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

Apple’s AirTags and Find My ecosystem have enjoyed a massive lead over Google’s Find Hub for years. Beyond simple Bluetooth trackers, there are easy to find items with embedded tracking capability that can be instantly searched for from an iPhone or iPad – bikes, wallets, backpacks, luggage, and more. But if you use an Android phone, you’re limited to simple trackers so far. Versatile, but not fully optimized.

This is now starting to change, as companies are adopting Google’s superior and reliable Find Hub in everything from luggage to this new trackable miniwallet from Sacred (), which comes in collaboration with Chipolo. This is the first smart wallet you can find from your Android phone using Google’s network, but is it worth the $140 price tag? Well, let me answer that.

Sacred’s new trackable miniwallet is a minimalist wallet designed to simplify carrying and interacting with Chipolo cards ($39 on Amazon). I’ll get into the rest of the wallet in a bit, but let me focus on the one we’re all interested in: How is this trackable wallet?

Well, Sacred Heart has made sure to have a custom card cutout in the leather enclosure of the wallet dedicated to the Chipolo card. You won’t have to struggle to get the card, as you do in other wallets that only take into account thin credit cards, not the 2.5mm thickness of tracking cards. The cutout has also been designed to ensure that the sound of the card is not muffled, but 3dB louder than other wallets.

But the main attraction is the debossed buttons on the exterior of the wallet that align perfectly with the buttons on the Chipolo card. With the card inside the wallet and the wallet completely closed, you can double tap the button without having to guess where your phone will ring. (This is a reverse-finding feature that Chipolo implemented into its app, as 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 wirelessly over Qi – I tested it to make sure it runs through the thickness of leather. The problem is that when the tracker is in the wallet you can’t see the LED light to confirm whether it’s charging or not, so if you misalign it with your charging pad, it may not fill.

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

Obviously, the included $39 Chipolo card is excellent in my opinion. I’ve had a non-Sacrid-branded wallet for several months and I can only say good things about it. This is one of the Android-compatible trackers that I recommend the most. It has a super loud 110dB siren, 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 find (as an alternative to UWB), but the hardware exists when it will.

Chipolo is also one of the few companies that has added a bunch of additional functionality to Find Hub trackers through its own app. You can get left-behind alerts if you move away from the tracker, which is important if your tracker is inside the wallet. You can also reverse-find your phone by ringing it (with the button), customize the tracker’s ringtone and volume levels, and even use the button as a camera shutter remote. Plus, it’s also compatible with Apple’s Find Network if you ever think of changing platforms. The battery lasts for a full year, with Qi charging to refill it.

After testing Google’s Find Hub-compatible trackers for almost two years, I can say with more confidence than ever that Google’s network has become much better and is very reliable nowadays. Find Hub helped me find my lost luggage at the airport in Athens, and it’s what I rely on when I travel by train, plane or just walk around Paris with my backpack. Also, the Chipolo card is actually the card I kept in my personal wallet before testing it again in the Sacred Trackable MiniWallet. I’m counting on it to help me find my wallet around the house and even if I lose it somewhere else. I have no qualms about the tracker part of this trackable wallet. However, the wallet?

To be clear, I like the Sacred Trackable MiniWallet. This is a high quality leather and aluminum combo that looks stunning, especially in this dark blue, light blue and orange combo. There is also an all-black version if you are a boring person (ha!), but this color mix is ​​very suitable. Serious, but playful.

The quality of the leather is also exceptional; The stitching is perfect and the finishing is flawless. The main light blue aluminum compartment holds up to five cards, and the orange latch snaps and releases very satisfyingly. Cards slide in seamlessly. Add two additional card cutouts in the leather cover (one of which is made for a Chipolo tracker), and I can easily carry everything I need in here in style.

However, I have two issues with this wallet. There’s a cheap, plasticky, black cash holder, which pops up when you open the wallet and upon close inspection is mostly stuck to the blue aluminum part. It doesn’t fit the rest of this wallet, especially at the $140 asking price. My current minimum wallet, €50-60 Cascade Slim by AugonThere’s a leather cutout in the same color as the wallet to hold cash, and it looks much more classy than the black plastic that Sacrid chose.

The second issue is of priority. I am not a fan of the snap closure on this wallet. It has a high-quality snap that certainly does the job of holding everything together, but it’s quite thick and the wallet gets stuck in my jeans pocket whenever I put it in or try to pick it up. I’m a big fan of the magnetic closure on my Aegon wallet because they’re frictionless.

These two shortcomings, plus the prohibitive price of $140 (€120 or £120), despite the included Chipolo card, make this wallet hard to recommend.$39 on Amazon). Regular Sacred Miniwallet (without tracker or tracker button deboss) Available on Amazon for $60-70And I can’t explain why there is such markup to get a trackable version. If it were $100 total with the tracker, it would be a much easier recommendation. But paying $40 extra for something more than a button debossed in leather seems like a big ask.

At this rate, you’d be better off buying a regular $60 Sacred Miniwallet and a $39 Chipolo card, then inserting it with the button facing out. Remember where it is, and you’ll be able to trigger it – leather is flexible that way. I know, because I tried it by turning the card around in the same wallet, and it worked the other way. It may not be as obvious as having the button cutout right there, but it works. Or, you know, you can still buy another wallet and do the same thing. After testing this setup, I changed the orientation of my Chipolo card in my Ogon wallet so that the button faces outside, and I can now trigger it from inside the wallet. Easy.