Google‘s Find My Device network is set to be a major upgrade to the current Find My Device service. The latter lets you find your phone – if it’s connected to the internet – but the former could allow you to locate almost anything, whether it has internet and location capabilities or not.
This Find My Device network – which was announced at Google IO 2023 – is still yet to launch as of April 2024, but there are signs that it could arrive soon, and it should be worth the wait.
This new-and-improved network will work with Bluetooth trackers (such as Tile Pro and even perhaps a Google AirTags device), and can use the billions of Android devices across the world to help locate lost objects that have such a tracker attached, as well as lost phones.
This should make Android’s Find My Device network even bigger and more capable than Apple‘s Find My network. Below, you’ll find everything we know about this service so far.
Android Find My Device network: what is it?
Google’s Find My Device network already exists, albeit in limited form. If you’ve been an Android user for any length of time then you’ve probably interacted with it. But in its current form it’s not really a ‘network’, as it doesn’t leverage other Android devices to help you find lost objects.
With the new Find My Device network it will, and this update will also add support for various Bluetooth trackers (such as those from Tile, Chipolo, and Pebblebee), as well as some other devices, such as Pixel Buds, and headphones from Sony and JBL.
Additionally, Find My Device will let you detect unwanted AirTags and other trackers (in other words ones that someone might have hidden in your belongings in order to stalk you). In fact, that feature has already rolled out, but the rest is still to come.
In all, this is set to be the biggest update to Find My Device since the service’s original launch back in 2017.
Android Find My Device network: when will it launch?
Google originally planned to launch its new Find My Device network in summer 2023, but in a Google blog post from late July, the company revealed that it’s delaying the launch.
It’s made this decision because it wants to wait until Apple fully rolls out unknown tracker alerts to its own Find My service. Currently, if you have an iOS device, you can get alerts for unknown AirTags and third-party, Find My-certified Bluetooth trackers, but not for those that aren’t certified on Apple’s proprietary Find My network.
Apple is working on updating the feature to work with other trackers too, but this update is one that Google and Apple have jointly been working on, so that alerts can be sent across Android and iOS platforms.
The specification for this cross-platform alert system hasn’t yet been finalized, so Google has therefore decided “to hold the rollout of the Find My Device network until Apple has implemented protections for iOS.” That said, as of April 2024, Apple’s Find My upgrades could finally be arriving with iOS 17.5, which will presumably pave the way for the long-awaited release of Google’s new-and-improved Find My Device network.
Incidentally, 9to5Google has spotted settings for this upgraded Find My Device network buried in Android code, so there’s hopefully not too much work (if any) left to be done on Google’s end.
Android Find My Device network: how will it work?
Right now, if you lose your Android phone then – assuming you’ve enabled Find My Device – you’ll be able to see its last known location on a map. If it’s online with location services enabled then that location should be up to date, but if not it won’t be.
If it’s online then you can also do things like remotely play a sound on it to help find it, or if you think it may have been stolen you can remotely lock it, sign out of your Google account, or even erase it. It’s a handy feature, but it requires the device to be online for an up to date location, and it only works with select devices, such as Android phones and Wear OS watches.