Android May Get Its Own Crowd-Sourced Find My Device Network

Google might exist taking a cue from Apple and developing a crowd-sourced network of Android devices for locating lost things. An APK teardown of Google Play Services version 21.24.13, which rolled out on the Play Store recently, revealed strings related to a new Android feature chosen "Observe My Device network."

You lot might exist aware that Google already offers a "Observe My Device" app for Android smartphones. Notwithstanding, it requires an internet connection to work. The lost device also must be signed in to your Google Account in society to be found. As such, if your device is offline, you lot will non be able to find its current location.

Apple tree, meanwhile, makes the devices circulate Bluetooth signals even when they're offline. Any other nearby iOS device tin can then option upwards this signal and relay the location of the lost device to the cloud. This added stride allows users to discover their lost devices even if they are powered off. Samsung's SmartTag, or maybe Apple's AirTag, also uses the same oversupply-sourced network of devices to locate lost things, even those that don't have an cyberspace connection.

Google might now exist looking to build a similar crowd-sourced network of Android devices. After all, over three billion devices worldwide run on its platform. Most of those are smartphones and come with Google Mobile Services (GMS) and Google Play Services preinstalled (except in People's republic of china). And then finding a lost Android device could be a lot easier.

Find My Device network is not alive nevertheless

As said before, this upcoming Android feature was spotted in development in an APK teardown of the latest version of Google Play Services and is not yet live for users. Nevertheless, the folks over at 9to5Google could enable the new characteristic on their device. A new "Find My Device network" menu appears in Settings with a toggle to turn it on/off. It's singled-out from the existing "Detect My Device" toggle. So it could be possible to exclude your phone from participating in that crowd-sourced network to relay signals when someone is trying to locate their lost devices.

"Allows your phone to help locate your and other people's devices," the clarification for the new characteristic reads. It'due south unclear whether Google will offer this support simply to Android-powered devices like smartphones, tablets, and watches, or it also plans to make its own dedicated object trackers similar Samsung's SmartTag and Apple tree's AirTag.

According to the report, Google could also launch a dedicated app called Spot for this feature. This app could help locate things on the network more than precisely. All this suggests that a Made past Google object tracker is on the way soon. You lot can expect more data nigh this new Android feature to surface in the coming weeks.