Worry No More: Android 15 Will Let You Find Your Android When It’s Switched Off
If you’ve ever been in a situation where your phone gets stolen, and you’re fast enough to think through the panic, you’ll jump into using Android’s Find My Device feature from a smartphone or a computer. The problem is, if your phone is switched off or not connected to the internet, you’re pretty much out of luck.
There’s good news. Android 15 looks set to get a feature that lets you track your compatible smartphones even when they’re switched off. This will work via a “Powered Off Finder” API (thanks, Android Police!) that uses a Bluetooth chip to send information even when Android isn’t running.
Of course, since this implementation requires a new piece of hardware, it won’t be the kind of feature that can be rolled out to already-released phones. It will have to be a consideration during the design and manufacturing process. The Google Pixel 9 series is likely to be the very first Android smartphone to launch with this capability in tow, and I really hope other Android OEMs will be eager to hop on the train.
Apple Has Had This Feature For Some Time, And Apple Is Also Holding Google Back
In the smartphone space, this kind of feature is not cutting-edge anymore because Apple has had it implemented in its devices since the iPhone 11 series—nearly five years already. Delay is not denial, though, and improvement that requires some form of hardware support is harder to implement on a platform with as much diversity as Android.
Android’s Find My Device network will use a network of nearby Android phones to help you find your Android device even when it is off, similar to Apple’s Find My network. However, Android’s network is yet to take off, and without pointing fingers, the reason why is another major tech brand (spoiler: it’s Apple).
You know trackers like AirTags, Tile, and Samsung’s SmartTags? It was found that nefarious individuals could plant such a tracker on you or in your car, and you’d have no idea that someone was keeping tabs on your location. As a result, Google and Apple began working on a Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers specification. However, it is yet to be finalized, and at the moment, while an Android can tell you if there are any unwanted trackers around you, an iPhone can only tell you if there are unwanted Apple AirTags following you around.
Google has stated that they’re waiting on releasing their Find My Device network until Apple properly implements unwanted tracked detection. As to how long we might have to wait for that, no one knows.
