New MagSafe Wallet - Missed Opportunities

[luapre]

I am now the (more or less) proud owner of one of the new MagSafe Wallets with (very limited) Find My support. And this is where I think Apple really dropped the ball and left some potential for this wallet on the table.

The Find My support as I have tested it has two main features:

• Logging the location of where the wallet was detached from your phone, and notifying you after a minute of the wallet having been detached
• Showing your phone number to people who do not have your AppleID when they attach your wallet to their iPhone

As far as I have read Apple enables these features through the use of some kind of NFC chip. However, I believe there are two big software-side improvements that could be made to the Wallet:

First, as it currently stands, only finders with a MagSafe iPhone (12 or 13) will be able to see your contact details when they find your wallet. You can’t just bring any phone close to the wallet to get shown the contact details. This vastly limits the usefulness of this feature, especially in countries with lower Apple market share. If the Hardware allows, Apple should enable a similar feature as with the AirTags, where scanning a lost AirTag on any device (Android or iOS) will show you the contact details of the owner.

Second, the location only gets logged when the wallet is detached from your phone. It does not get updated when somebody else attaches the wallet to their phone. Again, enabling this, so updating the wallets location everytime somebody else attaches it to their phone, could help with finding it.

I’d be interested to here what you think and how happy (or unhappy) you are with the Wallet, if you have it.

 

[Ifti]

I skipped the wallet altogether. I think its an awful idea and can see the wallet coming off as soon as I slide the phone into my jeans pocket for instance.
Or if your phone is snatched, there goes your credit cards too!
Others may find it very useful for them, but for me, its an accessory I just cant see myself using at all.

 

[luapre]

I skipped the wallet altogether. I think its an awful idea and can see the wallet coming off as soon as I slide the phone into my jeans pocket for instance.
Or if your phone is snatched, there goes your credit cards too!
Others may find it very useful for them, but for me, its an accessory I just cant see myself using at all.

In my experience the wallet holds pretty good on a barebones IP13P, and rock solid on one with a MagSafe case. I have had no worries at all about it accidentally coming loose when sliding it into my pockets. But before walking to the local Apple Store to try it out, I had the same worry and wouldn’t have bought it before trying. It probably also depends on the kinds of pockets you have and how tight they are.

I agree with the latter part. I have no CC in my wallet, already have them in Apple Pay so no need to have them as a physical card for my usage. I do however have my student ID in it, which I need to enter buildings and accommodation, and the wallet has been perfect for that.