[Exclusive] Google working on ‘Find My Device’ feature even when phone is turned off

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.