Google’s new Find My, an extension of the current Find My Device, launches this week. A well-informed source on the matter told DDAY.it. However, the launch may initially be confined to the United States and Canada.
Google’s Find My will be what Apple’s Find My is today. It will become a vast network that uses Android devices owned by other people to locate a lost device and then locate it.
For the current Find my device, the device must have active geolocation and be connected to mobile data or Wi-Fi.
With the new Find My, which launches this week, Android devices will be able to share their location – in an encrypted and privacy-safe way – even if they are disconnected from the Internet using Bluetooth, as trackers such as Chipolo and Tile already do . The network will also welcome other devices that are not currently part of Find My Device, such as headsets, tablets, and other “Android objects”.
Third-party trackers will also be able to be part of the Find My network. Google said this when it announced the technology at the 2023 I/O event. On that occasion there was talk of a release in the following months, but then in July last year Google postponed the launch also because it had to work with Apple to the common specifications (with the Find My network) of unwanted location alerts: that is, trackers used without users’ knowledge to locate their position, for example in cases of stalking.
In fact, it will be possible to perform a manual scan and detect unknown trackers (even Apple AirTags) that have traveled with the user, also showing the point on the map where it was detected for the first time.
Update 02/04, 9:50: Added possible initial launch of the Find My network in the US and Canada.
