The MagSafe Wallet Conundrum

Having ditched traditional wallets years ago, I carried a few cards and cash in my pocket. While this system had its downsides—like losing small bills when rummaging for my keys—I preferred it to the bulk of a wallet. The MagSafe Wallet, which claims to hold three cards, seemed like an elegant solution. I chose the leather version for $59, a small price compared to my phone.

My first experience with the wallet was at a Starbucks after returning to the Netherlands. When the barista asked for €3.30, I retrieved my phone with the wallet attached. But getting my bank card out proved to be a challenge.

I quickly realized that extracting the card while the wallet was on the phone was nearly impossible. After a few awkward moments, I had to detach the wallet to access my card. Just as I did, my phone vibrated with a notification:

“TIME SENSITIVE. Find My Notification: David’s wallet was detached. Your wallet was left near [Train Station Starbucks].”

Seriously? I had to detach it to pay! Would I receive this notification every time I needed to make a purchase? I could disable it, but then I'd risk forgetting my wallet.

I held up the line while I contemplated how to retrieve the card. It turned out there was a thumbhole designed to help slide a card out. However, it only worked after detaching the wallet, and if the card I needed wasn’t positioned right, I had to sift through others to find it.

In hindsight, moving the thumbhole to the outside of the wallet would allow me to keep it attached while retrieving cards. That way, I wouldn’t trigger notifications every time I needed to pay.

Am I missing something?

Feeling frustrated, I assumed I was simply using the wallet incorrectly. To clarify my confusion, I consulted a 25-year-old colleague. After he struggled to detach the wallet and retrieve a card, he laughed and said, “Yeah, this is pretty messed up.”

He then added, “But I don’t use cards anymore; I rely on Apple Pay.”

This hit me like a revelation. Perhaps I was approaching this all wrong! The MagSafe Wallet was likely designed not for card use, but to nudge users towards Apple Pay.

I realized that the awkward design was intentional, making card usage cumbersome to encourage adoption of Apple’s digital payment system. This clever strategy had me purchasing a product meant to drive me toward another Apple offering.

A year later, I finally set up Apple Pay by photographing my bank card within the app, completing the process in under a minute.

Using Apple Pay is now a breeze—just look at the phone and hold it near the scanner, and I’m done. I could leave the wallet at home, but I still carry my cards, justifying the $59 expense. Sometimes I even show off my ability to detach the wallet and extract cards with one hand, all while trying to avoid that pesky notification.

In the end, it seems Apple has the last laugh.

“Some people say to give the customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do.” - Steve Jobs