Price: $39.99
The ESR HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand joins the ranks of Apple’s certified Find My devices, allowing you to track and locate your missing wallet using the Find My app. The Geo is MagSafe-friendly, too, and rocks a compact design with enough storage for up to three must-have cards.
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Design: An Ultra-Sleek iPhone Attachment
- Dimensions: 2.20 x 4 x 0.47in (56 x 102 x 12mm)
- Weight: 0.18lbs (83g)
- Battery Life: 3 months on a single charge (full recharge in 1.5 hours)
The ESR HaloLock Geo is available in Midnight Black and Caramel Brown finishes and measures 2.20 inches wide, 4 inches from top to bottom, 0.47 inches from front to back, and weighs only 0.18 pounds. The only box contents you’ll have to worry about are the HaloLock Geo itself, the USB-C to proprietary magnetic pin charging cable, a user manual, and a quick start guide.
The HaloLock Geo feels comfortable to hold and handle by itself, and once it’s magnetized to your iPhone (or MagSafe iPhone case), you’ll barely register that there’s any extra weight on the device at all. ESR’s choice of leather is sleek and smooth to the touch, but it’s not super-slippery either. I also found both the stand and finger loop easy to open and just as simple to close.
While you’ll be able to purchase ESR’s traditional HaloLock Wallet Stand (without Find My integration) on Amazon and through other retailers, as of the writing of this article, the HaloLock Geo just entered full-scale production after a very successful Kickstarter campaign. The retail units should begin shipping on May 8, 2023.
Functionality: A Magnetic Maestro
- Compatibility: iPhones with MagSafe (iPhone 12 series or newer, except 13/12 mini), ESR HaloLock and official MagSafe cases, or regular cases with the ESR HaloLock Universal Ring
- System Requirements: iOS 14.5 or higher
One of my favorite things to experience when testing any product is when one of its most-marketed features works extremely well, and I’m pleased to say that I’ll be able to happily boast about the magnetic performance of the HaloLock Geo. Holy smokes, this magnet is strong!
In non-layman techie speak, ESR claims the Geo is capable of 1,500 gausses, a measure of magnetic force expressed as “g.” That’s cool and all, right? But what does this mean in action? Well, thankfully, my apartment has super-plush carpeting, so I was able to try some pretty radical things with the Geo.
Attached to my iPhone (with no case), I first grabbed the wallet by its handy little finger loop and shook the living daylights out of it. Like, a lot. And while the frenzy of motion did force the wallet itself to open up a tad, I’m pleased to report that it stayed fully magnetized to my iPhone the whole time. Seriously, I don’t even think it budged an inch.
I also opened the wallet up and shook it just as hard as I did in Experiment 1, but I was able to add more force to my grip with my palm and fingers in play. Nope, the Geo still didn’t move. It was only when I faced my iPhone toward the floor and shook the Geo hard that it finally came loose, but that was with gravity dying to pull the gear to the ground, on top of the craziness I was delivering with my angry hand. Well done, ESR.
The multi-angle wallet stand works really well, too. ESR claims you’ll be able to adjust from 170 degrees (when fully opened) to 15 degrees (opened slightly), and I can totally stand behind that. In terms of preference, I was happiest around the halfway mark for both portrait and landscape viewing though.
For card storage, the ESR team says you’ll be able to hold up to three cards in the spring-loaded main pocket. Yup, you sure can, and they’re locked tight, too. But when you do want to break out your credit card for those must-have gas station snacks, retrieving one is as simple as pushing up on the bottom part of your go-to Capital One. This extends the card from the pocket, allowing you to easily slide it out.
Find My Features: Admirable Execution
Perhaps the biggest feature to write home about is the one that gives the HaloLock Geo its name: Apple-certified Find My compatibility (iPhone must be running iOS 14.5 or later for Find My to work). Sure, it’s convenient enough to be able to stuff an AirTag or Tile tracker in whatever wallet you’re carrying around, but nothing beats the peace of mind you’ll get from having Apple’s tech-tracking locater built directly into your handy, magnetized phone attachment.
Setting up Find My for the Geo is about as simple as adding any Apple-certified hardware to the Find My network. To do so, grab your iPhone, launch the Find My app, tap “Devices,” then tap the “+” icon (to the right of the Devices banner). Next, tap “Add Other Item” and make sure that the Geo is attached directly to your iPhone or its MagSafe case. Once the Find My network pings your Geo, go ahead and hit “Connect.” Find My will be ready to go after you name the wallet and have choose an avatar to represent the Geo.
Now, in the event that you end up losing your ESR HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand, the Find My app provides a few tracking tools. For starters, you can tap “Directions” to locate your Geo with the Maps app. In my experience, Maps did a decent job of keeping tabs on where my Geo was hanging out, although Maps item-tracking can always be a tad wonky. For instance, as I type this sentence, my Geo is sitting right next to me, but the Find My app is telling me it’s located about a minute away, in the middle of a street. Maps tracking may not be perfect, but it definitely gets the job done.
Hitting the “Play Sound” button will cause the Geo to emit a series of chimes, making it very simple to locate if you’re in proximity. And with Lost Mode enabled, you’ll be able to receive notifications when your Geo becomes Find My-detectable, as well as leave a phone number and email for the finder to contact you with.
Battery: Charges Fast (But the Cable Is Proprietary)
In order for Find My tracking to work correctly, the ESR developers needed to incorporate a series of electrical components into the overall build of the HaloLock Geo (you can see a tiny bit of the wiring if you look really hard near the wallet’s corner seams). And because object-tracking tech requires power, one also needs to consider how a battery-powered wallet gets recharged without totally disrupting the sleek aesthetic of the device. ESR’s solution? A USB-C to magnetic pin connection.
The company claims that it should only take 90 minutes to charge a completely dead Geo battery, and a full charge should last about three months. There’s also an LED indicator to let you know when the Geo needs to be re-juiced.
I found the 1.5-hour estimation to be pretty on-point, although I can’t say I’m a big fan of the magnetic pin element. Yes, a physical USB port would probably add about an eighth of an inch to the Geo’s profile, but I’d willingly take the extra depth over having to rely on a single proprietary connection when the wallet needs a recharge (which is my only real gripe with this device).
Should You Buy the ESR HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand?
The ESR HaloLock Geo Wallet Stand may not be the ideal wallet stand choice for Android users, but if you’re using a compatible iPhone, I think it’s one of the best accessories you can purchase for the device. Not to mention its cool look and lightweight design, which lets the Geo shine even without a magnetic piggyback ride on its iOS-powered cousin.
Price: $39.99
Here’s What We Like
- Great design
- Strong magnetization
- Find My features work well
- Excellent battery life
And What We Don’t
- Only enough storage for three cards
- Uses a proprietary charging cable
