As we push onward into 2024, we continue to learn more about what Google is working on for the release of both Android 15 and the Pixel 9 lineup. It feels like exciting times for Android fans and Google fans especially, having recently learned that Google is working on a new Adaptive Touch feature for the Pixel 9. If that isn’t enough for you, we’re also learning about Google’s yet-to-be-launched Find My Device network and what it will offer later this year.
Thanks to information provided by Mishaal Rahman, it is detailed that Pixel owners in the near future will be able to use the Find My Device network to locate their Pixel devices, even if the device is powered off. Expected to launch on the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro, then make its way to older supported Pixel devices like the Pixel 8 lineup, the feature is reported to launch as part of Android 15.
Rahman does a fantastic job of explaining how the feature works even without power. As we already knew thanks to Google, the Find My Device network utilizes Bluetooth beacons to ping devices around each other. In the case of devices that are powered off, a setting called “Powered Off Finding” allows a device to store precomputed Bluetooth beacons in the memory of the Bluetooth controller. This allows it to broadcast said beacons to nearby devices, even if its powered off.
Naturally, this isn’t the type of feature that any Android device can simply switch on, as it’s a magical mixture of both hardware and software needed to make it work. In further digging, it was discovered that phones such as the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will be supported, but the Pixel Fold may not be. It’s not yet official which devices this feature may come to.
This may not be something you use often, but it has the potential to be a very useful feature.
