by Accessory company ESR is today launching a new crowdfunding campaign for the first MagSafe-compatible wallet accessory for iPhones with full Find My support, the HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand. I’ve been testing an early test device for a few weeks now and using it as a handy accessory felt for on the go.
While Apple offers a first-party MagSafe wallet with Find My support, the accessory doesn’t include its own location tracking, as the Find My app can only determine the location where the wallet was last disconnected from your phone.
ESR’s new wallet accessory goes a significant step further by offering full Find My support and thanks to an integrated module that can use hundreds of millions of Apple devices in the wild to report its location, allows for much more useful location tracking. A built-in speaker can also help you acoustically locate a misplaced wallet at a relatively short distance.
As a wallet, the Geo Wallet Stand can hold around three physical cards, whether they’re driver’s licenses, credit/debit cards, membership cards, or other similarly sized cards.
With the “Find My” module built in, the Geo Wallet Stand obviously needs a power source, and ESR says its rechargeable battery should last around three months. Charging is via an included 0.5-metre USB-C cable, which ends in a magnetic three-pogo-pin connector that snaps onto the charging contacts on the wallet.
According to ESR, a full charge takes around 90 minutes, and a small status light next to the charging contacts will glow orange while charging and green once fully charged. There’s also a power button that lets you turn the device off, but of course it can’t be tracked when it’s off.
I haven’t had my review unit long enough to fully test the battery life and estimated charge time, but after several weeks of use, the rough battery status shown in the Find My app still shows as full.
Setup is done in the Find My app like any other supported accessory. A long press on the wallet button will put it into pairing mode. Once you’ve gone through the in-app setup process to give the wallet a name and an emoji icon, it will appear in the Find My app’s Devices tab, just like AirTags and other Find My-compatible accessories .
As you can guess from its name, the Geo Wallet Stand has another trick up its sleeve and that is its ability to act as a portrait or landscape phone stand. The wallet consists of two flaps with a hinge at the top that connects the card-holder half to the “MagSafe” and “Find My” halves, allowing the card portion to swing out and serve as a stand.
The hinge is tensioned so you can adjust it from 15º to 170º for optimal viewing in virtually any environment.
The two-piece design certainly makes the Geo Wallet Stand thicker than Apple’s “MagSafe” wallet, but I don’t find it too thick or heavy for my liking, although that’s a subjective assessment of course. Full Find My support in the wallet inevitably adds some weight and bulk compared to Apple’s accessories, and ESR’s clamshell design is a clever way to squeeze out some extra features.
Still, there’s no getting around the fact that the Geo Wallet Stand is more than twice as thick and almost three times as heavy as Apple’s “MagSafe” wallet. I’ve used various magnetic batteries and battery cases on my iPhones from time to time over the years, so an extra hump on the back of my phone isn’t a deal-breaker for me, and the Geo Wallet Stand feels similar in bulk to it something like Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack.
I weighed the Geo Wallet Stand at 84 grams empty and 107 grams with a driver’s license, regular credit card, and hefty Apple Card on board. This compares very closely to Apple’s “MagSafe Battery Pack” at 113 grams and a similar thickness. Both are of course much thicker and heavier than Apple’s MagSafe wallet, which weighs just 32 grams empty.
The extra weight and bulk doesn’t really bother me considering the functionality of the wallet, but if a slim feel in the hand is a priority for you or you take it in and out of your pocket in a pair of skinny jeans on a regular basis, it’s definitely something , which one should be aware of.
Of course, unless you’re really keen on using the stand feature around the house, there’s little reason to keep the wallet attached to your phone at all times. So outside of my extra verification tests, I only stick the wallet on my phone when I’m out of the house.
For a little extra security, the card slot includes a finger loop on the back if that’s how you want to hold your phone. It’s not my preferred way of holding my phone, but the loop sits fairly flush with the wallet when not in use, so I don’t find it annoying.
According to ESR, the Geo Wallet Stand’s magnetic holding power is more than double that of Apple’s official “MagSafe” standard, helping it stay attached regardless of use. I can definitely tell the difference in strength compared to Apple’s “MagSafe” accessories like the wallet and battery, and I have no concerns about the ESR wallet accidentally detaching.
One of my complaints about Apple’s “MagSafe” wallet is that cards typically sit deep enough in the card slot that you can’t grab the edge to easily pull them out. Apple intends for users to remove the wallet from their phone and use an opening on the back of the wallet to slide cards out when needed. While this helps keep cards secure in the wallet, I find the inconveniences outweigh the benefits, and even then cards can feel quite loose in the slot if you’re only carrying a single card.
The Geo Wallet Stand’s slot holds cards more firmly with what ESR calls a “dynamic tension spring” at the bottom of the card slot. It offers a little extra stability no matter how many cards are in, and I’m not too concerned about them falling out. A small cutout at the bottom of the slot makes it easy to slide the cards up to access them without having to remove the wallet from your phone, which I think is a much better design than Apple’s.
The ESR HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand is offered in two colors, midnight black and caramel brown, and the crowdfunding campaign is live now with worldwide shipping. The regular price for the Geo Wallet Stand is $39, but ESR has a variety of limited-quantity discounted offers starting at around $27.
ESR says relevant certifications and quality testing have been completed for the wallet stand, and the review unit I tested certainly looks and feels like a finished product, so ESR seems in a good position to back up its shipping estimate to be met for May once the Kickstarter campaign closes late next month.
Note: ESR provided the HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand to MacRumors for hands-on impressions and no other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner of ESR. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment to help us keep the site running.
