Summary
- Google has added two new features to Android’s unknown tracker alerts to enhance user safety.
- The new tools let users pause their device from updating its location with Bluetooth trackers for 24 hours and find an unwanted Bluetooth tracker traveling with them.
- In May, Apple and Google announced a collaboration effort to combat unwanted Bluetooth location trackers on both their smartphone operating systems.
Bluetooth trackers help us keep track of day-to-day items we tend to set down and lose occasionally, like car keys or a wallet. While a useful piece of technology for most, these devices can be used maliciously in the hands of the wrong people. That’s why Google and Apple have both integrated an alert into their smartphone operating systems to notify users of unwanted Bluetooth trackers. Now, Google is taking it one step further.
Google has announced it’s adding two new abilities to its unknown tracker alerts on Android. The first is “Temporarily Pause location,” which blocks your phone from updating its location with Bluetooth trackers for 24 hours. The second is “Find Nearby,” which helps you pinpoint and find where the unknown Bluetooth tracker is. The new tools only work with Find My Device compatible Bluetooth tags.
“Your safety is our priority, so we’re continuously improving unknown tracker alerts to help you stay ahead of unwanted tracking,” Google said in a blog post.
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Similar to Apple’s Find My network, Google’s long-anticipated crowdsourced tracking network makes finding your valuables a far less cumbersome task.
Google and Apple have worked together on this issue
The companies worked together to create an industry specification
In May of this year, Google and Apple announced a collaboration effort focused on an industry specification for detecting and alerting users of unwanted Bluetooth location trackers. The feature was implemented on devices with iOS 17.5 or Android 6.0 and up.
If an unknown Bluetooth tracker is detected, users on both devices will get an alert saying “[Item] Found Moving With You,” regardless of the operating system the tracker is paired with. Google’s announcement today improves its unknown track alerts thanks to its two new tools that help users block and find an unknown Bluetooth tracker traveling with them.
It’s great to see Google take further action to combat unwanted Bluetooth trackers. Apple offers a similar AirTags feature called Precision Finding, which allows users who get an unwanted tracking alert to find an unknown AirTag traveling with them in their vicinity.
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Apple’s AirTag is great for finding your missing items, but the Bluetooth tracker can also be used by nefarious individuals.
