You dreamed of it! AirTags, like those from Apple, but dedicated to Google products, will be launched soon. The Mountain View giant confirmed this in her blog this April 8: “Starting in May, you will be able to locate everyday objects like your keys, your wallet or your luggage with Bluetooth tracking beacons.” Thus, by developing its network Find My Device (Find my device), Google promises, thanks to the billion Android products in service, to help you find all your lost Android devices or everyday objects.
Like Apple three years ago
This is an announcement that has been long overdue. Three years almost to the day after the arrival of Apple AirTags, Google formalized the launch of small tags to attach to your belongings and objects (bag, keys, luggage, bicycle, etc.) to easily find them in the event of loss or misuse. flight.
The principle is the same as with the Apple competitor. It is that of an immense network of anonymized products (smartphones, tablets, but also connected products for the Nest home) which, by communicating with each other by triangulation, make it possible to locate a beacon or a compatible device (Android 9 +), via Bluetooth, and declared lost by its owner or user.
But unlike Apple which developed its own beacons, Google relies on partners: Chipolo and Pebblebee initially, from May; then eufy, Jio, and Motorola in a second. So many specialists in location or telephony. Later, updates to JBL and Sony headphones should make these devices compatible with “Find My Device”.
For their part, owners of Samsung smartphones could already rely on the manufacturer’s SmartTag 2, which offers similar functions, but with a network necessarily less developed than that promised by Google.
And good news for owners of Google Pixels 8 and 8Pro: these smartphones can be located even when turned off, even if their battery is discharged, even offline. Their secret? A specially allocated “energy reserve” will allow them to emit a signal. Google finally wants to be reassuring about this immense network ready to be born, affirming that all data exchanged between products during a search is encrypted. “This includes end-to-end encryption of location data as well as aggregated device location reporting, a first-of-its-kind security feature that provides additional protection against unwanted tracking to a home or private location,” explains Google on his blog.
Bad news though. The implementation of the “Find my device” and “Find nearby” functions (for devices lost at home, but which, dizzy as we are, we cannot find, even if they are a few meters away) will not be first offered only in the United States and Canada. Google is not yet talking about launching its participatory network on the Old Continent. Things could go faster than expected. On its French sitethe manufacturer of Chipolo compatible beacons is already announcing its first shipments from May 27.