I tried the smart wallet Google fans have been waiting for — but it’s overrated

Apple’s AirTag and Find My ecosystem have had a huge head start on Google’s Find Hub for many years now. It’s easy to find objects, beyond the simple Bluetooth trackers, with embedded tracking ability that can be quickly located from an iPhone or iPad — bikes, wallets, backpacks, luggage, and more. But if you use an Android phone, you’ve been limited to simple trackers so far. Versatile, but not completely optimized.

This is starting to change now, as companies are embracing Google’s improved and reliable Find Hub in everything from luggage to this new Trackable Miniwallet from Secrid ($140 on Amazon), which comes as a collaboration with Chipolo. It’s the first smart wallet you can locate with your Android phone using Google’s network, but is it worth the high price tag? Well, let me answer that.

Secrid’s new Trackable Miniwallet is a minimalist wallet built to house and simplify interactions with a Chipolo CARD ($39 at Amazon). I’ll get to the rest of the wallet in a bit, but let me focus on what we’re all interested in: How is this a trackable wallet?

Well, Secrid has made sure there’s a custom card cutout in the wallet’s leather enclosure dedicated to the Chipolo CARD. You don’t have to struggle to get the card in, as you would in other wallets that only take into account thin credit cards and not the 2.5mm thickness of a tracking card. The cutout is also designed to ensure the card doesn’t sound muffled but rings 3dB louder than in other wallets.

But the highlight is the debossed button on the outer part of the wallet that aligns perfectly with the Chipolo CARD’s button. With the card inside the wallet and the wallet completely closed, you can double-tap the button without guessing where it is to ring your phone. (This is a reverse-finding feature that Chipolo has implemented in its own app, because Google’s Find Hub API doesn’t support it natively yet.)

You don’t even need to take the tracker out of the wallet to charge it wirelessly over Qi — I did test to ensure it carries through the leather’s thickness. The problem is that you can’t see the LED light while the tracker is in the wallet to confirm if it’s charging, so if you misalign it with your charging pad, it might not be filling up.

And… that’s all there is to the magic. There’s nothing to make this wallet extra special beyond having a dedicated slot for slightly thicker cards, a debossed design to accurately hit the CARD’s button, and acceptable thickness for wireless charging.

Obviously, the included $39 Chipolo CARD is excellent, in my opinion. I’ve had one, without the Secrid-branded wallet, for several months, and I can only say good things about it. It’s one of the Android-compatible trackers I recommend the most. It has an extremely loud 110dB siren, an IP67 rating, and is future-proof with Bluetooth 6.0 and Channel Sounding. Google hasn’t updated its Find Hub API to support this feature in trackers and make them easier to locate (as an alternative to UWB), but the hardware is there for when it will.

Chipolo is also one of the few companies that have added a bunch of extra functionality to its Find Hub trackers through its own app. You can get left-behind alerts if you walk away from the tracker, which is crucial if your tracker is inside a wallet. You can also reverse-find your phone by ringing it (from the button), customize the tracker’s ringtones and volume levels, and even use the button as a camera shutter remote. Plus, it’s compatible with Apple’s Find network, too, if you ever think about switching platforms. The battery lasts a full year, with Qi charging to fill it up.

Having tested Google’s Find Hub-compatible trackers for nearly two years now, I can say with more confidence than ever that Google’s network has gotten so much better and is very reliable nowadays. Find Hub helped me find my lost luggage in Athens’ airport, and it’s what I rely on when I travel on trains, planes, or just simply walk around Paris with my backpack. Plus, the Chipolo CARD is actually the card I had inside my own personal wallet before testing it again in the Secrid Trackable Miniwallet. I’ve been relying on it to help me find my wallet around the house and on the off chance that I lose it elsewhere. I have no reservations about the tracker part of this trackable wallet. The wallet, though?

To be clear, I like the Secrid Trackable Miniwallet. It’s a high-quality leather and aluminum combo that looks stunning, especially in this dark blue, light blue, and orange combo. There’s an all-black version, too, if you’re a boring person (ha!), but this color mix is very much on point. Serious, but playful.

The leather quality is exceptional, too; the stitching is perfect, and the finishing is flawless. The main light blue aluminum compartment can hold up to five cards, and the orange latch snaps and releases in a very satisfactory manner. The cards slide out seamlessly. Add the two extra card cutouts in the leather wrapper (one of which is made for the Chipolo tracker), and I can easily carry everything I need with me here in style.

I have two issues with this wallet, though. One is the cheap, plasticky, black cash holder, which springs up when you open the wallet and is, on close inspection, mostly just glued on the blue aluminum part. It’s not befitting of the rest of this wallet, especially at a $140 asking price. My current minimalist wallet, the €50-60 Cascade Slim by Ögon, has a leather cutout in the same color as the wallet to hold cash, and that looks a lot classier than the black plastic that Secrid has gone for.

The second issue is a matter of preference. I’m not a fan of the snap closure on this wallet. It’s a high-quality snap that works to keep everything together, of course, but it’s quite thick and causes the wallet to catch on my jeans pocket each time I slide it in or try to pick it up. I’m much more of a fan of the magnetic closure on my Ögon wallets because they’re frictionless.

These two drawbacks, as well as the rather prohibitive $140 price (€120 or £120), make it tough to recommend this wallet, despite the included Chipolo CARD ($39 at Amazon). The regular Secrid Miniwallet (without the tracker or the tracker button deboss) goes for $60-70 on Amazon, and I can’t explain why there’s such a markup to get the Trackable version. If this were $100 total with the tracker, it would’ve been a much easier recommendation. But paying $40 extra for nothing more than a button deboss in the leather feels like a big ask.

At this rate, you’re better off just buying a regular $60 Secrid Miniwallet and the $39 Chipolo CARD, then inserting it in a way so that the button faces outward. Memorize where it is, and you’ll be able to trigger it — leather is flexible like that. I know, because I tried it by just turning the card around in the same wallet, and it worked on the other side. It won’t be as obvious as having the button cutout right there, but it works. Or, you know, you can still buy any other wallet and do the same thing. After testing this setup, I switched the orientation of my Chipolo CARD in my Ögon wallet so the button faces outward, and now I can trigger it from inside the wallet. Easy.