Worried about losing your luggage, wallet, phone, or even your dog? Australia’s Journey has new tech to help you keep watch over items on your journey.
New tech is always appearing, and while the year is ending, some of it is appearing right at the end, still. And even from an Australian brand, no less.
You may not know the name “Journey” beyond going somewhere, but this is a local brand that could definitely qualify as one that is doing just that.
In the past year, it has offered a couple of gadgets designed to make working a little easier, with the Alti desk mat that comes with two wireless chargers built in, as well as a laptop sleeve with much the same focus.
Now, it seems as though Journey is intent on making the journey for other people a little easier overall, as it joins the finding gadget category.
The timing makes sense, of course, when you consider the holidays are a typical time for people to jump on a flight and go somewhere else, escaping the hullabaloo for a chance to visit elsewhere.
And that’s largely what the Journey Loc8 range seems built for, releasing four gadgets designed to work with the Apple Find My network that currently pings iPhones for their location. Much like the Apple AirTag, Journey’s Loc8 (read as “locate”) is built for finding things that aren’t just your phone, but may still be attached or near your phone.
For instance, there’s the Loc8 MagSafe Finder Wallet & Stand, a wallet with a stand built in that uses Apple’s MagSafe technology to magnetically mount to a recent iPhone, working with any model in the iPhone 12 range all the way up to the current iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max. That wallet comes with a way to hold five cards to your phone, much like the Apple MagSafe wallet, but also has a stand built in, as well.
There’s also the Loc8 Passport Finder Wallet, which is a document wallet for things like your passport, paper ticket (if you have one), and credit cards, which itself comes with a tracking locator and a little speaker in case you need to ring the chime to find it.
Journey is also making a Finder Card you can slip right into your wallet for finding your existing wallet, as well as a Finder Fob that’s basically a little tag you can mount to anything, be it a suitcase or even a dog collar, and each of these works with the Apple Find My network.
Some of those gadgets also come with rechargeable batteries, such as the Wallet variations, using a proprietary port to charge up what’s inside. Even without a rechargeable battery, Journey promises decent battery life, with up to two years in the Finder Card, one year on the Fob, and six months on the MagSafe Wallet Stand and Passport Finder Wallet.
“The Loc8 range is an ecosystem of trackers that equips people to quickly locate all the everyday carry items they depend on – be it keys, wallets, bags, pets, or otherwise – in all the environments they can’t afford to lose them in,” said a spokesperson for Journey.
However it’s an ecosystem that at present only works with the Apple Find My network, with Journey confirming to Pickr they only work with Apple devices, and don’t as of yet connect to either Google’s alternative or the Samsung finding service, either.
It means the Journey Loc8 ecosystem is largely geared at Apple device owners, which probably won’t be a huge issue to most, but still worth noting all the same.
You should be able to find the Journey Loc8 range online shortly, however, priced at $39.95 for the Loc8 Finder Fob and Finder Card each, while the MagSafe Wallet Stand will cost $99.95 and the Loc8 Passport Finder Wallet for $109.95.
