Google’s device-finding tech is about to get more advanced, with the ability to locate your phone and other devices even if they are offline.
This new generation of the Google Find My Device network was announced as part of Google I/O, a tech conference at which the company shows off its latest hardware and software.
At present, you can use the Find My Device website to locate your Android tablet or phone as long as it is online. However, that is set to change later this year, with the ability to locate offline gadgets.
Google says this tech will “harness over a billion Android devices across the world,” to help locate phones and other devices that are not currently online and able to report their own location.
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This is possible thanks to Bluetooth, allowing these devices to communicate wirelessly without internet.
Of course, this still means that somewhere in the chain, a gadget that is connected to the internet will be required.
The kind of things you can track through Google’s Find My Device will expand too. Tile, Chipolo and Pebblebee trackers are set to become part of the network, while Google says headphones from Sony and JBL with tracking support are coming out soon too.
Chipolo has announced Apple AirTag-like trackers to support the system. There’s the £30 Chipolo One Point, a disc you might attach to a set of keys, and the £35 Card Point made for wallets. The Point’s replaceable battery lasts a year, while the Card’s lasts two years but is not user-replaceable.
However, Chipolo does run a recycling programme that offers 50 per cent off a new card after two years.
A vast network of devices capable of communicating their location to each other brings up privacy fears. However, Google says this data us “end-to-end encrypted” to avoid misuse, including by Google itself.
Google and Apple also recently announced a partnership intended to stop trackers from being used to stalk or track people without their permission. Its aim is to cement a standard for Bluetooth trackers that will notify people when they are being tracked by an unknown device.
That project is in the works, and so is this new generation of Find My Device, which Google says is due to go live “later this summer”.
