Chipolo CARD vs Tile Slim: Which is the Best Wallet Tracker?

Chipolo released the Chipolo CARD in 2020. It is 40% smaller than the Tile Slim, which means it can fit in much tighter places.

The Tile Slim was also released in 2020. It is the same size as a credit card.

The biggest feature that distinguishes the Chipolo CARD from the Tile Slim is battery life. With a rating of 3 years, Tile’s battery lasts 3 times longer than Chipolo’s battery.

The Chipolol CARD is 40% smaller than the Tile Slim, which means it can fit in much tighter places.

Both these trackers use Bluetooth technology to link up with the GPS capability of your phone. If your wallet is ever misplaced, lost, or stolen, either of these wallet trackers will help you find it.

Full Review

How they compare

First, the similarities

• Both trackers are small enough to fit handily into just about any wallet. 
• They’re both the same thickness, roughly as thick as 3 credit cards stacked together. 
• Both are Bluetooth tracking cards and wirelessly connect to your smartphone with their own dedicated apps. You can ring your tracking card from your phone or ring your phone from your card.
• Using the GPS capabilities of your phone, you can locate your tracking card anywhere in the world with crowd finding.  Chipolo calls it Community Search and Tile calls it Community Find. They both work the same way. 

Now, the differences

• The Tile Slim is the same size as a credit card, while the Chipolo CARD is about 40% smaller. 
• The battery life of the Tile Slim is an impressive 3 years. The Chipolo Card is only 1 year. 
• Chipolo has Out-of-Range Alerts that will notify you if you stray too far from your phone. Tile has a similar feature call Smart Alerts but you’ll have to chuck out another $2.99 a month for a premium subscription to get this feature.
• The Chipolo Card has a selfie function you can use to take a remote selfie with your smartphone by double pressing your card. 

Which wallet tracker should you choose?

Go with the Chipolo CARD if:

• you want one of the smallest and thinnest wallet trackers out there.
• you want to be able to find your tracker anywhere in the world
• you’re looking for an easy-to-use app that has a selfie function and out of range alert.

Spring for the Tile Slim if you want:

• a tracker that is the same size as a credit card.
• the loudest tracker with the largest worldwide network of users.
• you love the thought of having a tracker you don’t have to replace for 3 years.

Chipolo CARD (2020)

This wallet tracker is thin and compact that rings with plenty of volume for your ears to follow if you misplace it.

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The Chipolo CARD wallet tracker is about 60% the size of a credit card, so it slides easily into the tightest spaces in your wallet. Even though it is diminutive in size, it packs a loud 95dB alert ringtone. The volume won’t exactly wake the dead, but it’s loud enough that you can follow the tone to your misplaced wallet.

The real strength of the Chipolo CARD wallet tracker lies within the Chipolo app. It does everything that the Tile app does, including voice activation with Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa. But it also includes some cool extra features.

• Use it to take a selfie with your smartphone
• Set up Out of Range alerts

I recently discovered that Chipolo makes you turn off Out of Range alerts if you want to share your Chipolo with someone else. I guess this is to prevent both phones from being notified simultaneously.

The set-up screen in the Chipolo app looks like this. This is also the screen with the big green Ring to Find button you tap to ring your wallet. I have found this feature to work very reliably and I use it a lot.

I take a deeper dive into the Chipolo CARD (2020) in this review.

Like the Tile app, you can also double click the Chipolo tracker to ring your phone, even if your phone is set on silent. I consistently lose my phone more than my wallet, so I LOVE this feature.

If you ever lose your wallet out in the hinterlands somewhere, you can use the Chipolo’s app’s crowd search feature called Community Search to find it. Tap Mark as Lost, and all of the phones worldwide that are running the Chipolo app will start to look for your phone.

You’ll receive a push notification and email when someone’s phone finds your phone. This is all done anonymously through the Chipolo network.

Can’t find your phone, either? Just log onto the Chipolo website from any internet-connected computer to see its last known location. You can even send a message to your phone so that the finder can contact you.

Tile Slim

The Tile Slim was redesigned for 2020.

I really liked the new credit-card-size reboot of the Tile Slim in 2020. It fits into most wallet card slots with ease and even maintains a solid Bluetooth connection in an RFID-protected wallet.

The best thing of all is that Tile somehow squeezed out 3 years of battery life from this tracking card.

If I misplace my wallet, all I have to do is open the Tile app on my phone and press Find. If I’m within Bluetooth range (about 250 feet), it will play a tune that’s surprisingly loud. In fact, it’ll scare the bejeezus out of you if your wallet is under the newspaper just 12″ away.

Loud volume is a good thing, though. Whether you left your wallet on your desk or between the sofa cushions at the far end of your house, the tune will lead you there.

If you misplace your phone, you can do the reverse and double click your Tile Slim to make your phone play a tune. This works even if your phone is on silent. You can even use your voice to locate your misplaced wallet by setting up your Tile Slim with Siri, Google Assitant, or Amazon Alexa.

The Tile app on your phone also shows your wallet’s current location if you are within Bluetooth range. If you are out of range, it will show your wallet’s last known location.

Crowd search, aka Crowd GPS

Wallets get lost in far-flung places, too. That’s when the crowd search feature called Community Find kicks in. If your wallet’s Tile Slim is out of range, tap Notify When Found and every phone in the worldwide Tile network will start to look for your phone.

And don’t worry. A phone’s owner has no idea this is happening. It’s all automatic and happens in the background. The Tile app will send you a notification through the Tile network when it’s found.

The more Tile users there are, the faster you’ll get a notification that someone in the Tile network has found your phone. Tile has sold 10 million versions of their Tile tracker worldwide, so their network is HUGE.

Take a look at this map that shows just the Tile users in San Francisco.

Winner for the App: Chipolo CARD

Even though the Tile and Chipolo apps work much the same way, you get more bang for your buck with the Chipolo. The Chipolo app lets you set up out of range alerts as part of the app. Tile requires a premium subscription to do the same thing on their app. Plus, you can use the Chipolo app as a remote shutter device to take a selfie with your phone. I also find the Chipolo app easier to use.

Winner for battery life: Tile Slim

Tile really hits the ball out of the park with the 3-year battery life for their Tile Slim. The Chipolo CARD card can only squeeze out 12 months before it needs to be replaced. With Chipolo’s renewal program, you can get a new Chipolo for half price. But with the Tile, you’re getting 3 times the battery life for nearly the same purchase price. Need I say more.

Winner for ring tone volume: Tile Slim

To my ears, the alert tones for both the Tile Slim and Chipolo CARD are pretty loud. However, Tile lets you customize the volume with 3 settings from mute to normal to loud. Chipolo only has one default volume. With the Tile volume jacked up to loud, it is way louder than the Chipolo.

Even at the same volume, some ringtones can be heard better than others. (Others are annoying at any volume.) Tile offers 8 different alternative melodies to suit your fancy, while Chipollo offers 6. Because of the optional loud setting, I have to give this one to the Tile Slim.

Bluetooth tracker volume comparison table

Since I’m sort of a scientist at heart, I measured the relative loudness of the ring tones for 5 different trackers with the NIOSH app on my iPhone 6S. Measurements were all taken at arm’s length with the microphone aimed at the tracker. I used the default melody for all of them.

Winner for wallet tracking: Tile Slim

Both the Tile Slim and Chipolo CARD apps work well for finding your wallet or your phone when they’re in Bluetooth range. They are dependable and the Bluetooth range appears to live up to the promise of about 200 feet.

They both display a map on your phone so that you can see the current or last known location of your wallet.

But I have to give the crowd search award to Tile. It really comes down to a numbers game because more people are running the Tile app than Chipolo. And that means that you have a better chance of finding your lost wallet with Tile.

The Overall Winner: Tile Slim

I was really rooting for the upstart Chipolo because Tile is such an established and recognized brand. Unfortunately, Chipolo just can’t compete with the sheer number of users that are running the Tile app. This gives Tile’s crowd search a competitive edge over the Chipolo if you lose your wallet.

The Chipolo and Tile apps, Bluetooth range, and ringtone functionality are both outstanding and more similar than they are different. What REALLY puts the Tile Slim over the top, though, is the tracker’s outstanding 3-year battery life. That’s just flat out amazing.

Ekster Solar Bluetooth wallet tracker

It’s not just about Chipolo vs Tile. Here’s a bonus wallet tracker that’s worth a look.

This Ekster Solar wallet tracker doesn’t have a battery that will give up the ghost in a year or two or three. No, it has an integrated solar cell that delivers 2 months of charge with just 3 – 4 hours of exposure to strong light. It doesn’t need direct sunlight, either. The solar cell is advanced enough to charge in an office setting under fluorescent or LED lighting. No batteries to wear out. Ever.

How does it perform? After using this card for over a year, I am impressed every day with how long it holds a charge. It is manufactured by Ekster, the same Dutch company that makes the Ekster Senate and Ekster Parliament pop-up wallets. However, it is powered by the Chipolo network. So it works just as smoothly as the other Chipolo trackers.

It is ever-so-slightly thicker than the Tile Slim and Chipolo CARD wallet trackers (you might catch your fingernail if you compare them side by side), but still perfectly wallet-sized.

Learn more

If you’re interested in even more trackers, check out my post 7 Bluetooth GPS Wallet Trackers (That Will Find Your Lost Wallet). I review 5 more in addition to Chipolo, Ekster, and Tile.

Frequently Asked Questions