Google Find My Device feature will soon work with phones turned off: report

Google is reportedly working on a feature that will allow the Find My Device function to work even when the smartphone in question is turned off. This feature is similar to Apple AirTags or Find My. The report suggests that the Mountain View-based tech giant plans to release the feature soon. While it is not certain whether the feature will be supported on existing Pixel devices or their modifications, it is assumed that the Pixel 8 model will launch with support for this alleged feature.

According to a report from 91 Mobiles quoting reliable tipster Kuba Wojciechowski (@Za_Raczke), the feature will be called Pixel Power-off Finder at least on Google’s Pixel devices. According to the report, the company is working to create a large network of all Android devices, with optional or UWB support, localization tags similar to Apple AirTags, and even the inclusion of Google’s own tag. codenamed “grogu” and others. Google is believed to have provided early source code for Android 14 to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) enrolled in the Early Access Program (EAP).

Apparently a new Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) definition called “hardware.google.bluetooth.power_off_finder” is included in the source code. The precomputed Finger Network keys will be transferred to the device’s Bluetooth chip, which will help the chip remain active even when the phone is turned off, according to code comments, the report adds. The operation is quite similar to what the Find My feature of iPhones does.

Google also recently extended its Nearby Share feature to Windows PC devices. The feature was already available on Android phones and Chromebooks. It allows seamless transfer between two devices, much like Apple’s Airdrop feature.

To use Nearby Share, both devices sharing and receiving a file must be signed into the same Google Account to automatically accept file transfers. Previously, Android users could only share files and links with their contacts (on an Android smartphone). With a later upgrade, users were able to share files with multiple nearby Android users at the same time. The feature is currently only introduced in the beta for Windows PCs.

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