AirTag rival Chipolo One Spot with keyring hole now available for preorder

New new Chipolo ONE Spot

The Chipolo ONE Spot is now available to pre-order, offering a small price benefit, and a built-in keyring hole, over AirTag, its fellow Find My device from Apple.

Announced ahead of Apple's launch of the AirTag, the similar Chipolo ONE Spot device tracker is now available for pre-order. It's the first third-party tracking device to use Apple's Find My network, and it offers similar functions to the AirTag, but with advantages.

The first is that built right into the tracker is a hole so that it can be fitted to a keyring. Apple's AirTags require the separate purchase of an accessory in order to be attached to a ring.

Then Chipolo is selling the new tracker for slightly less than Apple. A single Chipolo ONE Spot costs $28, instead of Apple's $29.

More significantly, a four-pack of Chipolo ONE Spots is currently slated to sell for $90. That's a nine-dollar saving over Apple, but Chipolo's site suggests that at some point the four-pack may go up to $112.

AirTags are more water resistant, being rated at IP67 — meaning they can be submerged in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. The Chipolo ONE Spot is rated IPX5, which means it can resist splashes.

The Chipolo ONE Spot is louder, however, Unofficial tests suggest that the AirTag speaker can go up to 64dB. Chipolo states its new device can achieve 120dB. AirTags can also use the iPhone's ultra wideband for precise finding, where the ONE Spot cannot.

Subscribe to AppleInsider on YouTube

Chipolo currently states that its pre-orders for June are sold out. Ordering now will see devices shipped in August.

AirTags and the new Chipolo ONE Spot are currently the only tracking devices that are compatible with Apple's Find My network. Tile offers alternatives that use its own proprietary network, and AppleInsider has extensively compared the three devices.

Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.

Follow AppleInsider on Google News

19 Comments

mr lizard

said about 2 years ago

It would be good if the article could mention something about whether the battery is replaceable, and expected battery life.

Xed

said about 2 years ago

This is a solid option over Tile since it works with Find My, but the lower IP rating and the lack of UWB makes this something I'm not likely to recommend over AirTag.

mr lizard said:

It would be good if the article could mention something about whether the battery is replaceable, and expected battery life.

It's a replaceable 2032 and expected to last a year.

AppleZulu

said about 2 years ago

What is Chipolo doing to prevent stalkers and abusers from using this device to track their victims? Will it alert someone that a device not registered to them has been following them? If so, do you have to install a Chipolo app and register an account in order to be notified, even if you don't have any Chipolo tags yourself? Will the Chipolo tag start making a noise after some period of time if its owner isn't nearby? I'm just asking because Apple's AirTags have some anti-stalker features, but a bunch of people on these forums seemed to think they hadn't done enough in that area. Now we have this Chipolo announcement, and I can't find a thing on their website about any measures whatsoever that they've taken to thwart misuse of their devices, other than the potential that there might not be enough Chipolo users out there for their phones to usefully relay a victim's location back to the stalker.

Soli

said about 2 years ago

AppleZulu said:

What is Chipolo doing to prevent stalkers and abusers from using this device to track their victims? Will it alert someone that a device not registered to them has been following them? If so, do you have to install a Chipolo app and register an account in order to be notified, even if you don't have any Chipolo tags yourself? Will the Chipolo tag start making a noise after some period of time if its owner isn't nearby? I'm just asking because Apple's AirTags have some anti-stalker features, but a bunch of people on these forums seemed to think they hadn't done enough in that area. Now we have this Chipolo announcement, and I can't find a thing on their website about any measures whatsoever that they've taken to thwart misuse of their devices, other than the potential that there might not be enough Chipolo users out there for their phones to usefully relay a victim's location back to the stalker.

1) It's funny how trackers have been around for years without any mention of trying to prevent illicit use, but as soon as Apple announces one with that safety feature all of a sudden it's not good enough.

2) I do wonder how the Find My network is set up for these other trackers. Hopefully that will be able to piggyback on Apple's OSes and back end for the anti-stalker feature instead of only being a centralized place to see 3rd-party trackers.

AppleZulu

said about 2 years ago

Soli said:

AppleZulu said:

What is Chipolo doing to prevent stalkers and abusers from using this device to track their victims? Will it alert someone that a device not registered to them has been following them? If so, do you have to install a Chipolo app and register an account in order to be notified, even if you don't have any Chipolo tags yourself? Will the Chipolo tag start making a noise after some period of time if its owner isn't nearby? I'm just asking because Apple's AirTags have some anti-stalker features, but a bunch of people on these forums seemed to think they hadn't done enough in that area. Now we have this Chipolo announcement, and I can't find a thing on their website about any measures whatsoever that they've taken to thwart misuse of their devices, other than the potential that there might not be enough Chipolo users out there for their phones to usefully relay a victim's location back to the stalker.

1) It's funny how trackers have been around for years without any mention of trying to prevent illicit use, but as soon as Apple announces one with that safety feature all of a sudden it's not good enough.

2) I do wonder how the Find My network is set up for these other trackers. Hopefully that will be able to piggyback on Apple's OSes and back end for the anti-stalker feature instead of only being a centralized place to see 3rd-party trackers.
Apple’s Find My network now offers new third-party finding experiences
"The Find My network is a crowdsourced network of hundreds of millions of Apple devices that use Bluetooth wireless technology to detect missing devices or items nearby, and report their approximate location back to the owner. The entire process is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, so no one else, not even Apple or the third-party manufacturer, can view a device’s location or information."