The Twelve South PlugBug with Find My is easily my favorite travel charger and boasts the title of the first charger to integrate with Apple's native device-tracking technology.
Personally, I feel as if we're in this golden age of Find My devices. We've moved out of the stage of just keychain and wallet trackers — of which are now plentiful.
Instead, Find My is being integrated directly into our gadgets. We've seen luggage tags, water bottles, wallets, headphones, and more with Find My built in.
Twelve South is adding the latest product category to the list — wall chargers.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Design
Let's take a step back and start with the design. It's essentially a scaled-up version of the original Twelve South PlugBug.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: The iconic red and white color scheme
It's got a glossy, two-tone plastic body that is white on the front and red on the back. Indicative of not only brand colors, but a ladybug too.
The charger has a set of prongs on the back that flip down when needed and fold up for travel. At least with the typical US model.
Rather than sticking straight out, it goes flat against the wall, angling straight up or straight down. The idea is to be slim so that it can easily fit behind furniture.
Historically, I've found that extremely useful for hotels that often have AC outlets in hard-to-reach locations. Plus, with more surface area against the wall, it also appears to be more stable when plugged into older outlets.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Find My is powered by a single coin cell battery
All the ports are located on the end in a row, making them easy to access. Finally, there is a removable cell battery on the back of the charger to power the Find My connectivity.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Travel version
When picking out a PlugBug, you have choices. Not just between the power capacities, but between regular and travel versions as well.
The travel models are more expensive, but come with a luxe carrying case and several swappable tips. On the travel version, the stock US plug can be removed by pressing a small button, and then one of the other chargers can be added.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Various adapters on the World edition
Included are CN, AU, EU, UK, and KR chargers, on top of the US one. This provides compatibility almost anywhere on the globe when traveling.
The carrying case is very nice, with an almost neoprene-type material that's more rigid and a little net on the inside to tuck your cords. Personally, while I like keeping it in this at home, I often take it out of the case when I travel.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Four USB-C ports make charging your tech easy
I find sticking into a general tech pouch better because I have room for 2-3 cables, some sort of portable MagSafe charger — like the Twelve South Butterfly — and any other tech items I bring with me. Potentially wireless mics for recording short-form content or a niche microUSB dongle for my insulin pump.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Charging performance
One of my pet personal pet peeves with chargers is an overreliance on aging USB-A ports. I understand that some people still have USB-A devices, but it has historically been hard to find a modern charger that fully embraces the newer standard.
Twelve South ditches USB-A, for the better, providing either two or four USB-C ports that are all created equal. There are no faster ports or slower ports.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: By angling up or down, it's easier to fit in tight spaces
Every single port, no matter which one you connect your device into, is capable of the same power draw. This is incredibly nice compared to cheaper chargers that usually differentiate between fast and slow ports.
On the smaller brick, each port can do 50W if used by itself, or the charger will split the power intelligently as needed. The larger model does the same, but you have four ports with a maximum of 120W of output.
The 50W is a solid everyday charger for iPhone and iPad users. It will easily quick charge either device. Even a MacBook Air will receive plenty of juice from these.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: The travel edition is perfect when you need different plug types
The 120W is for those who have more devices to charge simultaneously or want to power something larger, like a MacBook Pro. When used with Apple's USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable, the 120W charger can fast charge the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro.
It's this latter one that I prefer, though it is definitely larger. It's plenty of power, and I never have to worry about how fast everything is charging.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Find My integration
Aside from being a solid, if bulky, USB-C travel charger, the big selling point here is support for Apple Find My. This allows the charger to operate similar to an AirTag.
It gets added to the Find My app — no Twelve South app is necessary. You add it by pressing the plus button, giving it a name, and choosing an emoji icon.
Basic functionality allows you to see the last known location of the charger. If you are within range, it will help you get close to it, and you can make it ring to find it with audio cues.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: The Find My app has many tracking features for the PlugBug
If you lose your charger, you can put it into Lost Mode. When in Lost Mode, you leverage the larger Apple community to help get your charger back.
Anytime someone with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac gets within range of your charger, it will send a notification to you to let you know it has been found. That happens in the background too, so they're none the wiser they aided you.
Other features include left-behind alerts and sharing. Left-behind alerts are my favorite, helping ensure you never lose the charger in the first place.
Sharing is also helpful. You can permanently share it with a friend or family member, for example.
That means each of you has the ability to find it, great for shared devices. Plus, it mutes the notifications that a device is following you.
The other sharing, then, one where you generated a link, is temporary. You can share it with an airline, a hotel, or an Airbnb owner so they can't find your device for you.
In testing, this has worked perfectly, alerting me each time I drove away without bringing it with me while I travel. The onboard speaker is also loud enough to make it easy to find too.
If you need more of an endorsement, I literally needed to use the Find My app to track this down in my own home to take the photos for the review because I forgot where I left it.
One thing I found very interesting is why the PlugBug requires a cell battery rather than just some sort of rechargeable one. To me, it makes sense that a dedicated and rechargeable lithium-ion cell could be added.
Then, whenever plugged into the wall, that would charge up. You'd, for the most part, never have to worry about replacing a battery or charging because it would happen automatically during the normal use of the charger.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: The travel edition comes with a carrying case
When I asked Twelve South about this, I was told it was primarily due to limitations or restrictions within the Find My spec that has strict rules for power supplies.
I do wonder if that would be something that could change in the future with a new model if there are updated Find My specs. For a charger, it seems a natural evolution.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Should you buy it?
If you ever take your charger outside your house, you can benefit from the PlugBug with Find My. If, on the other hand, you primarily want a charger for in your home, there are cheaper and more powerful options to consider.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: The case is handy for holding the adapters, but is chunky if you want to travel light
As someone who travels quite frequently, the trackable PlugBug is a perfect solution. I no longer have to worry about leaving my charger behind in a hotel, Airbnb, or in a hotel room.
It alerts me before I do leave it behind and gives me peace of mind that I'll actually get it back if I do. High-capacity GaN chargers aren't cheap, unlike the small 5W ones everyone used to tote around.
Admittedly, the price is somewhat steep, especially when compared to regular silicon-based chargers and even some GaN chargers. It's hard to argue though when there are no other chargers with the same technology.
When you're the first to market, you can basically set your price. The good news is that they seem to be perpetually on sale.
They've been marked down consistently, making them both an even better value. With the new lower price points, the PlugBug with Find My is even easier to recommend than before.
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Pros
- Compact GaN design
- 50W and 120W capacities
- Travel edition includes four replacement tips & carrying case
- Every port offers the same amount of max power
- First and only charger with Find My
- Slim design for behind tables, couches, and other furniture
- Up to four USB-C ports
- No legacy USB-A ports for modern users
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My review: Cons
- Needs a coin cell battery for the Find My module
- Other chargers can be slimmer and faster
- The full MSRP is pricier than other chargers
Twelve South PlugBug with Find My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Where to buy the Twelve South PlugBug with Find My
You can buy the PlugBug with Find My on Amazon or on Twelve South's site. Amazon currently has both sizes cheaper at $58.99 and $69.99 or the 50W and 120W respectively, though Twelve South is the only place to buy the travel versions.
