A few weeks ago I arrived at a store opening without a handbag. Somewhere between leaving the office and driving to the event I’d lost it. During the course of the evening I put my car keys down to grab some sushi and never picked them up again. By the end of the night I had to try hunt down my keys and then had to sheepishly ask a friend to lend me some cash to pay for parking (because my purse was in my handbag).
That experience would have gone a bit differently if I had used a Chipolo. Chipolo is a new little gadget that works as a Bluetooth Item Finder. It’s a small and colourful chip that links up to an App via Bluetooth (up to 60m). Here’s how my night would have gone differently if I had a Chipolo attached to my handbag and car keys.
On arriving at the store opening and realising my bag was missing I could have checked my out of range notifications on the Chipolo app. When your Chipolo goes out of range the Chipolo app notifies you. Maybe I missed it because I was blaring Deezer playlists in my car. So by the time I get to the event I’ve realised my bag is missing and clearly out of range. The Chipolo app will show you the last saved location of your Chipolo. My bag’s last saved location would have been the couch in my office’s reception. Shew, it’s safe. The last saved location feature also lets you use turn-by-turn navigation to search for your Chipolo (great if, like me, you have a tendency to put handbags down at music concerts!).
At the end of my evening I realised I didn’t have my keys in my hand. As they were in the 60 metre range all I’d have to do is use the Chipolo app to see how far away they were from me. You can also use sound so you can hear your keys. The only thing Chipolo wouldn’t have been able to do is pay for my parking!
Use Chipolo and never lose your stuff again. It’s such a clever gadget and offers up far more than traditional bluetooth trackers. For starters it is made from highly recyclable materials and does not use any harmful toxins (you’d be surprised by how many of your gadgets do). It has a replaceable battery (that lasts up to 6 months) and utilises a Bluetooth 4.0 Low energy connection – so long battery life and low power pull.
There’s a few other rad Chipolo features you might like: if you have a tendency to put your phone down and not know where (me, all the time), you can shake your Chipolo and your phone will buzz. There’s also a temperature sensor so you’ll know if your lost stuff is inside or outside. My favourite feature though? The Chipolo community. If your Chipolo is out of your range but another Chipolo user is in range the Chipolo will be able to use that connection to send you the co-ordinates of your lost stuff (everything is transferred through secure servers so your privacy is protected). What this means is that the more of us who use Chipolo – the more likely we are to never lose stuff again!
The Chipolo comes in nine funky colours and the free app is available for Android and iOS. The tiny little tracking disc is going to cost you about R400 (and that includes shipping and a spare battery). You can purchase your Chipolo on the local website here.
Disclaimer: This was a sponsored post. We don’t endorse gadgets unless we know they work & we like them (even if they offer to pay us). However, if you don’t want to take our word for it, Stuff Magazine reviewed the Chipolo and gave it an 8.3 out of ten. You can read that review here.
