The Tile Mate replaces the original Tile and comes in a slimmer form, with roughly 3.3mm of thickness trimmed away. Despite the trim, it’s still pretty thick, about the equivalent of four credit cards stacked together in a smaller, square frame. With that said, you may be wondering whether there’s enough room in your wallet for the Tile Mate.

You can put the Tile Mate in your wallet—and users always have the option to do so—but it is not recommended. Because of the Tile Mate’s design, it’s best used when attached to keychains, lanyards, or other items with an empty loop—not inside of wallets.

Fortunately, Tile created the Tile Slim primarily for use in wallets, pocketbooks, and purses. Read on to learn more about alternative places you can use the Tile Mate and why the Tile Slim is the better option for your wallet—in more ways than one!

Why You Shouldn’t Use Tile Mate with Wallets

All of the Tile devices use an audible siren for location purposes. The problem is when either the Tile Mate or the Tile Slim is jammed into a fold, especially packed with credit cards, other cards, and other items, the siren is essentially muted.

This is certainly an aspect that Tile never considered, but it’s not just Tile. Placing any location device with an audible alarm in a wallet or purse runs the chance of muting its ability to audibly alert you.

It’s best to simply use the Tile Slim for Wallet purposes—doing your best to not mute it with an overstuffed pocketbook—and the Tile Mate for everything else.

Where Can You Use the Tile Mate?

Even if you shouldn’t keep it in your wallet, the Tile Mate is pretty versatile, and you can use it for far more than hooking it to your keychain:

  • Zipper Pull Cords: Out of all the options on this list, zipper pull cordsare by far the most versatile with Tile Mate. You can’t exactly hang them around your neck, but you simply loop it through the Tile Mate’s attachment hole, and then you can loop it to anything else you want.Snap-Hooks: Snap-hooks are great as well, especially if you have children and are going places where crowds are heavy. Just make sure you purchase a smaller one as the hole on the Tile Mate isn’t huge. With a snap-hook, simply attach the Tile Mate to a belt loop, and you’re good to go.Badge Reels and Lanyards are great for wearing a Tile Mate around your neck, maybe, but unless you’re afraid of losing yourself, it’s better to use those on backpacks, purses, or loop it around your child’s neck.Pet Collars: Tile Mates make great pet locators and can simply be looped onto your dog’s or cat’s pet collar.Luggage: Luggage is another option, especially considering how careless some airlines seem to be over where your luggage ends up at the airport. Since many valuables are usually packed into luggage, it’s an excellent place to put a Tile Mate.

Unfortunately, you can’t stick the Tile Mate to anything—not unless you want to use glue on your brand new Tile Mate or two-sided tape. Tile does make another device called the Tile Sticker, which does exactly what its moniker suggests. (However, the Tile Sticker has been poorly reviewed over time, with a host of connectivity issues and poor adhesive drawing a lot of negative criticism.)

Despite this, with all of the great attachment options available, the Tile Mate is a pretty versatile locator, enabling you to attach it to and keep track of just about anything, and that includes your wallet, so long as you figure out a way to avoid squeezing the Tile Mate to the point where it’s no longer audible.

Final Thoughts

Putting a Tile Mate in your wallet is probably not the best use for the device; although finding it through GPS won’t be affected, you’ll have to deal with the fact that you may not be able to hear it when you need to.

Fortunately, there are so many ways to use the Tile Mate. There’s a virtually endless array of options, especially if you decide to purchase some zipper pull cords and/or lanyards. You’re only limitation is your sense of creativity.

Overall, the Tile Mate is great for keeping track of important devices, and that’s an excellent reason for owning more than one. You can purchase them in packs as well, which makes it easier to plan out their uses and save a little money from bundling.