Chipolo POP

This review is as much about Google's and Apple's find my device network as it is the Chipolo Pop – although it's the Chipolo Pop that is the topic of this review, and I cover its features. But these "find my" networks are essential to a major part of the Chipolo Pop's functionality, so a review excluding that is to review only a small part of the product.

Reading the adverts you might think you can now buy the equivalent of the Apple Air Tag for your Android phone, ie the Chipolo Pop.

I'm a great fan of Android. But I'm sorry to say if you think Chipolo (or anyone else for that matter) has produced anything of the sort, you will be very disappointed.

First let's look at the good parts.

The Chipolo Pop is small and light. It's easy to set up. Importantly it doesn’t become e-waste when the battery runs out, so costs a couple of dollars to replace rather than the cost of a new device. Nobody should be buying a Tag without this feature – so the Chipolo passes with flying colours.

Around the house the Chipolo Pop is great. Plenty of range and surprisingly loud. As a key or other item finder in or around the house it's hard to fault it. I suppose if it could be smaller still that would be great, but the limitation would be the battery and a loud enough speaker.

Bought on special or as a 4 pack, discounts are not too hard to find, and then it’s a good deal.

Now lets' look at the larger part of its functionality, tracking items you’ve lost outside the house.

The device can be used as either a Google tag or an Apple tag.

First I used a Chipolo Pop as a google tag and tracked it through Sydney, Istanbul and Athens airports in my checked in luggage.

When the tag was in bluetooth range it often showed its location as nearby. But it couldn’t be further tracked down as, hidden in a suitcase on the other side of a wall, you would never hear it ring. You'd just have to be content with it being "nearby".

When the tag was outside of bluetooth range, it never once showed its location, only saying that it couldn’t connect. Read that again. NOT ONCE through 3 major airports did it show its location outside of bluetooth range. So if your bag is left behind or worse goes to the wrong airport – forget it.

Thinking the Google find network can't really be that bad, I configured two tags. One as a Google tag and one as an Apple Tag. I sent them for a couple of days on a journey from Sydneys suburbs 30kms to Chatswood Chase, a well populated area of office blocks and shops and lots of people.

The Chipolo configured as an Apple Air Tag tracked its location on leaving the house, then sporadically along the 50 minute journey, sufficient to know where it was, particularly when stationary. It correctly showed its location in Chatswood, including moving around the shopping area on departure on the journey home.

The Chipolo configured as a Google Tag attached to the same keyring reported itself as being "nearby" for the whole journey. When specifically asked to "locate" it said "trying to connect", then "device is further away" (which I knew because the Apple Tag version was on the main road coming into Chatswood). Beyond that, no clue as to its location.

Briefly the Chipolo did show its location as Chatswood, all be it with a much larger area circle than the Apple Air Tag. Sadly after a few minutes it reverted to being "close to me" (at home), and then to "cant connect" when I try to make it ring. All up, quite useless.

But there's a reason for this, and it's not a failing of the Chipolo Pop.

Apple have made all iPhones etc track the location of any nearby Apple Air tags. Google, conversely, have made this opt in, meaning you have to know about the setting and deliberately turn it on. Of course, you're only likely to do this if you own a Google Tag such as the Chipolo Pop.

From my experiments, in 3 major international airports and a high density Sydney suburb, there aren't sufficient Google devices opted in to make the Google tag work. To put it bluntly, as a Google location Tag, the Chipolo Pop (or any other Google Tag device) is next to useless. Especially when compared to the Apple Air Tag. As a location tracking tag in its own right, you would be mistaken if you relied on it to locate a lost item outside of bluetooth range to your phone. Configured as an Apple Air Tag, the Chipolo Pop performed very well, particularly in densely populated areas, but also along the journey to and from the destination, particularly when stationery.

You might see some reviews saying "more Google phones are starting to use these tags", implying things can only get better. Well they need to get better by orders of magnitude, so much so that I doubt Chipolo could ever supply enough tags for their volume to have an effect. There are also rumours that, presumably having seen how poorly they perform, Google may use a pop up to ask people if they wish to participate in the "find device network". But really, if you don't know or dont care about location tags and tracking, you're hardly likely to accept what you perceive as your location being tracked, or to help other people find their lost luggage.

Sure a few people might, but really only Apple have got this right making it a mandatory setting - and lets face it harmless setting as nobody can track your location or find anything out about you just because your phone is part of an anonymous network tracking Air Tags.

So my advice is do not buy one of these for use with the Google network either for use now, or with the hope they will one day become useful as a lost luggage tracker.

So how you view this review depends on how you will use the Chipolo Pop. If as an Apple Air tag, I would rate it 5 stars, or maybe 4.5 with the extra half if they can somehow make it smaller.

If as a Google Tag, I have no option to rate it as 1 star because sadly, its virtually useless as lost item finder unless the item is in bluetooth range. So 1 star for that. And believe me it pains me to say that, Im a die hard Android fan.

I note many other reviews on the Net for the Chipolo Pop, singing its praises. However none of them that Ive seen thoroughly examine its effectiveness as a Google Tag or compare it to a the fully functional Apple Air Tag.

So choose your own rating, but don’t be disappointed if you try to use the Chipolo Pop as a Google Tag for lost items outside your own home and never find either it or the Chipopo Pop again.