‘Find My Device’ tracking feature of Google to receive an upgrade very soon

If reports are to be believed, Google is currently upgrading its ‘Find My Device’ tracking feature. Post the upgrade users will be able to find their devices without internet. This means that the ‘Find My Device’ feature will be as good as Samsung’s SmartThings Find or Apple’s Find My. Google System Update’s changelog for December 2022 has revealed this upgrade.

Find My Device update

The ‘Find My Device’ feature is already present on Android or Wear OS devices and can help to track the devices if they are connected to the internet. Through the service, users can lock their device remotely and even sign out from Google’s account. However, the only drawback in the feature is that it does not work if the device is offline. The device has to be online to access the above-mentioned features. This means that a thief/ unwanted person can easily turn off the internet connectivity and then format it.

The update will allow ‘Find My Device’ feature to detect Android and Wear OS devices sans the internet. The updated software will let Android devices to talk among them and find lost items. The feature might be end-to-end encrypted (just like Apple/ Samsung’s service).

However, we do not have any idea about the timeline of the updated ‘Find My Device’ feature. We assume that the feature will be rolled with the Android 14 update.

Samsung’s SmartThings Find

Samsung’s SmartThings Find service is meant for Samsung Galaxy devices and it works even when the devices are offline. The service lets nearby Samsung devices to send location of the lost/ stolen Samsung devices by using device’s Bluetooth. The tracking system has more than 200 million find nodes which enable users to find their devices.

Apple Find My

Similar to Samsung, Apple’s Find My service is quite capable to find lost Apple devices without the internet. Find My service uses nearby Apple devices in order to find a lost Apple device.