Bluetooth trackers have been on the market for many years now. This might be because so many of us keep losing our phones, keys, wallets, and other important items that we put down for a second and completely forget about.
One of the newest options to hit the market is the Chipolo Bluetooth tracker, which has incorporated new features into its design to overcome some of the problems of older Bluetooth trackers.
Here at WirelessWizard, we will cover all the ins and outs of these easy-to-use but highly effective Bluetooth trackers, so that you can make an informed decision when searching for the latest and best products on the market.
What is a Chipolo Bluetooth Tracker?
The Chipolo Bluetooth tracker is a small device that can be quickly and easily attached to many items, from wallets to keys, phones, iPads and even Alexa devices.
With the Chipolo Plus, the Chipolo One and the Chipolo Ocean, and with more products on the way, Chipolo has looked at the other options on the market and corrected many of their design flaws.
The best way to think about Bluetooth trackers in general is to view them as an investment or as an insurance plan. You might not need one if you are diligent about placing and locating all of your items. However, if you have ever left your wallet behind at a friend’s house without realizing it, or been late to work because your keys aren’t hanging in their usual position, then these products may be for you.
Users of Chipolo Bluetooth trackers say that, compared with their competitors, they are much louder. In addition, they also have longer battery lives, making these reliable and effective options that stop you from having to run through the house or and office listening for a barely audible chime.
Below, we cover these products’ features in greater detail.
How Does Chipolo Work?
Chipolo products work by utilising Bluetooth Low Energy technology (Bluetooth 4.0) to connect to your mobile device in order to transmit data to that device about the whereabouts of a tagged item. When looking for the item later, you just have to select it on the mobile app, and the tracker will begin to ring so you can find it.
Every Bluetooth tracker has a unique signature that only the owner knows, allowing them to set specific names for each tracker based on what item it is attached to, and preventing other mobile users from easily connecting to the tracker and running away with property that does not belong to them. However, if they choose to, users do have the option of sharing access to the Bluetooth tracker with someone else
Chipolo employs Bluetooth 4.0, and the key benefit is in Bluetooth 4.0’s low power consumption. Applications can run on a small battery for many months or years. Although this isn’t ideal for talking on the phone, it is vital for applications that only need to exchange small amounts of data periodically. Chipolo trackers, therefore, use a minimal amount of power that their batteries are guaranteed to last for a minimum of six months.
This is thanks to the use of lithium-ion batteries which are incorporated into the trackers, with some batteries being rechargeable and others replaceable, depending on the specific product.
Each Chipolo device contains an extremely small chip along with an antenna. The chip is essentially the brains of the device, allowing you to choose specific ringtones, receive location data, and set up other Bluetooth features. The antenna allows the chip to communicate with any connected mobile devices by using a fine-tuned, radio-based link for maximized range.
Trackers like the Chipolo Plus can have tracking ranges of up to 200 feet or 60 metres! That’s double the range of many other Bluetooth trackers on the market – most Bluetooth trackers that run Bluetooth 4.0 only reach ranges of around 100 feet or 30 metres.
Chipolo Features
Before we dive head-first into the specific features of Chipolo’s Bluetooth trackers, it makes sense to talk about whether one of these is going to be right for your intended purposes. Bluetooth trackers are often confused with GPS tracking systems; however, because of how differently these two tracking systems operate, they have separate uses.
Due to the limited range of Bluetooth trackers, they are best used for things around the home or that are going to stay within a close proximity to you even when you can’t find them, making these perfect for smaller items that are easily misplaced. They aren’t designed to track, for example, your vehicle if it is far away from your location. In this case, you would likely want to get a GPS tracker that uses third-party connections, which enables them to cover much larger ranges and provide real-time tracking information.
If a Chipolo tracker fits your expected needs, read below for an outline of Chipolo Bluetooth tracker features.
Crowdsourced Locations
As mentioned above, Chipolo trackers have a superior 60-metre range with your mobile device; however, once any item with a Bluetooth tracker goes outside of that range, the tracking functionality is essentially useless. Chipolo has anticipated this and added a crowdsourcing feature that relies on the Chipolo community to find any items that have been marked as lost.
When a fellow Chipolo user comes within range of a Bluetooth tracker which you have marked as lost, their own app will pick up on the tracker’s signal and record its location data, without sharing any of this data with that other Chipolo user. This location data is then sent directly to you so that your tracker and items are not lost as soon as they go out of range.
Available in Multiple Water-Resistant Designs and Sizes
Chipolo haven’t just stuck with the basic coin-sized keyring when it comes to their trackers. Instead they have incorporated a range of different designs and styles for specific uses. The Chipolo Card, for example, is just that: a thin and small card design that is the perfect size for any wallet. This product has a 1-year battery life, a width of just 2.15 mm, and can reach volumes of 95 dB.
The Chipolo One, on the other hand, does use the basic and compact coin shape so that it easily fits on keyrings, and can be attached to bags without drawing much attention. The Chipolo One is water resistant, has a replaceable battery with an expected battery life of up to two years, and is extremely loud, reaching up to 120 dB.
The Chipolo Ocean Edition uses the same design and look as the Chipolo One and adds a water-resistant casing that will keep it safe if it falls in water. The company has also gone a couple of extra steps by making these trackers from recycled fishing nets and pledging $1 toward ocean cleanup efforts for every sale. Like the Chipolo One, this product can reach a staggering volume of 120 dB.
Voice Control
Thanks to its integrations with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, you can use your smart speakers in your home to locate your tracker.
After a quick setup process, it is as easy as asking your voice assistant to find a specific item for you. And because these devices can differentiate between users based on voice patterns, there won’t be any confusion about whose keys are ringing away in the distance.
How Much Does Chipolo Cost?
At the time of writing, a single Chipolo One costs $25, a single Chipolo Card costs $30 and a single Ocean Edition costs $29.
However, when buying Bluetooth trackers, purchasers normally want more than one to keep tabs on all of their items. Anticipating this, Chipolo has put together a range of different tracker bundles for each product, and combinations of products with discounted prices compared to buying each separately.
For example, the Chipolo Bundle, consisting of one of each of the products mentioned above, only costs $59 (instead of $84 if you would buy the products separately), and a package of six Chipolo Ones is just $105 (instead of $150). You can get some serious savings by choosing any one of their many package options.
Does Chipolo Work with Apple’s Find My Network?
Yes it does! But not all Chipolo products work with Apple’s Find My network. The Chipolo One Spot is the product that you need if you want Find My compatibility.
This product has the same features as the Chipolo One, with the added benefit of working with Apple’s Find My network. It is easy to set up as well (you can read more about the process here). By registering your Bluetooth tracking device with the Find My network, you will have access to a much larger crowdsourcing pool when it comes to locating your tracker and attached item. While Chipolo’s own crowdsourcing pool is built into each product, this feature in the Chipolo One Spot drastically increases your chances of finding your tracker once you have gone past the 60-metre coverage range.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Chipolo has actively sought to revolutionize the Bluetooth tracker industry by working on correcting the faults of other products. With this approach, they have effectively doubled the range of their Bluetooth trackers compared to their competition, increased the alert volume to a staggering 120 dB in some products, added water-resistant designs and a card design for wallets, and addressed the issue of lost trackers that are outside of the tracker’s range through the addition of crowdsourcing and location tracking.
All of this, combined with exceptional battery life, means that these trackers are made to last and be easily found, no matter the distance from the user, providing fellow Apple Find My users or other Chipolo Users are close enough to the tracker.
Our key recommendation when considering buying Chipolo products is to ask yourself exactly what you are going to be using them for. For example, will you use it to find your wallet? Does it need to be water-resistant? Would you benefit from the addition of Find My tracking? From there, find the bundle that gives you everything you need, and you will be on your way without the headache of losing your keys, wallet, bag or any other important item.
