How Google’s Find My Device Feature Could Soon Locate Your Phone – Even When It’s Powered Off

Google is reportedly working on a feature that will enable the Find My Device feature to work even when the concerned smartphone is turned off. This feature, similar to Apple AirTags or the Find My feature available on Apple products, is expected to be released soon and could come with the upcoming Google Pixel 8. According to a 91 Mobiles report citing reliable tipster Kuba Wojciechowski (@Za_Raczke), the feature will be called Pixel Power-off Finder and is said to be based on a massive network of all Android devices, featuring optional support or UWB, locating tags similar to Apple AirTags, and even including Google’s own tag codenamed “grogu” and others.

The source code for Android 14 which was given to OEMs registered in the Early Access Program (EAP), includes a new Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) definition called “hardware.google.bluetooth.power_off_finder”. This will help the Bluetooth chip remain active even when the phone is turned off, according to the code comments.

Apart from this, Google has also extended its Nearby Share feature to Windows. The feature allows seamless transfer between two devices, much like Apple’s Airdrop feature. Android users could share files and links with their contacts (on an Android smartphone). Later, the feature was upgraded to allow users to share files with multiple Android users near them at the same time. The feature is currently introduced in only the beta version for Windows PCs.

Google’s Find My Device and Nearby Share features are a great addition to the Android ecosystem and are sure to provide users with great convenience and comfort. It will be interesting to see how Google implements its Power-off Finder feature and how it will compare to Apple’s Find My feature.