is made wholly from plastic, and due to the fact that it lacks a metallic backmost and it's light, it doesn't consciousness arsenic premium arsenic the ‌AirTag‌ if that's thing that you attraction about. Between the two, I similar the plan of the loop with the built-in attachment point.

I besides similar that the Loop comes successful respective antithetic colors, including navy, mint, honey, coral, and charcoal. I person the coral color, and it's easier to find erstwhile it's tucked successful a bag. The ‌AirTag‌ is fine, but it's bully to person options.

What I similar champion astir Chipolo's Loop is the built-in battery. It recharges via USB-C, and that is conscionable way much convenient for maine than replacing an ‌AirTag‌ battery. My AirTags person been retired of artillery for months due to the fact that it's annoying to person to bid CR2032 batteries (which I don't person connected hand), and past unfastened it up to swap them out.

With the Loop, I conscionable plug it in. The artillery tin past for up to six months, and I haven't had it agelong capable to trial the afloat artillery life. The downside with thing similar the Loop is lithium artillery degradation implicit time. It mightiness not past arsenic agelong arsenic an ‌AirTag‌, but it should clasp up for respective years to come.

It has IP67 h2o absorption truthful it tin basal up to immersion successful up to a metre of water, and dunking it successful a vessel afloat of h2o didn't faze it.

There's a talker successful the Loop, truthful it tin play a dependable to assistance you find a mislaid item, positive the charging airy tin blink truthful you tin find it successful the dark.

Chipolo says the Loop has a Bluetooth scope of 400 feet, and it seemed akin to the ‌AirTag‌ successful range. It reliably delivered point near down notifications, but it doesn't person Ultra Wideband with Precision Finding, truthful it can't way items indoors arsenic reliably arsenic the ‌AirTag‌ can.

Chipolo Card

The $39 Card is sized to acceptable successful a wallet, similar a recognition card. Apple doesn't person an equivalent product, due to the fact that the ‌AirTag‌ is excessively heavy to acceptable comfortably wrong astir wallets. The Card is lone disposable successful black, and it is made from matte plastic. It has an unassuming look, and I'm not definite that idiosyncratic who stole a wallet would instantly cognize what it is due to the fact that it looks akin to a cardinal card.

Chipolo's Card is 2.5mm thick. Standard recognition cards are 0.76mm thick, truthful the Card is astir 3 recognition cards thick. It won't enactment good successful a wallet that's designed to beryllium ace thin, similar the iPhone variants that lone clasp a mates of cards, but it fits good successful my tiny wallet and doesn't adhd excessively overmuch bulk. It's not the thinnest of the Find My-connected card-like trackers that I've used, but it's not excessively acold off.

There isn't country for a USB-C larboard connected the Card, truthful it uses Qi wireless charging. It's magnetic, truthful I tin popular it close connected a MagSafe charger.

Aside from the Qi charging the Card it has each of the aforesaid specifications arsenic the Loop. The artillery lasts for up to six months, it has the aforesaid dependable level, the Bluetooth range, h2o resistance, and it supports each of the aforesaid ‌Find My‌ features.

Sound

The speakers successful the Chipolo Card and Chipolo Loop are louder than the ‌AirTag‌ speaker, but I deliberation the higher transportation of the ‌AirTag‌ dependable stands retired much to my ears. There is an enactment to alteration the ringtone connected the Chipolo, and immoderate of the alternate options bash dependable louder.

A decibel metre connected my telephone suggests the Chipolo devices are astir 74db, and the ‌AirTag‌ is astatine astir 67db. I tin perceive either 1 from a country away, but further than that is pugnacious unless it's dormant quiet. With a antithetic dependable setting, the Chipolo is person to 82db.

On the Chipolo devices, determination is an enactment to set the measurement of the sound, truthful you tin acceptable a mean and debased measurement if desired. High is the default.

Find My

In the ‌Find My‌ app, Find My-compatible devices similar the Loop and Card are listed close alongside the ‌AirTag‌ and are added successful the aforesaid way. I opened up ‌Find My‌, tapped the "+" fastener to adhd an item, pressed the fastener connected each device, and selected a sanction and emoji.

Unrelated to Chipolo, I'm not definite wherefore Apple doesn't let maine to usage Genmoji for an point icon. It's constricted to modular emoji for some AirTags and third-party products.

The Loop and Card connection each disposable ‌Find My‌ functions:

View a representation with the point location

Play a sound

Get directions

Share point with others

Allow others to spot proprietor info and get entree point determination (such arsenic if you suffer your luggage astatine the airport)

Notify erstwhile found

Notify erstwhile near down (lets you cognize erstwhile your point isn't with you)

Item near down notification exceptions (so you tin acceptable "safe" locations similar home)

A nexus to the Chipolo app

Options to alteration sanction and icon

Battery status

The lone happening I can't bash successful ‌Find My‌ with the Chipolo products that I tin bash with an ‌AirTag‌ is usage the "Find Nearby" diagnostic for precision locating. I bash deliberation this is an important enactment for items that you're apt to suffer indoors, similar your car keys oregon your Apple TV remote. I wouldn't usage the Chipolo Loop for items similar that due to the fact that Precision Finding works amended successful those situations.

The astir important portion of the ‌Find My‌ web is the mode that it links Apple devices owned by different people. AirTags and Find My-compatible products similar the Loop and Card tin ping immoderate adjacent Apple device, which helps you find your mislaid items adjacent if you're obscurity adjacent them.

Chipolo App

The Loop and Card are meant to enactment with the ‌Find My‌ app and Apple's ‌Find My‌ network, but they are besides compatible with the Chipolo app that adds other features. You conscionable request to download the Chipolo app from the App Store and link the Loop oregon Card to Bluetooth to get the other features.

Here's what's available:

Call Your Phone - You tin acceptable the Card oregon Loop to origin your telephone to ringing with a treble property connected either device. This requires afloat entree to your location, though. I'm not utilizing this feature, but I did trial it and it works. It could beryllium utile if you don't person an Apple Watch with the ‌iPhone‌ pinging feature.

Change the Ringtone - There are a clump of ringtones you tin select. There are vacation themed options, and classical tunes similar Frére Jacques, Oh Susanna, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and more. I acceptable it to Frére Jacques, which is louder than the default ringing sound. Hall of the Mountain King is simply a bully video game-sounding theme, truthful it's amusive to person options.

Take a Selfie - You tin usage a treble property connected the Loop oregon Card to instrumentality a selfie with the Camera app, but you request to bash it done the Chipolo app truthful it's not the astir convenient feature.

Ring and Blink - There's an enactment to person the Loop and Card blink erstwhile they ringing to marque them easier to find successful the dark, which is perchance utile for locating an point successful a dimly lit country oregon astatine night. Once turned on, this works erstwhile you activate the instrumentality with the Play Sound diagnostic successful the ‌Find My‌ app.

There are besides settings for changing the measurement of the Chipolo device, and options for sharing a referral codification with friends to get a escaped Chipolo.

Bottom Line

Chipolo's Loop and Card are point trackers with a fewer utile features implicit the ‌AirTag‌, offering a amended scope of plan options and changeable sounds. I similar the agleam colors of the Loop and the bladed plan of the Card, and being capable to recharge them via USB-C and Qi, respectively, is simply a large plus.

On the downside, they bash not person Precision Finding for indoor tracking purposes, truthful I mightiness not usage them if I specifically wanted to find items precise adjacent by.

The 1 antagonistic is the price. I deliberation the Card and Loop are a small excessively costly astatine $39 each. I tin get an ‌AirTag‌ for $29 from Apple, and adjacent cheaper from retailers like Amazon. If I privation to connect the ‌AirTag‌ to thing I bash request an other accessory, truthful that puts the terms person to Chipolo's options.

I deliberation the integrated artillery is worthy an upcharge, and if you're similar maine and don't regenerate ‌AirTag‌ batteries arsenic often arsenic necessary, spending the other wealth for simpler charging could beryllium a bully investment.