Hands-on with Chipolo's Bluetooth trackers for Google Find My Device

It's May 27 and, as Chipolo and Pebblebee both told us, compatible with Google Airtag Alternatives are shipped today. The two Chipolo Bluetooth trackers were the first to reach my house today, so I'll focus on them in this hands-on lesson, but you can check out our guide to learn more about the differences between the trackers from Chipolo and Pebblebee. The two should behave much the same.

Also keep in mind that this is a very quick and rough first impression, from installation to the options available. I haven't had time yet to 'lose' these trackers in the wild and try to find them. I will review them extensively and compare them to Pebblebee's, Apple's Airtags and Samsung's trackers Galaxy Smart Tag 2 later on.

With that in mind, let's focus on the two Chipolo trackers. Here's a quick reminder of their specifications:

First up is the ONE Point, a round tracker with a removable CR2032 button cell battery and a keyhole to attach it to your keys or bag, for example.

Then there's the CARD Point, a thinner tracker in the shape of a credit card that fits easily in a wallet. This one doesn't have a removable battery, but Chipolo has an offer of 50% off replacements if you recycle it once the predicted two-year battery life is over. I'm not a big fan of that – Pebblebee's rechargeable trackers have a better environmental approach – but Chipolo has chosen to go this route to keep these trackers thin.

Both models, at first glance, look exactly like Chipolo's Apple and standalone Bluetooth trackers. The only difference is that the Google-compatible ones are exclusively white. The ones that work with Apple's network are only available in black, while the standalone trackers that are cross-platform but only work with Chipolo's app are available in six colors (white, black, yellow, red, green and blue).

However, if you look closely, you will see the inscription 'Chipolo CARD Point' on the back of the card, and 'Chipolo ONE Point' in the circular tracker, once you remove the battery cover. That should help you distinguish between them if you buy them second hand or if you have any doubts.

Connecting these two trackers to my Pixel phones was very quick and easy. I simply tapped the button (center on the circular tracker, bottom left of the map) and heard a beep while a pop-up appeared on my phone. This is similar to the Quick couple notification you get the first time you try to connect a new pair of Bluetooth earbuds to your Android phone.

After that, it's a simple process to follow. I read the responsibility warning, added the tracker to my Find My Device app and joined the Find my device network with my phone because the official rollout hadn't reached me yet – this helped by the way; my phone is now part of the network. Then the trackers appeared for me in the app. You may need to grant location access and nearby permissions to the app for everything to work properly.

In the Find My Device app, both the CARD Point and the ONE Point show the same options. From the list I can quickly see whether the trackers are near me or not. Then when I tap it I get the last known location on a map, their battery level, and two options to play a sound or share the device.

Chipolo has opted for a ringtone-like sound, which is high and loud enough to hear from several meters away without being too loud or annoying. That should come in handy when the tracker is hidden out of sight.

There is also a locator nearby, which tells me if I am getting closer or further away from the tracker. Because these trackers have no Ultra Broadband chip, there's no directional sensing as you can see on Apple's AirTag and Samsung's Galaxy SmartTag 2. This feels like a missed opportunity, and I hope future trackers from other brands will have this functionality.

I haven't set up sharing yet, but it might come in handy for keys and stuff I share with my husband. That way, if we lose them, we can find them both and use them without getting warnings about unknown trackers.

Other options include renaming the tracker, assigning it a category (bag, bike, camera, headphones, keys, phone, tablet, wallet and others) and removing the tracker from your account so it can be assigned to another account can be linked.

So far I have been able to add both tags to my account and they have appeared on all my Android phones. However, to track them on another phone, the app asked me to enter my PIN from the phone I first set them up on, although that appears to be a one-time verification. This shouldn't be a problem for most users who don't change phones often, but it will be somewhat annoying for phone reviewers like me. I certainly appreciate the extra layer of security, though, and the fact that it's a one-time thing makes it much less problematic.

It's raining outside right now, so I dropped the two trackers around my small apartment and walked around, trying to track the Bluetooth range (spoiler: it's enough to cover my 47 square meter apartment) and ringtone loudness. to test. Overall, they seem to get the job done in this limited environment.

But the real test comes later, once I get outside and actually use it in everyday life. Will they be reliable? Will it be easy to find them if they are lost? Is Google's Find My Network strong enough, or will more phones be needed to join in? And how reliable are their unknown tracker alerts on Android and iOS? All questions that I will try to answer in my longer review and comparison test.