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Tech accessory company Rolling Square is winding down a successful Kickstarter campaign for AirCard, an innovative Find My-enabled digital business card, with over $700,000 raised so far. Similar to a few other Find My trackers like the Eufy SmartTrack Card, Rolling Square's AirCard is a thin card-sized device intended to be carried in a wallet that can leverage Apple's Find My network of hundreds of millions of devices to help you keep track of your wallet.

aircard-wallet.jpg

In addition to location tracking, AirCard supports other Find My features like left behind reminders and a 105 dB speaker that helps you narrow down its location once you're relatively close, although the Precision Finding feature of AirTags is not available to AirCard and other third-party Find My trackers.

An advanced lost mode for AirCard can also help reunite you with your wallet even if Find My fails, with a QR code on the AirCard enabling anyone who finds your wallet to scan the card to obtain your contact information.

aircard-lost-mode.jpg

Beyond the Find My features, AirCard can also serve as a digital business card via both NFC and QR code, allowing you to quickly and easily share your contact information with others, and at just 2.2 mm thick (about the thickness of 1.6 typical credit cards), it won't add much bulk to your wallet.

The main body of the card is made of CNC-machined aluminum with a panel of high-resistance tempered glass to allow for the best possible transmission of Bluetooth signals. The AirCard itself can also be used as an RFID blocker, so if you place it on the outermost side of your wallet it can help protect your other cards from being skimmed.


When it comes to battery life, Rolling Square says AirCard will last up to 30 months, but it can't be recharged. Once the battery in your card dies, Rolling Square will send you a coupon code for 50% off a new card. You can then either return the spent AirCard to Rolling Square for component reuse or keep it to continue using its digital business card and QR-code scan-to-find capabilities that don't require battery power.

aircard-iphone.jpg

The Kickstarter campaign for AirCard ends in just over a week, with shipments expected to begin in August. Early bird pricing for a single AirCard is available starting at €27 or around $30 in the U.S. plus shipping, with various multipacks available at decreasing per-unit prices.

While crowdfunded campaigns can carry some risk of commitments not being met, Rolling Square has run over a dozen campaigns via Kickstarter and Indiegogo that appear to have largely met expectations with perhaps some minor delays in shipping schedules.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Kickstarter and Rolling Square. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Article Link: AirCard Combines Find My Support With a Digital Business Card and More
 
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zach-coleman

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I wonder if this one will actually work? It seems like no other attempt at this so far has been good.
 
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klasma

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That’s actually useful, and seems reasonably priced.

Edit: The battery isn’t replaceable though. They expect it to hold 30 month, after which you can get a new card for 50%. You may send them back the old one for recycling. Cost aside, long-term use will depend on their business model being sustainable.
 
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sw1tcher

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Beyond the Find My features, AirCard can also serve as a digital business card via both NFC and QR code, allowing you to quickly and easily share your contact information with others
This feature is about to be rendered obsolete once Apple rolls out iOS 17 with NameDrop.

When it comes to battery life, Rolling Square says AirCard will last up to 30 months, but it can't be recharged. Once the battery in your card dies, Rolling Square will send you a coupon code for 50% off a new card. You can then either return the spent AirCard to Rolling Square for component reuse or keep it to continue using its digital business card and QR-code scan-to-find capabilities that don't require battery power.

[ . . . ]

Early bird pricing for a single AirCard is available starting at €27 or around $30 in the U.S. plus shipping
Even if you can return the dead AirCard to be recycled, this is still a waste. And with Apple trying to replace the physical wallet with their improved Wallet app, is there that big a market for this?

This is basically a subscription service since it can't be recharged/doesn't have replaceable battery. If you want to keep using the device/service/features after battery dies, you have to pay up for another one at some price that will certainly be higher than their current early bird price.


EDIT... I see it now. €27 early bird price is 31% off their regular retail price. So regular retail price is approximately €39. Replacement will be about €20.
 
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BrentT

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Oct 28, 2007
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Tile has a similar card but using Find My would be better.

Apple could release a better version tomorrow if they wanted, putting this company in constant jeopardy.
 
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msackey

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Oct 8, 2020
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AirCard?

Suddenly I'm remembering an old Apple product that may have been called AirCard or something similar. Remember the iBook and the era before Wifi was popular? The iBook (and probably other Apple laptops at that time) came with an optional card in which if you bought it, it would slot into the Apple laptop and would enable Wifi. I think the antennas and all that were already built in to the laptop but might be missing a component that is found on the AirCard.

Help me remember. Wasn't that thing called AirCard or something...??

UPDATE: I finally found it! It was called the "AirPort Card"! Boy does that bring back memories! https://support.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA434/en_US/AboutYourAirPortCard.PDF
 
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Mousse

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at just 2.2 mm thick (about the thickness of 1.6 typical credit cards), it won't add much bulk to your wallet.

The main body of the card is made of CNC-machined aluminum with a panel of high-resistance tempered glass to allow for the best possible transmission of Bluetooth signals. The AirCard itself can also be used as an RFID blocker, so if you place it on the outermost side of your wallet it can help protect your other cards from being skimmed.
Bendgate 2.0. Every credit card in my wallet has a curve to it from years me spending 8 hours a day polishing a chair with my (_!_). Aluminum bends easily enough. Tempered glass, does that bend? From my experience with tempered glass, the thicker the better. 1/4" shower doors shatters easily, but 3/8" shower doors are pretty tough. I'd feel much better about using such a device if they replace the tempered glass with polycarbonate.
 

KevinAPearson

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May 12, 2018
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So it's basically a £20 subscription service every 30 months. Not a bad deal I suppose but how long will they run the service and what happens when they eventually increase the price?
I think the way to go is to slowly faze out the use of our wallets totally. Once driving licences/ IDs become more prevalent, it could happen. But for now...
 
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iGeneo

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Jul 3, 2010
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Rolling Square has been top notch... like other kickstarter deals, they occasionally run a little behind projections, but they have always come through with quality
 
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Crowbot

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May 29, 2018
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What does this solve?
This is a genuine question.

In 59 years I have lost my wallet exactly 1 (one) time. That was 40 years ago…

Do people genuinely lose/get stolen their wallets this often? 🤨
Basically since tracking technology is maturing, there's a rush to find ways to track everything.

I have an AirTag on my keys and bag. Losing my wallet would be an inconvenience but I can turn off my credit cards from my phone and I don't keep much cash in it.
 
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rumz

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Feb 11, 2006
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AirCard?

Suddenly I'm remembering an old Apple product that may have been called AirCard or something similar. Remember the iBook and the era before Wifi was popular? The iBook (and probably other Apple laptops at that time) came with an optional card in which if you bought it, it would slot into the Apple laptop and would enable Wifi. I think the antennas and all that were already built in to the laptop but might be missing a component that is found on the AirCard.

Help me remember. Wasn't that thing called AirCard or something...??

UPDATE: I finally found it! It was called the "AirPort Card"! Boy does that bring back memories! https://support.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA434/en_US/AboutYourAirPortCard.PDF
My mind went to the same place! I was thinking of those ExpressCard slots MBPs had back in the day.
 
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arkitect

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Sep 5, 2005
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Basically since tracking technology is maturing, there's a rush to find ways to track everything.

I have an AirTag on my keys and bag. Losing my wallet would be an inconvenience but I can turn off my credit cards from my phone and I don't keep much cash in it.
Keys? Definitely. 👍
As you say, wallet more of an inconvenience than anything else.
 

Veinticinco

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2009
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Europe
What does this solve?
This is a genuine question.

In 59 years I have lost my wallet exactly 1 (one) time. That was 40 years ago…

Do people genuinely lose/get stolen their wallets this often? 🤨
Depends where you live, but this will go in the sleeve of my passport, now my Chipolo card has run out.

A lost wallet is inconvenient but a lost passport (at an airport) is a whole world of pain.
 
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