Last Updated on May 18, 2025 by nice2buy
Once upon a time — around 2014, when people still said YOLO unironically — a company called Elgato had a vision. A vision where your keys would talk to your iPhone, and together they’d make sure you’d never lose them again. It was beautiful. It was revolutionary. It was… utter nonsense.
The Pitch:
Attach the Elgato Smart Key to your keychain, sync it with your iPhone, and voilà! Your phone would alert you if you left your keys behind. It would even remember where you last saw them — like some forgetful but well-meaning butler.
And if that wasn’t enough, it could beep. Yes, this piece of tech could produce a sound — the volume of which rivaled the sigh of a dying hamster.
The Reality (also known as “The Problem”):
Let’s start with the connection range. Elgato boldly claimed 30 to 40 feet. In practice? You’d be lucky if the Smart Key and your iPhone managed to stay connected while sitting on the same table. I’ve had better signal from a potato with tin foil antennas.
And then, of course, came the notifications.
Imagine leaving your keys on the kitchen counter. You walk into the living room — BEEP! An alert. You’ve abandoned your keys! The horror! So you return, only to be scolded moments later for leaving your phone behind this time. Basically, the Smart Key spent its life screaming for attention like a clingy ex.
Design & Build
Physically, the Elgato Smart Key is fine. It’s small, round, and black — kind of like a panic button designed by IKEA. It comes with one lonely button, which, when pressed, plays a sound on your phone so faint, it might as well be the wind whispering “I tried.”
The battery life was supposed to last for months, but depending on how neurotic your notification settings were, it would die faster than your New Year’s resolutions.
The App:
A cheerful little thing with settings for keys, handbags, luggage, possibly your hopes and dreams. You could define “safe zones,” like your house, where the Smart Key would remain silent. Of course, it often ignored that too. Mine once triggered an alert inside the safe zone. On Christmas morning. Because nothing says holiday spirit like “YOUR KEYS HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND!” shouted by a vibrating phone at 6am.
The Use Case That Actually Worked?
Ironically, the one bit of usefulness came from people strapping the Smart Key onto their TV remotes. Because yes, even in 2014, tech was failing at one job and accidentally succeeding at another. If Elgato had just rebranded this thing as a “Remote Locator for Parents”, they’d still be in business today.
Final Verdict:
The Elgato Smart Key was like giving your keys a life coach. Unfortunately, that coach had terrible advice, low self-esteem, and a voice you couldn’t hear in any room with a ceiling fan running.
In theory, this was the start of something brilliant — Bluetooth-powered object tracking. In reality, it was more like Bluetooth-powered paranoia. You didn’t stop losing your keys — you just started arguing with them.
Still better than asking your spouse if they’ve seen your keys.