- Google is working on a ‘Find My Device’ feature that will be able to find the device when it’s powered off, similar to Apple.
- The company is tipped to be working on building a huge network of all Android devices, including optional support or UWB, locator tags like Apple AirTags.
- The feature requires hardware support to keep the Bluetooth chip enabled at all times.
Apple iPhones have this amazing ‘Find My Device’ network feature that allows users to track any lost or stolen iPhone, iPad, Mac, or AirTag even when they are not in range of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and even when the device is turned off. Google had teased the ‘Find My Device’ network feature back in December 2022 that made it possible to track lost or stolen Android phones even without the internet. Now, 91mobiles has exclusively learned from tipster Kuba Wojciechowski that Google is working on a ‘Find My Device’ feature that will be able to find the device when it’s powered off, similar to Apple.
Google Find My Device when the phone is turned off
The feature will be called Pixel Power-off Finder, at least on Google phones. As per Kuba, the Mountain View giant is tipped to be working on building a huge network of all Android devices, including optional support or UWB, locator tags like Apple AirTags and these include Google’s own tag codename “grogu” and more. Google has apparently shared the early source code of Android 14 with OEMs that are enrolled in the Early Access Program (EAP).
The source code includes a new Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) definition, called “hardware.google.bluetooth.power_off_finder“. As per the code comments, precomputed Finger Network keys will be sent to the device’s Bluetooth chip, which will be kept on even when the phone is off. The functionality is very similar to iPhones, which have been doing that for a while.
The feature requires hardware support to keep the Bluetooth chip enabled at all times. At the moment, it is unclear whether current devices such as the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 will support the required technology, but we’re pretty certain the upcoming Pixel 8 will have support out of the box.
