Why I Like This: Chipolo

Hi all! Welcome back to another edition of “Why I Like This”, a blog mini-series I’ll be writing over the coming weeks celebrating various different products that I happen to really like!

It’s a great way for me to evangelise, and to help others who are facing similar problems find useful solutions. Again, these opinions are my own and unsponsored, I just want to write about things I like!

The Problem

My biggest pet peeve: searching for something that’s lost. Especially something important, and even more especially when there’s a time limit.

The Product That Solved It

Chipolo, a set of small bluetooth trackers that can let your phone call your wallet, let your keys call your phone, etc.

Why I Like This

• It’s small. Chipolo is the perfect size for me. I’ve got one on my keys that’s about the size of two poker chips stacked up, and one in my wallet that’s about the size of a hotel keycard. They’re unobtrusive and I never notice I’ve got them on me.
• It’s easy to use. I found Chipolo really straightforward to set up and use. Just downloaded the app and connected the devices, took about five minutes tops. Using them is easy and I like the feel of squeezing the Chipolos, very tactile. They’re loud as well, every time that I have triggered one, anywhere in my house, I have always found the missing item.
• It solves multiple problems. I mainly bought the Chipolos (Chipoli?) so that I could find missing items. A feature I didn’t know it had until I bought it, is that if you leave the house with your phone but not your wallet, once you get X meters away you get an alert on your phone asking if you forgot your wallet. It’s saved me a couple of times, and there’s no worse feeling than having to turn around five minutes from the station and heading back home in shame!

The only critique I would have of my Chipolo is: I’m a minimalist on my phone, and I don’t really like seeing the “Chipolo app is running in the background” notification all the time. Apparently this is to stop the app from being turned off by the battery saver, and I’ve gotten used to it, but at first I did find it annoying.

That’s a minor quibble though, and overall I’ve been more than happy with Chipolo. They’ve solved the problem I had, and that’s what counts!