Google’s latest feature represents a major step forward in protecting personal devices.
Losing or forgetting your smartphone can turn into a stressful and complex problem to solve. These devices now contain a large amount of sensitive data, which we would never want to end up in the hands of an attacker. Although there are already many solutions for finding lost devices, Google took it a step further by introducing a feature that promises to improve the management of our devices.
Technological innovations always aim to simplify our lives, and Google, with its new update, aims to offer an even more effective service for tracking lost devices. This new feature harnesses the power of a vast network of Android devices, creating a more precise and reliable tracking system. If you are one of the many people who tend to frequently lose their phone or other personal items, this update could therefore be a major game changer.
Google’s new Find My Device feature
The Google feature Find My Device has been significantly improved, making it even easier to locate lost devices. This update introduces a network of over a billion Android devices, which uses Bluetooth to scan and detect lost items such as phones, keys, wallets and luggage.
Find My Device by Google uses a crowdsourced network to detect lost devices. In practice, all Android devices participating in the Find My Device network continuously scan their surroundings via Bluetooth. These devices look for signals from other lost devices nearby.
When a lost device is found, the service notifies the owner with the precise location. Location information is accessible only to the owner of the lost device and are protected by end-to-end encryption. Depending on the device, the network can also locate a smartphone that has been turned off or whose battery has been empty for a few hours.
The Find My Device network is not limited to Android phones and tablets, but also supports Bluetooth trackers from manufacturers like Chipolo and Pebblebee, Wear OS devices like the Pixel Watch, and Android-compatible accessories like the Pixel Buds. Soon it will also be compatible with headphones from brands such as JBL and Sony.
To use Find My Device, you need to set up everything correctly. Make sure you sign in to your Google account, turn on location on your device, and make sure Find My Device is turned on. You can track a lost device from the web at google.com/android/find, via the Find My Device app on any Android smartphone or tablet you’re logged in to, or by asking Google Assistant.
