Since last year, Google has been promising that it will soon be possible to locate your Android smartphone when it is turned off. Since then, the American giant has not given any news, but a recent report indicates that the functionality should finally arrive with Android 15. But for this, Google will need help from Apple.
At its I/O conference last year, Google made a big announcement for Android. Soon, the company promised, it would be possible to locate your smartphone anywhere, all the time, even if it is turned off. The news was not trivial. If Android certainly benefits from its network Find my device, it is still far from being up to its counterpart at Apple. In December, Google discreetly indicated on its blog that the deployment of its network was imminent.
Here we are in March, and still no news from this famous revolutionary network. Google has not abandoned the project, however. In fact, according to a recent report from Android Police, the latter will finally arrive on Android 15. Our colleagues were indeed alerted by the addition of a new API, called Powered off Finder. The latter will allow equipped devices to continue sending Bluetooth signals even when they are out of battery.
Google will finally update its Find My network with Android 15
As a reminder, the Find My networks from Google and Apple work on the same principle. In order to find a device, all iPhones or Android smartphones send Bluetooth signals until they find a match with the desired device. In this way, there is no need for an Internet connection or to activate geolocation. Of course, the device in question will still need to have some semblance of battery power to send and receive these signals, which is generally the case when it turns off.
On the same subject — Android 15 will add functions borrowed from Windows when a physical keyboard is connected to the smartphone
This is therefore excellent news for users, who have been waiting for almost a year now for Google to finally improve its Find My network. However, it is better not to declare victory too quickly. If the new network is not yet available, it is partly because Google expects Apple to protect its users against spy trackers, as has now been the case on Android since last year. Google has already delayed the launch of the new network for this reason and it might still be a while if Apple doesn’t lift a finger.
Source: AndroidPolice