Apple AirTag is a sensational device, one of the best 25 travel gadgets around. But its shape isn’t perfect for every situation. It doesn’t sit well in a wallet, for instance, because its cute rounded design makes the leather bulge unattractively, for a start. And since your wallet is something you definitely, incontrovertibly don’t want to lose, you need an alternative.
Now, there is one. It is barely thicker than a credit card and offers the same sensational findability as AirTag, because it’s compatible with Find My. It’s called AirCard and it has other neat features AirTag can’t hope to match and other trackers have yet to introduce.
A word though about the Nomad Card for AirTag. This is a neatly designed accessory—as you’d expect from Nomad, a reliably brilliant brand—which goes a long way to sorting the bothersome bulge issue. It’s a card-shaped device with an AirTag-shaped hole in the middle. It’s flat on one side, gently mounded on the other, so the bulge is dispersed. It’s a great option, and you can buy it now from nomadgoods.com for $20.
But it’s the new AirCard that really changes the game. It’s as flat as a pancake (though rather less flavorsome, probably) and the size of a credit card, so it snuggles into your wallet happily.
It’s 2.2mm thick, that’s about the thickness of 1.6 credit cards, but despite that it feels strong and durable with no unwanted flex, thanks to the smooth and tactile tempered glass shell covering the aluminum body.
AirCard is compatible with Apple’s Find My network. As you’ll know, this means that when in Lost Mode, it silently sends out messages to every passing Apple device which passes this information back to Find My, without the Apple user being troubled by this. The Find My app then alerts you to the AirCard’s last-seen location. It’s the breadth and depth of this Find My network which makes the AirCard so appealing.
It looks cool, too, with see-through elements that are all the rage right now. And it can play sounds thanks to the speaker which goes to 105dB, the company says. This means that when you’re looking for it via Find My, you can instruct it to make a noise and a jaunty, trilling tune can be heard from the other side of a room with ease, though perhaps not much further. The little tune is oddly catchy, by the way—I just caught myself accidentally whistling it.
There’s also NFC and a QR code that works as a digital ID. NFC is there so you can tap it against a phone to transfer your details instantly using the company’s bespoke platform. This worked instantly with my Google Pixel 7 Pro. Other phones can snap the QR code for the same result. It also means that if someone scans the code when it’s in Lost Mode it can share your details and any message you’ve left, such as if you’re offering a reward.
And, by the way, the eye-catching design means someone finding it would perhaps be more tempted to scan the QR code as it’s such an intriguing device.
Most of the card is made up of battery, a super-thin 540mAh lithium cell which lasts two-and-a-half years, the company says. It’s not rechargeable but at the end of that time, you’ll be sent a code for 50% off a replacement. If you send it back to AirCard, it’ll reuse most of the components, the company says, or you can continue to use it as a digital business card.
It’s available from kickstarter.com, with shipments expected in August this year. After that, it will be available to buy from rollingsquare.com in the third quarter of this year. The expected price is around $42 (39€) though that could change. However, Kickstarter has several early bird prices, though the Kickstarter campaign ends soon, please note.
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