The Wallet Shoppe
Tired of losing your wallet? Want to know who makes the best wallet tracker so you can easily find it next time?
We’ll compare four credit card-sized trackers — Ekster, Chipolo, Tile, and Ridge’s new Tracker Card — and tell you which is worth buying.
Along the way, we’ll get into how a trackable wallet actually works.
Wallet Trackers - Quick Summary
For those that just want the quick and dirty - these are the wallet trackers we’ll be discussing:
For those that want more details, please read on!
How Does a Wallet Tracker Work?
Before we can talk about which tracker is best, let’s start by talking about how these gadgets work in the first place.
Pretty much every wallet tracker works the same way. It’s a card-sized Bluetooth tag (no GPS, no cell connection) that slips into your wallet and pairs with an app on your phone. Nearby, you can make it ring. Farther away, the app shows you on a map where it was last seen.
These are separate devices, not built into the wallet itself, and that’s a good thing: when a new version adds a feature worth having, you swap the card instead of buying a whole new wallet.
There is one obvious downside: if someone steals your wallet, they can simply remove the tracker. We don’t think this is such a big deal. We suspect most thieves take the cash, ditch the wallet, and the cards get cancelled by your bank anyway. A tracker is really for the everyday problem: the wallet you left in a cab or under a sofa cushion.
How Does a Wallet Tracker Share Its Location?
We knew what bluetooth tracking was, but we had to dig a bit to understand crowd-tracking. The gist of it: millions of people are using these products to track their goods, and together they form a network that helps everyone find their stuff.
Bluetooth reaches a few hundred feet at best, and less through walls (or through you, if the wallet’s in your back pocket). Once you’re out of range, the crowd-finding kicks in. If someone whose phone is part of the same network walks past your wallet, their phone quietly sends you its location. They’ll never even know; they’re just doing a good deed by being part of the network. We created this diagram to illustrate:
The app shows where and when your wallet was last spotted. It’s not a live GPS trail.
Network choice matters. The current Ekster, Chipolo, and Ridge cards can use Apple Find My or Google Find Hub. Tile uses the Tile/Life360 network. Choose the network that works with your phone before pairing the card.
Why Do Trackers Rely on Phones?
You might be wondering why wallet trackers piggy-back off other people’s phones instead of having their own connection. There are two main reasons: size and power. A tracker that could talk to cell towers directly would basically be a small phone, and it wouldn’t be 2mm thick or go most of a year between charges. The tradeoff is that a wallet left somewhere quiet may show an older location until somebody walks by.
Other Features of Trackable Wallets
The features just keep on coming. All four will ring so you can find the wallet that slid down the back of the sofa. Depending on the tracker and app, you also get extras: pressing the card to make your phone ring, a warning when you walk away without your wallet, even asking your voice assistant where it is. One thing to know: Tile’s basic finding is free, but its left-behind alerts need a Premium subscription.
The Main Players in Trackable Wallets
Four trackers worth knowing about: Ekster, Chipolo, Tile, and Ridge’s Tracker Card. The key differences are which finding network they use, how thick they are, and whether you have to charge them.
Ekster Card
We consider Ekster to be the OG of the trackable wallet world (technically Tile released its tracker earlier, but not in a wallet-friendly form). We liked their wallets so much we wrote a full Ekster wallet review, but the Tracker Card fits any wallet.
The current Ekster card is 1.8mm thick and charges wirelessly on a Qi pad. You choose Apple Find My or Google Find Hub when you set it up. (The old solar-charging Ekster card is long gone.)
| Dimensions | 85 x 54 x 1.8mm |
| Devices / network | iPhone / Apple Find My, or Android / Google Find Hub |
| Battery | Up to 10 months per charge; Qi charger not included |
| Bluetooth range | Up to 300ft |
| Ringer | 95dB |
Ekster remains our first pick for a slim rechargeable card that works with either phone platform. Its 1.8mm profile adds less bulk than the Chipolo or Tile below. You do need to remember the occasional top-up, and changing phones may mean changing which network the card is paired with.
Chipolo CARD
Chipolo launched on Kickstarter back in 2013, out of Slovenia, and has been making trackers ever since. The rechargeable Chipolo CARD works with Apple Find My or Google Find Hub (one at a time), and it’s rechargeable, unlike the older CARD Spot and CARD Point.
Its standout feature is the 110dB ringer, paired with a claimed 400ft Bluetooth range in clear line of sight. The card is thicker than Ekster’s, but the louder alarm is appealing if wallets tend to disappear into your sofa or bag. The optional Chipolo companion app adds features such as phone ringing and out-of-range alerts alongside the chosen finding network.
| Dimensions | 85.2 x 53.6 x 2.5mm |
| Devices / network | iPhone / Apple Find My, or Android / Google Find Hub |
| Battery | Up to 1 year per charge; Qi charger not included |
| Bluetooth range | Up to 400ft, clear line of sight |
| Ringer | 110dB |
| Water resistance | IP67 |
Tile Slim
Friends of ours introduced me to Tile with one stuck to the top of their pet tortoise … Wallet finding is a somewhat less adventurous use for the same idea.
The 2024 Tile Slim is the choice here if you don’t want another thing to recharge. Its sealed battery lasts up to three years, after which you replace the tracker rather than the battery.
Tile, bought by Life360 in 2021, works with iPhone and Android through its own finding network rather than Apple’s or Google’s. Basic features include ringing the tracker, viewing its last known location, community finding, and double-pressing the card to ring a nearby phone. Left-behind Smart Alerts are a paid extra.
| Dimensions | 85.4 x 53.9 x 2.5mm |
| Devices / network | iPhone and Android / Tile / Life360 network |
| Battery | Up to 3 years; non-replaceable |
| Bluetooth range | Up to 350ft |
| Ringer | 104dB |
| Water resistance | IP68 |
Ridge Tracker Card
The Ridge Tracker Card is the thinnest of these four, at about 1.6mm. It supports Apple Find My or Google Find Hub and charges on a Qi or MagSafe pad.
If you carry a Ridge Wallet, Ridge recommends putting the tracker under the cash strap or money clip. It works in any other wallet too.
Owner Patricia M. praises the straightforward setup, charging, and fit in her Ridge in the maker’s customer reviews. That fit is the main reason we’d choose it over Ekster for a Ridge wallet.
| Dimensions | Credit-card footprint, about 1.6mm thick |
| Devices / network | iPhone / Apple Find My, or Android / Google Find Hub |
| Battery | Up to 10 months per charge; Qi/MagSafe rechargeable |
| Bluetooth range | Up to 300ft; varies with wallet placement |
| Ringer | 95dB |
| Water resistance | IP68 |
Choosing a Wallet Tracker
For a thin rechargeable card, Ekster is still our pick. Chipolo trades some extra thickness for a louder ringer and longer stated Bluetooth range. Ridge is slimmer still and has a recommended position under its wallets’ cash strap or clip. Tile is the one to choose if avoiding recharging matters most, provided you’re happy using its finding network and eventually replacing the sealed card.
All four work with iPhone or Android in the versions linked here. Ekster, Chipolo, and Ridge let you choose the corresponding Apple or Google network; Tile uses its own app and network. Your phone and preferred app matter more than the brand of wallet you own.
A note on AirTag. We’ve left the AirTag out of the main comparison because it isn’t credit-card sized — it’s a small puck, thicker than any of the options above, and won’t sit flat in a card slot. That said, it’s Apple’s own hardware with a replaceable CR2032 battery, wide FindMy network coverage, and the 2nd-generation model has meaningfully better precision finding range than the original.
If you want the AirTag specifically, Axwell make a dedicated AirTag Money Clip that attaches it cleanly to their wallets, and they have a full AirTag wallet collection worth a look. We cover the best wallet options designed around AirTag in our best AirTag wallets guide. For most people though, one of the four card trackers above is a cleaner solution.
