Apple’s updated leather MagSafe portfolio supports Tracking My Location Search

Apple today unveiled an updated version of its MagSafe leather wallet with new colors and support for an additional feature: tracking in the Find Mine app. Apple’s location tracking service has recently expanded with the addition of AirTags, and now it looks like the company is working some version of the same functionality to its more low-tech accessories.

It might seem like the continuous tracking that AirTags offers, but Apple’s description points to something simpler. The company writes that the wallet “supports Find My, so you can receive a notification of the last known location in your wallet if it’s separated from your phone.” This is useful, but possibly not useful if someone moves the wallet after separating it.

Apple isn’t entirely sure why this is the case on the product page, but what might really happen is that your iPhone only finds out when the MagSafe magnet is or isn’t connected to your phone. Your iPhone already plays a small animation when you connect a MagSafe product, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine marking a GPS location in Find My when a MagSafe accessory is disconnected.

There’s also a weird exception: in small print, Apple points out that the new Find My feature isn’t compatible with Clear Case with MagSafe. The best assumption here is that any unique identification that your iPhone recognizes when you connect a MagSafe device can be blocked by a Clear Case. It’s unclear why the Clear Case, but not other MagSafe cases, would prevent Apple from knowing when a wallet is disconnected. This doesn’t make the new wallet less useful necessarily, but it does show that it has limitations that a normal wallet with an AirTag or Tile pushed inside wouldn’t.

The Verge has contacted Apple for an explanation of how the new Find My functionality works and what exactly is happening with Clear Case. We will update if we know more.

The iPhone’s leather wallet with MagSafe is now available for $ 59.

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