A hi-tech wallet with a built-in tracker will ensure that your wallet stays close to you at all times. Pair up your wallet and phone with Bluetooth and you have an unbeatable team to find your wallet just about anywhere.
Genuine wallets that advertise an integrated built-in tracker are few and far between. There is a handful out there and all of them started with a Kickstarter or Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. Unfortunately, few of them (so far) have much of a track record.
So in this post, I will focus mainly on wallet trackers that can potentially make any wallet trackable. The exception is the Volterman, which is has the tracking electronics sewn into the wallet.
Chipolo CARD and Tile Slim
Either of these cards will turn the dumbest wallet into the smartest.
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Small yet powerful, these two wallet trackers are so thin they can fit snug into your wallet. Apart from their lightweight feature, they are also Bluetooth enabled and connect to your phone.
This way, you can track your wallet from your phone and vice versa. When prompted via your mobile device, these two trackers will play loud alert sounds until it is turned off.
Despite the impressive similarities, the Tile Slim and the Chipolo CARD are not clones of each other. While the battery of the Chipolo lasts for only a year, the Tile Slim triples the number to an amazing 3 years.
However, the compact nature of the Chipolo CARD makes it a lot more utilitarian. It can fit smaller places than the Tile Slim which is 60% larger. The Tile Slim, in fact, is has the same outside dimensions as a credit card.
I wrote an extensive article that compares the Chipolo CARD and Tile Slim trackers. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here.
Both the Chipolo CARD and the Tile Slim are just a hair less than the thickness of three credit cards stacked together. That means they will fit in the credit cards slots found inside most wallets.
As long as that slot isn’t RFID-protected, these cards can potentially make any wallet trackable. It won’t be “built-in,” but it will endow a dumb wallet with some newfound smarts and unlosability.
Chipolo CARD Spot wallet tracker – New in 2022
It uses Apple’s Find My network with 200 million users.
New for 2022 is the Chipolo CARD Spot. This new version is the size of a credit card with an improved battery that now lasts 2 years. It’s black, rather than white, so it looks much more like the Tile and Ekster wallet trackers.
But the biggest difference? It now runs on Apple’s Find My network. Yes, that’s exactly the same network used by the Apple AirTag that was introduced in May 2021.
The incredible thing about moving from the Chipolo app to Apple Find My is that the network has increased in size by 40 times! If you lose your wallet with the Chipolo CARD Spot inside, you’ll have a community of 200 million iPhones looking for it.
This is a giant leap for Chipolo and rockets them above and beyond any trackers that Tile is currently producing. In fact, it puts them on a par with the Apple AirTag.
Even better, the Chipolo CARD Spot is only .10″ thick, about the thickness of 3 credit cards, and specifically made to fit in any size wallet. Apple’s AirTag is three times thicker, so placing it inside most minimalist wallets is just clumsy and impractical.
For wallets, the Chipolo CARD Spot is the only way to fly.
Ekster Parliament with Solar-Powered Tracker
A fine-looking minimalist wallet with a pocket that holds a tracker.
- The Ekster solar-powered tracking card fits perfectly in the back pocket of the Ekster Parliament
- Never say, “Honey, I can’t find my wallet” again.
The combination of the Ekster Parliament wallet and the Ekster solar tracking card is a winner in the world of GPS wallets. With a pre-installed voice activation feature, the solar tracker card is built to work on Android or Apple phones for up to two solid months after charging for only three hours. It is also Bluetooth-enabled. The solar tracker muscles the Ekster and makes losing it almost impossible.
Designed in the Netherlands, this smooth mass of top-grain leather does more than just store cards. In addition, it safeguards them in an RFID-sheltered aluminum casing, equipped with a sleek and swift access card slider mechanism that ejects up to six cards at the touch of a button.
Read my full review of the best Ekster wallets here.
The Ekster Parliament wallet is perfect for minimalists. It’s a real looker, I think, and it’s widely loved by its users. Ekster’s leather is tanned in gold-rated LWG tanneries and it will age gracefully and distinctively over time. The thin solar-powered tracker disappears nicely into a pocket in the back of the wallet. For a more traditional leather wallet style, this is one of my favorites.
The Ekster Solar-powered tracking card
No batteries to wear out. This solar-powered tracker uses the sun to hold its charge.
- Just 3 hours of sun gives this solar-powered tracker 2 months of battery life.
- Use it to track just about any wallet
Much like the Chipolo CARD and Tile Slim, the Ekster solar-powered tracker links to your phone with Bluetooth. Ekster uses the Chipolo network to track your wallet if it is ever lost or stolen. With the Chipolo app, your phone becomes a GPS tracker that can find your wallet at home or on a beach chair in Rio de Janeiro. It uses something called crowd-sourcing to do it.
Never heard of crowd sourcing? Check out my FAQ page for a defintion.
It is ever-so-slightly thicker than 3 credit cards stacked together and exactly the same size. So it can fit more than just the Ekster Parliament (read above) and the Ekster Senate pop-up wallets. It will also fit in any other wallet that has a slot large enough for 3 credit cards to squeeze in.
Of course, it’s solar-powered so there is no battery to replace. By itself, it’s about twice as expensive as the Chipolo CARD and the Tile Slim. But remember: you’re buying a tracking card with no battery to replace, so your investment can potentially last forever!
Secrid Slim wallet
A beautiful minimalist wallet that stores a tracking card while it pops out up to 6 credit cards.
- Thanks to the slim shape, the slim wallet from Secrid fits perfectly in any pocket.
- . The open leather in brown is cut extra wide so that cards, banknotes and receipts find their place.
Like the Ekster Parliament above, you can turn the Secrid Slim into a GPS wallet by adding a tracking card. But you have to put it in the right location or it won’t work.
You see, the Secrid has a rigid aluminum box that gives up to 6 cards RFID protection. It will hold a credit-card-size tracker like the Tile Slim or the Ekster solar-powered card, but the Bluetooth wireless signal will be blocked by the aluminum case.
Luckily, the Secrid Slim provides two extra leather card slots that are not RFID protected. The tracker card all but disappears into one of these slots, so it really feels built-in.
The tracker increases the thickness of the wallet a tiny bit, but isn’t that a small price to pay to make it an anti-lost wallet?
The truth be known, any traditional wallet that isn’t RFID protected can be converted into trackable wallets by inserting one of these Bluetooth tracking cards. And that includes the dingy old wallet you’re carrying now.
Volterman Wallet
Despite delays and disappointment, the Volterman is finally available
Yes, the Volterman is finally shipping their wallet. After years of hype, bad press and angry customers, they appear to have gotten their shit together.
The Volterman has put more technology into their leather wallet than any other wallet maker. It’s almost too good to be true.
First, it has worldwide global GPS tracking ability that is built into the Volterman app that you download onto your smartphone. It has its own power bank and a SIM card you can use to turn the wallet into a mobile hotspot.
Most importantly, all of the tech is sewn in, so there is no visible signs of a tracker.
One of the drawbacks with all of these features is the wallet is heavy and thick. Almost 1″ thick with some cards and cash. No minimalism here.
Check out this recent video from Walletopia that does a great job of reviewing this wallet.
A distance alarm will sound if you walk too far from your wallet. If you have Lost Mode enabled, the integrated camera inside the wallet will take 3 photos of the person who opened it and upload them automatically to your Volterman account. Wow.
At $199, it’s crazy expensive. But if you want a rocket in your pocket, this may be your wallet.
JUST THE FACTS:
- Trackability: The Volterman has an integrated SIM card that automatically logs onto any available cellular network. You can track your wallet with the GPS capability of your smart\phone with the Volterman app installed.
- Design: The three available wallet designs include a cardholder, bifold, and a travel wallet that is large enough to carry a passport. It’s made in Armenia and comes in either brown or black leather.
- Unique features: The built-in power bank can charge a smartphone. A hidden camera will take a photo of a would-be thief if he opens the wallet. A mobile hotspot can connect up to 10 different devices.
- Performance: Volterman has just begun to reliably deliver this wallet as of June 2021. Many owners have complained about long delivery times and poor support in the past. The jury is still about how well the tech works, but it looks great on paper.
Make these wallets trackable, too
Here are a few more wallet designs that you might consider putting in your pocket. You can turn any of these into a wallet you will never lose again by adding a tracking card.
LEARN MORE: Would you like to know about even more tracking cards that you can use to locate your wallet? Check out my post 7 Best Wallet Tracker Devices.