Losing your MacBook charge pack could be a thing of the past, thanks to a new take on the tech with Apple’s Find My built in.
Phones chargers are everywhere and tablets chargers with them, but laptop chargers? Those things are big, meaty, and tend to cost a little more, making them a pain in the proverbial to lose or forget where you left them.
And yet that happens. You might have a dedicated place to store them, such as a part of your backpack or a drawer at home, but if you take it out and leave it somewhere — a coffee shop or maybe a room at work — finding that charger can be a pain, and that’s a problem.
Twelve South might have a solution in a device that blends a charger with an AirTag, coming in the “PlugBug”.
The quirky name sees either a two-port or four-port charger offering 50 watts for the former or 120 for the latter, making it possible to charge phone, tablet, and laptop over a Type C USB connection, and have it work over most devices, whether they’re made by Apple or not.
Each power pack uses Gallium Nitride or “GaN”, a technology that keeps the heat down in power packs while also allowing them to shrink in size, and has been ticking around since 2020.
Where Twelve South makes things a bit different is the “bug” part of the name, offering support for “Find My” from Apple to track down the charge pack, provided you have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac of some sort.
There’s no battery specifically in the charge pack to make this work, and the PlugBug doesn’t store power, requiring a power socket like every other plug pack in the world. Rather, PlugBug includes a small button battery like the AirTag to power the Find My component of the charge pack, allowing the charger to remain somewhere and still communicate to Apple’s Find My network.
As for whether Android and Windows users can find the PlugBug’s location, that will likely lead you to the Find My website from Apple. However, you will likely need a Mac, iPhone, or iPad to register the PlugBug to begin with, making it more a gadget focused on Apple owners than anyone else.
In Australia, the Twelve South PlugBug starts at $139.95 for the 50W two-port model, while the four-port 120W will cost $219.95, with both available now.
