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The ability to track and find lost devices is not a new idea. Google and Apple have been doing this for years, but as technology advances, so does the landscape, and Google has begun rolling out its new Find My Device network in North America.
The idea isn’t new, but the way it’s done and what it can do certainly is. With a network of well over 1 billion devices, finding your lost cell phone and much more is now easier and safer by design.
What you can do is part of the improvement. With 5 great new features, the new features are better than the old version.
1. Ability to find offline devices. Find your Android smartphone or tablet on a map, send notifications, and ring even when you’re not connected to a network. If you have a Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro, this works even if your phone is turned off or the battery is dead. More on this later.
2. Track other things with your new Bluetooth tracker. Third-party companies will soon be releasing smaller tags for use with Google’s network. You can attach these tags to anything and monitor them through the Find My Device network. It’s also built to be compatible with Google and Apple’s unknown tracker warning systems, ensuring no one can use it without your knowledge.
3. Find nearby devices. If what you’re looking for is nearby, you’ll see a button that tells you exactly where it is. When it gets warmer, the shape expands, and when it gets colder, the shape contracts. Clever.
4. Use Google Nest devices to help you find things around your home. When you use something like Nest Home as part of a new network, it’s easier to find things you’ve forgotten around the house. Thanks to the new network’s built-in home protection, your Nest devices will only work to find things in your home.
5. Share accessories with family and friends. You can share compatible Bluetooth accessories and trackers with others so they can also monitor where they are.
So this new feature is pretty cool and seems very comparable to what Apple has been doing with its network. However, on the surface they are very different. Let’s dig deeper.
How to use
Simply put, it’s Bluetooth. Almost everything has a Bluetooth connection these days, and it makes sense to leverage this in a way that reports connectivity status about other Bluetooth devices. Never lose your favorite earphones again.
Imagine attaching a Chipolo tracking tag to your keychain. There’s a Bluetooth radio inside that “broadcasts” its location, so it’s compatible with the new Find My Device network so other registered devices can “hear” its location.
All these devices collectively report data to Google, and if you want to find your keyring with the included Chipolo tracker, it will get your location based on its distance from other devices.
Knowing the distance from a single device means nothing, but when you have billions of devices, you can estimate their actual location very accurately. When you get close, it uses the strength of the Bluetooth signal to fill in the shape on the screen and reach above it.
All that’s left is to keep everything safe and private. Google is trying to do this in a few different ways, including aggregation and encryption.
You must opt in to this feature and have three options: opt out completely, contribute to aggregation, or use the network without contributing to aggregation. To explain exactly what Google means by aggregation, here are Google’s own words:
“With aggregation, the Find My Device network waits until multiple Android devices detect a lost item. Find My Device then displays the center point calculated from multiple location reports to the owner of the lost item. To do.”
This means telling the user where things are without telling the user where the device that helps them find them is. If your phone tells Google where your luggage tag is, the owner of the luggage tag has no way of knowing where you are or what your contributions are.
Additionally, when Google sends location data, it is encrypted end-to-end using a key that is shared only with the tracker owner and is accessible only by the user. This means that no one but you (or someone else you authorize) can use that data. This data cannot be shared even if you want to.
Two other important features are worth noting. The service has a feature that Google calls “At Home Protection,” which means that your Android device won’t provide location information to Find My Device as long as you’re in the location you’ve designated as home. That’s what it means. Communication network. No one can use this data to find out where you live.
The last thing to note is that all of this complies with industry standards for unknown tracker alerts. If someone tries to track you using your tag, your phone will know when you’re nearby and will notify you when you stay nearby. If someone sticks a tracker on your car or bag, you will be notified.
What’s not to love?
I’m confident that privacy advocates will look closely at what Google has done so far, find things that aren’t ideal, and perhaps Google will address them. In the meantime, he believes there are two issues that need to be discussed.
The first is to track your Pixel 8’s location when your phone is turned off or has a dead battery. What Google is saying is: “Thanks to special Pixel hardware, Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro owners can now find their device even when it’s turned off or the battery is dead. It’s just that you can do it. That’s not helpful at all. Given Google’s track record when it comes to privacy, we need to know more.
I’m hoping Google will tell me more at Google I/O, but in the meantime I’d like to learn more about this “special hardware” and how it works. We reached out to the company for specific answers. If I get something, I’ll share it.
Second thing, the service is totally fine. If it works as well as expected, it would be a shame to see Apple not participate.
Yes, Apple offers a service that uses high frequency radio to do the same thing. This works well in a country like the United States, where half the population has an iPhone. However, the downside is that it only works in areas with a high saturation of iPhone users (and such places exist all over the world).
If Apple wanted to, it could piggyback on Google’s services and make it better for everyone. In some cases, companies need to stop fighting and do what’s best for their customers. This is one of them.
I hate the idea of anything tracking me. And I don’t trust Google when it comes to data collection because they’ve been caught doing sketchy things. However, the service seems to be worth it, and the safety measures Google has put in place make it seem safe and secure. I plan to use the tracker when it becomes available after Google I/O.
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