Google may soon let you track Android phone even if it’s switched off

In the event that you lose or misplace your Android phone or, worse, someone steals it, the Find My Device feature helps you with tracking. Given the lost phone was signed in with a trackable Google account, the Find My Device network lets you find out where your phone is. But this facility is limited. You could track a phone only as long as it is connected to the internet. It is not like Apple’s Find My service, which can locate devices even when they are not turned on. Google knows it and is now reportedly working toward implementing that facility.

According to a 91Mobiles report, citing tipster Kuba Wojciechowski, Google is developing a new feature for the Find My Device service that would let users track a connected device even when it is switched off. It will be called Pixel Power-off Finder, but unlike that name, it may be available beyond Pixel phones. The name of the feature for other Android phones may be different. Google is reportedly working on a network of all devices where tracking them will be possible using the ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, as well as locator tags just like AirTags. Google’s own locator tags may be codenamed “grogu,” the report said.

Kuba has a decent track record in terms of leaks of upcoming devices. The tipster recently shared information about Nothing’s upcoming Bluetooth speaker. So, if what Kuba said holds any water, most, if not all, Android phones will be a part of a better Find My Device network that can track them in different ways. Not just the internet, these Android phones could be tracked using the UWB chip in them.

Google has reportedly given the early source code of Android 14 to the smartphone brands enrolled in the Early Access Programme (EAP). One of the references in the source code shows a new Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) definition marked as ‘hardware.google.bluetooth.power_off_finder’. This could allow the device to send precomputed Finger Network keys to the Bluetooth chip, which will remain turned on even if the device is switched off. When a device is located, these keys will give away the location of the device.

But for the Bluetooth chip to remain active all the time, additional hardware support is required — something the report said may or may not be available on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7. But the Pixel 8 is likely to feature such technology.

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