UGreen Finder Slim Review: No More Lost Wallets?
Last month, I took a look at UGreen’s Smart Finder, an Apple Find My-compatible tracker that other than being square, looks and acts a lot like the AirTag that it’s clearly modelled on.
Today I’m checking out the Finder Slim, which does pretty much exactly the same thing, but looks very different. Almost exactly the width and height of a credit card, albeit about twice as thick, it’s clearly designed to live inside a wallet, passport cover, or somewhere else a standard tracker wouldn’t fit.
Given that it usually costs more than the Smart Finder, sometimes up to twice as much, my main question before I started testing was: is it worth the extra money?
What’s in the Box?
Like I mentioned above, the Finder Slim is very nearly the exact same width and length as my credit cards, 85×53mm (3.3×2.1 inches), and at 1.7mm (0.07″), about twice as thick.
The thing that surprised me about it, though, was just how light it is. It looks like should weigh more than the 21g (0.4oz) it does, especially since that includes the rechargeable battery inside.
Speaking of rechargeable batteries, I’m in two minds about it. Being able to charge the battery rather than find a replacement when it goes flat is an undeniable advantage, but having to use an odd little non-standard cable to do it isn’t great.
Proprietary cables like this are a hassle, especially ones that only get used once or twice a year. The chance of losing it in the meantime seems relatively high, and since UGreen doesn’t currently sell replacement cables, you’re up for a new tracker if you do.
One end of the cable is a small circle, which attaches magnetically to the metal ring you can see on the top left of the tracker. The magnets are quite strong, at least, with a corresponding beep and flashing light, so you definitely know when it’s connected.
The other end of the cable is USB-A, which I also don’t love. I’m sure most people will still be able to dig out a suitable wall charger for a few years yet, but even so, USB C is where it’s at in 2025.
Some of the other third-party trackers out there use Qi wireless charging instead, which strikes me as a better approach: being able to use almost any wireless charger from the last decade or more is a much simpler option.
As well as the tracker itself, inside the box there’s a pile of paperwork (instructions and safety information), a lanyard for attaching the tracker to other items, and of course that charging cable I just spent several paragraphs complaining about.
The tracker itself is made from a plain matte black plastic, with the front having subtle UGreen branding, the charging socket, a tiny hole for threading the lanyard through, and an equally tiny power button directly underneath.
A bunch of tech specs are printed on the back, but one that isn’t listed there is the amount of ingress protection. Most trackers like this don’t have any kind of meaningful water or dust resistance, but that’s not the case here: the IP67 rating means it’ll deal with dusty and wet environments just fine, even if you somehow manage to go swimming with it.
Note that the Finder Slim is only compatible with Apple’s Find My network, not the equivalent versions from Google, Tile, or anyone else. As a result, it’ll be of most interest to those who already own an iPhone or other Apple gear.
Setup and Use
After charging the tracker until the red light turned off, I held down the power button for a few seconds until a series of beeps and a light show let me know it was now in pairing mode.
The power button is pretty small, and requires quite a firm push to activate: if you’re struggling to get it to do anything, try pushing a bit harder. Selecting an “Other” type of device in the Find My app on an iPhone 16 saw the tracker detected immediately.
Once it was paired, the Finder Slim worked much the same as the AirTag I already own and the Smart Finder I reviewed last month. The Find My app shows its last known location, which you can get directions to as long as you’ve got Apple Maps installed.
From the app, you can also make the tracker beep for an audible cue to help find it. The feature works, but I’d like the speaker to be louder: inside my wallet, the sound was audible from a neighboring room when the wallet was out in the open, but I could barely hear it from inside a jacket pocket.
To test how well the tracking worked, I stuffed the device into my wallet, left all my devices at home, and headed off to the shops a few blocks away. As I walked down a busy street and around the aisles of my local supermarket, my partner could see my location updating every minute or two as the tracker pinged off nearby iPhones.
Since you can also get alerted whenever you and the tracker are separated, I also tried the opposite approach: leaving the Finder Slim on my kitchen bench and then going out for a run. Sure enough, once I got a block or two away from my house, a Find My notification popped up.
As third-party trackers can’t access the Ultra Wideband chip in the iPhone, however, you don’t get Precision Tracking. This is the feature that gives exact distances and directions once you get within a few feet of the AirTag or whatever other Apple device you’re looking for.
That’s a bit of a shame for a device like this that’s likely to be sitting inside something relatively small. It’s not UGreen’s fault, of course, but coupled with that quiet speaker volume, tracking down a wallet that’s fallen down the back of the sofa isn’t going to be as easy as it could be.
Should You Buy This?
At the start of this review, I mentioned that the biggest question I had about the Finder Slim was whether it was worth the extra money over UGreen’s cheaper Smart Finder that I checked out a few weeks ago.
For some people, it will be. It’s a well-made, lightweight device that’s far more convenient for keeping a digital eye on things like your wallet and passport than any of the more traditionally-shaped trackers, AirTags included.
If those are the sorts of items you’re most worried about losing or misplace most frequently, the few extra dollars will feel like money well spent the first time you don’t have to spend half an hour turning your house upside down looking for them.
Likewise, if you need to keep tabs on something that’s at risk of getting wet or covered in dust and dirt, the water and dust resistance on offer is something you generally don’t find in other trackers.
If that’s not the case, though, the Slim Finder is a harder sell. As much as I like the idea of a rechargeable battery, the non-standard, non-replaceable charging cable feels like a problem waiting to happen.
Likewise, the relatively-quiet speaker is a bit of an issue, given that it’s more than likely to be muffled by whatever it’s been placed inside. Throw in the lack of Precision Tracking that makes it harder to get close enough to hear the speaker in the first place, and you might still be spending quite a while flipping over sofa cushions.
All in all, the Finder Slim is still a useful, lightweight, and well-made device that will fit some people’s specific tracking needs very well. With a few limitations and questionable design decisions, however, it’s just not quite the slam dunk that the low-cost Smart Finder is.
All images via author
