Chipolo ONE Spot uses Nordic nRF52833 SoC for Bluetooth LE location finding of items with the Apple Find My app

Bluetooth LE tracker helps users locate lost items as part of the Apple Find My network accessory program

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Slovenia-based company, Chipolo, has selected Nordic’s nRF52833 Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the core processing and wireless connectivity for its Chipolo ONE Spot item finder.

Item finding via Apple Find My network

Chipolo ONE Spot is a lightweight, water-resistant item finder designed to help users find their missing valuable items. The solution works exclusively with the Apple Find My network, made up of hundreds of millions of Apple devices around the world. By attaching the Find My-enabled Chipolo ONE Spot to personal belongings such as keys or luggage and adding it to the Apple Find My app on their iPhones or iPads, users can find missing or misplaced valuables through the private and secure Apple Find My network.

We decided to use Nordic’s nRF52833 SoC for Chipolo ONE Spot mainly because of its size, price performance, and memory capacity in order to fit the solution’s firmware with all functionality needed to work with Apple Find My

Janez Jevnikar, Chipolo

If Chipolo ONE Spot is nearby, a loud sound (120dB ring) can be triggered from the device by using the Find My app to easily locate the missing item. If Chipolo ONE Spot is missing, nearby devices in the Apple Find My network will help locate it. The entire process is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, so no one else, not even Apple, Chipolo, or Nordic Semiconductor can view an item’s location, or the location or identity of any device that helped locate it. Should an item ever get truly lost, it can be put in ‘Lost Mode’ to display a message and contact information to anyone who might find it.

In addition to providing the Bluetooth LE connectivity, the Nordic nRF52833 SoC’s 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with floating point unit (FPU), and generous 512kB Flash and 128kB RAM memory allocation combine to run the Chipolo ONE Spot, ensuring it works seamlessly with the Apple Find My app. Chipolo ONE Spot uses a CR2032 coin cell battery to achieve one year of battery life prior to replacement, thanks in part to the ultra low power characteristics of the Nordic SoC.

Software and support accelerate development

“We decided to use Nordic’s nRF52833 SoC for Chipolo ONE Spot mainly because of its size, price performance, and memory capacity in order to fit the solution’s firmware with all functionality needed to work with Apple Find My,” says Janez Jevnikar, COO of Chipolo.

“Nordic's software tools and components, big community, and responsive support are all important considerations when selecting the SoC to be used in new designs. We were on a tight development schedule and these factors absolutely helped to get the product to market on time.”