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Find My Device on Android

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21–30 of 332 posts

Re: Find My Device on Android

#21

When will we get precise positioning using UWB? UWB has been in three generations of Pixel phones now and I haven't been able to use it a single time. Not even once. I want a direction finding arrow that points to my lost headphones case or my wife's phone. I want a smart door lock that unlocks automatically when I approach from the outside but not the inside. I want to stop relying on flaky Bluetooth for Tesla's car…

I don't see why UWB should have anything to do with the Find My network. It's something the tag manufacturer would add separately. Since UWB range is lower than BLE range, the Find My network would get you close enough and then the manufacturer's app would enable you to use UWB.

So the answer is, whenever a manufacturer thinks it's worth including in the tag.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#22

Google is like store-brand Apple. But their home devices are so much better (but still somehow not ‘good’) that more people have coverage with them rather than HomePod so they’ll get the search assist from there. I’m surprised they can only do proximity, though. AirTags do direction quite well and can sometimes even tell altitude difference.

Curious to know about the home devices. I'd never allow any google hardware a permanent place in my home even if it's amazing, but it's hard to see another major tech co coming up with something better than Apple TV.

The Homepod is amazing too. It's stuck with Siri (is this what you mean?) but has fantastic sound that integrates with the TV for movies and Mac when playing music.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#23

Ironically, yesterday my wife couldn't find her phone while we were at a restaurant. Is it at home? Well, let's try this. Google it, go to http://android.com/find Ah, but it only shows devices logged into my account. Well, let's log into hers. Which required 2FA from... her device. Sooo useful.

My wife and I had this exact same sort of situation and now we're both logged into each other's accounts. We never have trouble finding our phones now but it does introduce other problems. Such as not knowing if some sort of security alert is being generated by my spouse and now we have to communicate about it.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#24

Ironically, yesterday my wife couldn't find her phone while we were at a restaurant. Is it at home? Well, let's try this. Google it, go to http://android.com/find Ah, but it only shows devices logged into my account. Well, let's log into hers. Which required 2FA from... her device. Sooo useful.

And now I thought I'd try it with my device. It's on my work wifi and on mobile data. "Play a sound" works. But it still insists "Can't reach device" and won't tell me where it is. What am I missing? "Find my device" is toggled on in the settings.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#25

When will we get precise positioning using UWB? UWB has been in three generations of Pixel phones now and I haven't been able to use it a single time. Not even once. I want a direction finding arrow that points to my lost headphones case or my wife's phone. I want a smart door lock that unlocks automatically when I approach from the outside but not the inside. I want to stop relying on flaky Bluetooth for Tesla's car…

I don't see why UWB should have anything to do with the Find My network. It's something the tag manufacturer would add separately. Since UWB range is lower than BLE range, the Find My network would get you close enough and then the manufacturer's app would enable you to use UWB. So the answer is, whenever a manufacturer thinks it's worth including in the tag.

samsung have this.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#26

When will we get precise positioning using UWB? UWB has been in three generations of Pixel phones now and I haven't been able to use it a single time. Not even once. I want a direction finding arrow that points to my lost headphones case or my wife's phone. I want a smart door lock that unlocks automatically when I approach from the outside but not the inside. I want to stop relying on flaky Bluetooth for Tesla's car…

I don't see why UWB should have anything to do with the Find My network. It's something the tag manufacturer would add separately. Since UWB range is lower than BLE range, the Find My network would get you close enough and then the manufacturer's app would enable you to use UWB. So the answer is, whenever a manufacturer thinks it's worth including in the tag.

According to this article you use Google's "Find My Device" app to find tags, not the manufacturer's app. Google's app needs to support UWB tags and display appropriate direction finding UI. Like Apple's has for years.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#27

Ironically, yesterday my wife couldn't find her phone while we were at a restaurant. Is it at home? Well, let's try this. Google it, go to http://android.com/find Ah, but it only shows devices logged into my account. Well, let's log into hers. Which required 2FA from... her device. Sooo useful.

Yeah, this seems like such an incredibly obvious oversight. Like... I know how it goes with fuzzy requirements, but who didn't nail down the acceptance criteria that the user should be able to trigger Find My Phone without 2FA.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#29
post #5
post #3

I love my Tile(s), but since the AirTag and now Android networks now feature the same capability, I feel their model is dead in the water since they don't own the platform and can't compete on the installed base. They should have sold out (edit: to a mobile platform company, either Google or Apple) while they had the chance.

Agreed. I bought a couple Tiles before AirTags were available. They worked fine, but AirTags are just better in every way.

AirTags only come in a single size and shape that only makes sense for larger container objects. Tile makes a flat credit-card sized variant that you can slide in your wallet, and the adapters required to put an AirTag on a keychain is pretty ridiculous in comparison to the tiny variants you can get from Tile with a built-in hole for this purpose.

(Also: AFAIK the "large"--not really, in comparison to the AirTag + adapter, lol--Tile Pro variants have a noticeably longer range than AirTags.) Honestly, the only thing, to me, missing from Tile is the direction arrow finder, which is certainly useful, and yet... the speakers on the Tile are much much better so it just doesn't matter so much?

(BTW: it is extremely stupid that that arrow only works in two directions. I waste so much time following the arrow only to realize I need to go upstairs -- I live in a two story apartment with a bedroom and an office above my kitchen and living room: it isn't larger than my friends's apartments, but it is really nice having two floors -- that I am only doing because the sound isn't loud enough on AirTags.)

Frankly, the whole argument for AirTags being inherently better is merely that they have a "bigger network", but for most of my objects I am not scavenging around town looking for then, nor am I ever going to be chasing some thief around the city in my car looking to steal it back, hoping to catch up to them before they disable or throw out the tracker... that vigilante justice idea associated with this product category is just a crazy pipe dream.

Instead, I am pretty much always just trying to figure out which pair of pants I left my wallet in today, or on which shelf I left my keys: I would actually be much happier with a purely local product that only responded to encrypted pings from my personal phone and only even did that when I actively ask it to (as despite using both Tile and AirTags for years now the "you left your item behind" notifications have only happened before I myself noticed once or twice in a way which was helpful... it just doesn't ping often enough, with either product, to be maximally useful).

And looking at the replies to this, I have learned AirTags are actually missing what is to me a glorious feature of Tile: that I can push a button on my keys and find my phone in reverse. I hadn't noticed this lack before as I am only using AirTags in large objects I don't keep on my person (which makes their notifications really annoying as the UI fails to eat old ones even when I walk back to my object... this seems very fixable), but I don't want to have to buy an Apple Watch just to have a way to find my phone :/.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#30
post #3

I love my Tile(s), but since the AirTag and now Android networks now feature the same capability, I feel their model is dead in the water since they don't own the platform and can't compete on the installed base. They should have sold out (edit: to a mobile platform company, either Google or Apple) while they had the chance.

So Airtags work with android now?

No, the AirTag ecosystem and Google Find My ecosystem are still separate things. Google and Apple did cooperate to standardize stalker detection though, so your iPhone will alert you if you have an unknown Google tag following you, or vice versa if your Android phone notices an unknown AirTag.
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