"Android's 'Find My Device' Feature Now Allows for Person Tracking"
Revamped Find My Device App Simplifies Location Sharing
The updated Find My Device app for Android is now divided into two sections: Devices and People. This new setup makes coordinating meet-ups with friends or ensuring the safety of your kids seamless.
Preinstalled on Pixels, this free app can also be downloaded on other Android devices. Despite the lack of an iPhone app, you can still monitor the real-time locations of your contacts using iPhones — we'll dive into that later.
Last year, the Find My Device tool underwent a significant overhaul, offering a multitude of features to make it more helpful. While it initially displayed Android devices on a map when lost or stolen, the latest version introduced several enhancements.
No longer do you need your phone to be on and connected to wifi to track it down; the 2024 improvements employ millions of Android gadgets to securely and anonymously locate lost devices. Moreover, third-party Bluetooth trackers are now supported, and recent Pixels can be traced even when powered off.
Located devices can be made to emit a sound to help find them, or you can lock them remotely and even erase their data to safeguard your information. Check out the original version for details on these features.
The latest addition to this improved roster is the People tab: Trusted contacts can allow you to see their locations on a map, and you can reciprocate by sharing your own whereabouts. Although this functionality is already integrated into Google Maps, the People tab provides an additional screen to access it from.
To use the People tab, launch Find My Device on your phone and find the new People tab marked with a Beta label. The location sharing feature is powered by Google Maps, explained by the map sticker on display.
If you've already enabled location sharing through Google Maps, you'll see your contacts listed with their current locations shown on the map. Tapping the (+) button lets you share your location with someone new, with default settings allowing sharing for an hour. However, you can modify this by changing it to Today only, Until you turn this off, or a Custom duration.
After selecting a contact or generating a link, the other person will be able to see your phone's location for the specified duration, along with the device's battery level. They can also opt to share their location in return (but it's not mandatory).
For those unfamiliar, location sharing in Google Maps can be accessed via the Google Maps app by tapping your profile picture (top right) then Location sharing. This allows contacts with iPhones to be included as well, provided they have Google Maps installed.
Navigating Find My Device, tap on any contact in your list to see their location on the map. The next screen then provides directions to their location (via Google Maps, naturally) and enables you to cease sharing your location with them. Tapping the three dots next to a name lets you hide them from the map if you prefer to check up on them only occasionally.
Accessing Find My Device via a web browser presents the same Devices and People tabs, although new contacts can't be added using the web app. As always, control over who can see your location and for how long remains in your hands, potentially making it a preferable choice compared to location sharing tools offered in apps like WhatsApp.
- With the updated Find My Device app on Android, you can now track the real-time locations of your contacts, even if they use iPhones, utilizing Google Maps for location sharing.
- The advent of the People tab within Find My Device simplifies location sharing, allowing trusted contacts to view your location and you to view theirs, offering an alternative screen to access this feature from Google Maps.
- Initially, the Find My Device tool existed predominantly as a device locator, but it has since evolved to support location sharing functionality, providing enhanced tools for coordinating meet-ups or ensuring the safety of your loved ones.
