The Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition is a Bluetooth-enabled item tracker with an eco-friendly approach; the outer shell is made from reclaimed ocean plastics. The tracker sends alerts to your smartphone if it goes out of the 60-meter Bluetooth range, and sounds a 120dB alarm. An inexpensive way to keep track of important belongings.

Key Features
  • IPX5-rated for water resistance
  • Two-year battery life
  • Bluetooth connection compatible with Android and iOS
Specifications
  • Brand: Chipolo
  • Material: Reclaimed Plastic
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth
  • Battery: CR2032
  • Range: 60m
  • Water Resistance: IPX5
Pros
  • Reclaimed ocean plastics more sustainable than virgin/new plastic
  • Affordable way to keep track of important belongings
  • Community-based location reporting
Cons
  • Standard Chipolo ONE has the same features at a lower price
  • iPhone users must have the app open in the App Switcher to enable functionality
Buy This Product
Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition

Nowadays, it's quite common for your latest gadget to arrive in cardboard-only packaging, which is easily recycled. However, the products themselves are still a massive contributor to our unsustainable use of the planet's natural resources.

While Apple, Amazon, and Google may make commitments to improve the situation, there has been little evidence of meaningful action. However, some brands are making good on these promises.

For example, Chipolo has released the Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition, a smart tracking device made from plastic reclaimed from the world's oceans.

Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition Design

Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition next to Baymax keyring

The Chipolo ONE is a circular, almost flat tracker. It's designed to be portable and lightweight, so you can attach it to anything you might worry about losing, including keys, a bag, or a backpack. There's a small hole toward the top for you to attach it to a keyring, carabiner, or other suitable attachment. Although not impossible, attaching the Chipolo ONE to a keyring is a little bit of a challenge.

The device is thicker than most keys (only marginally, but enough to have an impact), so opening the keyring wide enough requires a bit of patience. This thickness is due to the electronics hidden inside. However, it also plays another role. The ONE is comprised of two segments that can be pressed like a button. This activates the Bluetooth connection, tests the alarm sound, and can also request a phone-based alert if you've misplaced your smartphone but have the Chipolo device to hand.

Although the standard Chipolo ONE is available in six colors, the Ocean Edition is limited to just one; blue. The rationale is clear---to imitate the ocean's color---but it does limit your choice. However, the Ocean Edition blue is not flashy and fits in with most other color schemes, keys, backpacks, and clothing.

Given the device's environmentally-friendly credentials, it's worth considering the packaging it arrives in, too. The device is secured inside a slim box comprised of five pieces of thin and recyclable cardboard. There's no plastic as the package is sealed with a tucked insert in the outer sleeve. Inside, there's some printed information about the Ocean Edition, as well as guidance on how to get started.

Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition Tracking Features

The Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition is a single-purpose device; it alerts you if you leave behind an item with the tracker attached. Although there are a handful of other related features, the main reason to purchase the tracker is if you worry about losing essential items. Once you've attached the tracker to your belongings, you need to set it up with the companion Chipolo smartphone app. The app is available for Android and iOS, and there is a web portal for managing your account and connected devices.

After you've linked the tracker to your Chipolo account, so long as your Bluetooth remains switched on, then you can trigger a 120dB alarm from your smartphone. Once the tracker is out of range, you'll also get a notification on your smartphone. Similarly, if you've misplaced your smartphone but have the Chipolo ONE to hand, a quick press on the device should trigger an audible notification on your phone, so long as you're still within Bluetooth range.

Much of this functionality relies on an active Bluetooth connection and the Chipolo app's ability to run in the background. Android users will be familiar with background processes---the customizable nature of Google's operating system lends itself well to these kinds of purposes. However, iPhone users don't have such a seamless experience. Android smartphones can keep the app running in the background, even without being open in the list of your running apps.

Once installed on an Android device, the Chipolo's background processes do much of the heavy lifting, allowing you to set up the device once and then forget about it until the alarm triggers. If you use a smartphone running Apple's iOS platform, you can't use the Chipolo One quite as passively. Background processes are restricted on iOS, so the app must be open in your App Switcher list for the device to operate.

This is unfortunate, as the tracker aims to give you alerts should you forget your belongings. It seems slightly redundant to remember to open an app before leaving the house to mitigate forgetfulness later on. However, this is not Chipolo's fault, but a side effect of how Apple controls it's mobile operating system.

Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition Additional Features

Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition in a tree

Many feature-packed gadgets sound great in theory, but their short battery life and constant recharging make them a headache rather than a convenience. Fortunately, the Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition is not guilty of this. The tracker is equipped with a replaceable CR 2032 battery. The inexpensive power source should support the tracker for up to two years before it needs replacing.

Some portable trackers also use GPS to track the location of your items. However, the Chipolo ONE focuses on the Bluetooth connection. The notifications are triggered when the Bluetooth connection is broken, and the location recorded on your Chipolo app. As a result, if you leave your belongings behind, you can open the app to see where you last had them. This method conserves your phone's battery, as the Bluetooth connection requires very little power.

If you leave an item behind, you can mark it as lost in the app. When other Chipolo users pass by your belongings with an active Bluetooth connection (whether they know it or not), the app will show you an updated location, allowing you to reclaim your forgotten item quickly. Similarly, if you've lost your phone, you can log onto the Chipolo website, see your phone's last known location, and activate a ringtone, or send a message to alert passers-by.

Given that you're likely to have the tracker attached to items while outdoors, it needs to be able to withstand the weather. The Chipolo ONE is IPX5-rated for water resistance. This protection level will do for some light rain but won't help if you submerge the tracker or leave it for long periods of getting wet.

As we mentioned earlier, you can press the Chipolo ONE to find your phone while still connected via Bluetooth. However, you can also use the tracker as a wireless shutter for your phone's camera. Simply open the camera app and double press the tracker to snap a photo.

The Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition's Eco Credentials

Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition

The Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition shares its features with the original Chipolo ONE. Aside from the color, the two devices are functionally similar, which may leave you wondering why you'd spend the extra money on the Ocean Edition. Chipolo's trackers have always been designed to be affordable and lightweight. Consequently, plastic is the obvious material to meet those requirements. However, with growing awareness of plastic's environmental impact, Chipolo has opted for a more environmentally-minded approach for the Ocean Edition.

The tracker's outer shell is made from plastic recovered from discarded fishing equipment like nets, ropes, and trawls. Many of these items get left out at sea and leave a trail of potentially damaging litter, harming our planet's oceans and marine life. When this debris is collected, the plastic is turned into pellets, which can then be used in other products, like the Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition.

This is clearly better than using virgin (new) plastic, and for many people, that'll make this version worth the increased cost. However, you could also make the argument that perhaps all of Chipolo's devices should be made in this way. Rather than charging more, it should just be standard practice to use recycled plastic. Of course, both statements can be true. You can opt for the Ocean Edition and think that it should be standard across the range.

This may be the company's way of testing the waters—getting a sense of how popular the recycled plastic edition would be before putting the (presumably) more costly item into wide-scale production. However you view the decision to create a one-off environmental edition, opting for the Ocean Edition sends a signal to the business that it is worth pursuing and prevents excessive plastic production.

Should You Buy the Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition?

The Chipolo ONE Ocean Edition is an affordable and convenient way to keep track of your valuables. By attaching the keyring-sized Bluetooth tracker to your keys or bag, you can get alerts when you leave your belongings behind. If another user happens across your lost items, the Chipolo app will update with their last known location.

The two-year battery life means you don't need to recharge the tracker continually. However, all of those points are also true of the cheaper Chipolo ONE. The Ocean Edition is a more environmentally-minded device made from reclaimed ocean plastics.

Given the long-lasting impact plastic has on our oceans, it is undeniably a positive outcome to have less waste in the sea. The added benefit of using recycled plastic prevents any virgin plastic from ending up in this single-feature device.

Your views on this approach's effectiveness to reduce our environmental impact will largely determine whether you feel like the Ocean Edition is worth the investment.