The world is moving forward and losing your wallet or getting robbed may have more serious consequences than ten or twenty years ago. First blocking, then informing the police, and finally retrieving your ID, driver’s license, debit cards, credit cards, and discount cards is expensive, time-consuming and really annoying. You have to do it quickly, so no one steals your money, or identity and ruins your life forever.

You may think that’s exaggerating, but imagine that only with your ID, someone can take a massive loan on your name. Does this make you feel uneasy?

That’s why you need to protect yourself and the best way to do that is to get a smart wallet. Some people prefer to use a regular wallet with a tracker inside, but we’re going to prove them wrong.

Trackers?

When you google the phrase “tracker” you get a lot of options to choose from. Then you put them inside your current wallet. According to the producers now it will protect your valuables 24/7. Well…

The most important disadvantage is simply usability: when your wallet gets stolen, and the thief starts looking at what’s inside, what is he going to throw out first? Tracker. It’s easily removable, so when you realize you miss your wallet (some of the trackers won’t send a notification on your phone, so watch out!) and get the last-seen location it might be too late. All you may find is a tracker.

Another thing: trackers are not as as tiny as they’re advertised and they don’t fit every wallet.  If you have a slim wallet you may notice that Tile makes them bulky, took up a lot of space or didn’t fit all.

Thirdly, in most trackers, the battery is not rechargeable, so when it’s dead, the tracker is useless, and you need to replace the whole thing or get a new one.

Smart wallets!

And while they seem like regular wallets at first glance, smart wallets come with a variety of supercharged features. For example, some notify you with a ding if you walk too far away from them, which is especially good for people who tend to misplace their wallets. Others can prevent scammers from ripping you off with smart card readers. That’s important, explains Gomez, a cybersecurity specialist and the CEO of Sensato, because your credit cards are always sending out their details. If someone with one of those readers gets close to you—on the street, in an elevator, or on a train—they could potentially steal your credit card information. “Smart wallets typically have the ability to protect you from that type of attack, and that alone makes them a great option for pretty much everyone,” Gomez says, speaking to the radio frequency identification (RFID) blocking that many provide. Keep your money safe.

Today’s smart wallets are usually equipped with a tiny tracker, RFID protection, LED lights, and various sensors. All of this is meant to help you in your everyday life and make your wallet more secure and more practical.

Some of the most known smart wallet names are: Ekster Wallets BV, NXT-ID, Volterman, Walli Wearables and Woolet.co.

But in the sea of smart wallets and advanced features in the market, how do you actually choose which one is best for you?

RFID protected – These are the basic smart wallets. The term RFID is used for Radio Frequency Identification, which is a technology used in contactless credit cards. This technology allows you to pay wirelessly at a merchant’s card reader, thus saving you from the hassle of swiping, entering the pin, and OTP’s, etc. But fraudsters can try to steal the data of your credit card to duplicate and use your card. RFID protected wallets have an aluminum or metal fabric layer in the outer walls, which protect the RFID frequencies being intercepted by fraudsters.

Tactical – A tactical wallet may have few built-in tools like a knife, bottle opener, ruler, a box cutter, and small wrench, etc. These are minimalist wallets with survival capabilities. You can carry your cards, money bills, driving license, etc., as well in these tactical wallets. These wallets are quite popular with adventure lovers, military, outdoorsmen, and tracking enthusiasts and are mostly built with a metal frame and leather covering. Features like cutting a seat belt in an emergency, acting as a phone stand, or prying out a nail make it a fabulous smart wallet.

Minimalist – Tired of carrying a bulky wallet which is difficult to keep in your back pocket? And you have to take it out every time before sitting, which is a bit embarrassing at times! The minimalist smart wallet will just be the right cardholder for you. In general, small wallets are called cardholders as they are designed to carry a few cards, plus have a money band that can hold few currency bills. So, if you are the ‘less cash, more cards’ kind of man, a minimalist wallet is the right fit for you.

Trackable – For many, a smart wallet is incomplete if it doesn’t have a technology that can keep track of it or make it difficult to lose. Also known as anti-theft, anti-lost, GPS wallet, theft-proof, or Bluetooth wallet, this type of wallet is equipped with the technology through which you can easily locate it. The trackable wallets have an inbuilt tracking device that helps you track the device using an app on your smartphone.

Simply Smart – You can call them plain smart or simply smart as these wallets may have the combined properties of all the different types of wallets mentioned above. They can also have additional features like a pop-up card ejection feature, which has names like pop-up, pop-out, card ejector, automatic, slider, quick access, and slider. This feature helps you have all the cards in front of you without even unfolding the wallet, and you can pick, use, and slide back the required card with convenience.

Recommended smart wallets for you:

The smart-connected wallet market in the U.S. is estimated at US$70.2 Million in the year 2020. China, the world`s second-largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$65.7 Million by the year 2027 trailing a CAGR of 6.3% over the analysis period 2020 to 2027. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 6.4% and 5.4% respectively, over the 2020-2027 period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 5.4% CAGR.