Google might be working on a feature that could work in a similar fashion to Apple’s Find My app that can track lost or stolen products to help the user to find the same
Apple’s Find My Network is a great tool for users who might be prone to losing their precious tech products or tools that might be important to them. The feature usually allows users to track a specific product that they might be unable to find and, with this feature, most users save a lot of time that would go wasted on searching for the specific product or tool.
Now, it seems Google could be working on a crowdsourced network that can locate Google’s products or Android products, much like Android’s offering. It seems that the ability will allow users of Android smartphones and Android products to locate their handset in case it is lost or stolen in some instance.
This speculation has arisen due to a code that was spotted within the newest version of the company’s Google Play Services. The reports hint that Google could make use of the Google Play Services present on Android devices to create this network and enable it to do the task of location tracking.
What Does the Code Mention
The code was first spotted by XDA Developers in Google Play Services version 21.24.13 that was rolled out for beta users back on Thursday. It was found to contain strings that had a mention of the name and functionality of the upcoming feature.
The strings have the name mentioned as Find My Device network and its description states that it allows your phone to locate your and other people’s devices. This capability however will be limited to a particular user account and the associated devices.
Do note that with this same idea, the ability will also let users track other smart devices, much like how Apple does via its Find My network for the new AirTags. This is quite good as this could help the Android Ecosystem benefit from tracking and location related privileges in terms a device is either stolen or lost.
To add to all of this, it could also hint at the possibility of a smart tag from Google, given as to how Apple and Samsung already have their offerings and OnePlus is tipped to do the same, a Google Smart Tag could be something that we get to see in the upcoming months, if not by next year.
