2y ago

Google delays its upgraded Find My Device network until Apple can add safety alerts

www.theverge.com

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2y ago

Google delays its upgraded Find My Device network until Apple can add safety alerts

www.theverge.com /2023/7/27/23810052/google-find-my-device-delay-apple-unknown-tracker-alerts-stalking

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2y ago

VERGE

Google delays its upgraded Find My Device network until Apple can add safety alerts

www.theverge.com /2023/7/27/23810052/google-find-my-device-delay-apple-unknown-tracker-alerts-stalking

15 comments

Nice to see Google doing the responsible thing here, because Apple certainly didn't when AirTags were launched.
I still think having cheap, socially acceptable, easily-accessible, highly effective tracking devices with months or more of battery life is something out of dystopian fiction though. It's not good for society in the long run.
- Straight facts, I care more about my dog than I care about society.
  
  Doggy trackers on collars unite!
This is crazy. Google is delaying a competitor to Apple's network so Apple can support it better? Of course they're going to slow-walk it.
- Google should just release it's "iPhone user stalking puck" in the wild. That will light a fire under Apples ass.
Extremely frustrating, but I suppose I get it.
I'll probably get some airtags. I have an iPhone I don't use, but I've taken to carrying a bag more often when I'm out, so I guess I can just keep the iPhone in there for these sorts of things. (And hope I don't lose the bag. 😂)
- Cheap iPhone SE seems useful to have as a back up phone for stuff like that. I actually wish it was even smaller because of that.
I recoil from Apple products like a vampire does sunlight. But AirTags are awful tempting. How well do they work, really? Especially with a Pixel phone.
I don't think you get that UWB fine grained locating? If I was trying to find my keys in a large grassy field, is that feasible?
- The fact that the iPhone is so popular is what makes the airtag great imo. So many iPhones to ping off of
  
  There are more Android devices, so I'm optimistic Google's alternative could be great
- With my iPhone using the UWB tracking is a huge feature for me. The fact that it can tell you so quickly if you’re in the right general area, then which direction to get closer, then when you’re right on top of it, it’s pretty magical. I would love to see cross platform standards continue to develop out of this so we can get these features built into to everything.
- You are severely limited with what you can do with the AirTags if you don't have an iPhone. You need to pair it to an Apple account, and you don't have access to Apple's Find My Device network on Android.
  Apple's and Google's network aren't inter-operable and do not communicate with eachothers and will not transmit location data across both.
  The only thing the Android device will be able to do with it is report the presence of an AirTags without a connection to its paired iOS device in the vicinity as an anti-stalking feature, make it ring to facilitate its discovery and the ability to scan it's builtin NFC tag to read the owner info.
- I have a few air tags tied to my work iPhone. My main phone is a pixel and I didn't even realize you could connect them together. As soon as you open an air tag near an iPhone you get a little pop up prompting you to set it up and off you go. They only update location when they come within range of a new iPhone but that's pretty constant anymore.
  My daughter is on the spectrum and I have one in her bookbag. It's cool sometimes being able to watch her bus ride to and from school as she passes by different phones 😂

15 comments