Discover the Best Alternative to Apple & Tile's Wallet AirTags - The Ultimate Guide by ZDNET

Uncovering the Best Alternative to Apple and Tile’s Wallet AirTags – A Comprehensive Test

KeySmart SmartCard

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

KeySmart’s SmartCard is available from Amazon for $40 (3-pack for $90).
It’s super thin, works with Apple iOS Find My, wireless rechargeable battery, and is IPX7-rated.
It needs recharging every 5 months or so.

Apple AirTags have changed my life, saving me countless hours looking for keys and other items that I absent-mindedly misplaced.

But AirTags have a few design flaws. First, the replaceable battery means you’re chucking away handfuls of CR2032s every year. Then there’s the shape and size. These tiny UFO-shaped devices don’t have a lanyard hole and are too bulky to be placed in a wallet without giving you a pain in the rear.

ZDNET RECOMMENDS KeySmart SmartCard The KeySmart Wallet Tracker Card is the thickness of about two credit cards, making it the slimmest tracking card on the market. View at Amazon

Yes, some wallets have little holders for AirTags, but in my experience, they are all too bulky.

Also: Forget AirTags: Tile’s new trackers come in all shapes and sizes (and an SOS button)

But there’s a third-party AirTag-like product that takes everything that the original Apple AirTag has to offer, and solves all of the above problems and more. That tag is the KeySmart SmartCard .

The first thing I love about the SmartCard is the thickness, or more specifically, its thinness!

The SmartCard is less than 2mm thin!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

While Apple’s AirTag is 8 mm thick, the Smart`Card is less than 2 mm, or the thickness of two credit cards.

This makes it perfect for use in a wallet. There’s also a luggage tag hole in the end for attaching the SmartCard to your suitcase.

The SmartCard is much thinner than the AirTag.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

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KeySmart was able to make this card so thin by doing away with the bulky CR2032 coin cell and replacing it with a rechargeable battery. This battery is recharged using a wireless charger every five months or so.

As I was testing this card I was thinking that it’d be great if KeySmart had built MagSafe tech into the card to allow it to attach to my angled MagSafe iPhone charger. Well, KeySmart thought of everything – this card attaches itself to wireless MagSafe chargers!

Also: I found the AirTags that Android users have been waiting for

Because there are no battery compartment covers, the tag is robust and has an IPX7 rating for dustproofing and water resistance, and can survive up to 30 minutes of immersion in 3 feet of water.

And despite being thin, these things are tough and take quite a bending and squeezing, so they will survive life in wallets.

These SmartCards are tough!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Also: How to find out if an AirTag is tracking you

Other than all of these improvements, this device works like an AirTag. It’s activated using the Find My app, and you search for it when you’ve put your wallet down in the wrong place.

This is the AirTag that Apple should have made.

ZDNET’s buying advice

AirTags are great, but they have those first-generation limitations that I’m sure that Apple will one day solve with a next-gen wave of AirTags. But for now, the KeySmart SmartCard is the best AirTag for those who want a thin solution for their wallet or as a luggage tag.