Location-based theft prevention is gaining ground in the plans of tech giants. Thus, the new feature from Google will make device thieves not want to leave you without your Android phone.
Both Samsung and Apple already have their own tracking devices, which are SmartTag and AirTag respectively. Although the two companies are competitors, their trackers also have one thing in common. Devices use a network they are part of to track and locate lost tags or other devices.
A teardown of an APK suggests that Google is working on a similar network to locate lost things, including phones. Drilling down this app has managed to reveal the hidden code, which was found in the latest version of Google Play Services 21.24.13 on its beta channel.
Your Android phone is more secure now
While the first message says "let your phone help you locate your and other people's devices", the second message says "find my device's network". It's not hard to imagine that this suggests that Gogole will use all Android devices on Google Play Services to help locate lost or stolen Android phones that don't have a data connection.
So the wording of the first line shows that absolutely anyone who enables the "Find my device" function will also be required to enable tracking for other lost devices and more. None of this is concrete at the moment, so it may change with the actual launch of the Find My Device network, should it ever be launched.
Until that time, which is not a safe one, it is recommended that you pay extra attention to the Android devices you have, so that an option to take care of your phone will not necessarily be necessary.