Google’s expanded Find My Device network might arrive in a few days
Google’s expanded Find My Device network might arrive in a few days
Google’s new network works like Apple’s Find My setup on iPhones.
I can't wait to turn that shit off.
Google was already building a huge database with the locations of all the WiFi and Bluetooth devices at given times that they could. That's how the high-resolution location services they use work.
Bluetooth and WiFi radios broadcast unique IDs. Google has any Android phones in the area tell them signal strengths and location, which is sufficient not just to locate the phone sending them the data, but also all those devices. And due to how those IDs are allocated, they can identify device types, data-mine that.
Google already knows what Bluetooth devices you have and can follow them as they move and knows where and when they were powered on. Bluetooth-enabled smart TVs, Bluetooth-enabled earbuds, Bluetooth-enabled smart lightbulbs, Bluetooth-enabled keyboards, Bluetooth-enabled mice, Bluetooth-enabled game controllers, Bluetooth-enabled (or WiFi-enabled) cars. If you flipped on a Bluetooth-enabled vibrating buttplug in a hotel room that also happened to contain two Bluetooth-enabled smartphones anywhere in range of an Android device using Google Location Services -- including potentially either of the two phones themselves -- Google knows about the location and time of that incident and has logged it in their database.
They've already got that data. This is just exposing some of that data that they already have to the device owners.
Couldn't you be tracked by other phones nearby?
This time! This time it's really happening!
(maybe)
There is a much more sinister issue that Google is trying to resolve with this: it's currently possible to stalk somebody by placing a tracker fob in their bag or on their car, so long as you know the victim's device doesn't support it.
Suppose some creeper with an iPhone is stalking a victim with an Android phone. So long as they use an Apple AirTag, the victim will never know they have a tracker trailing them wherever they go. And in reverse, the issue is the same.
Apple isn't concerned about this, because they hold a monopoly in the market they care most about and can leverage this as an iPhone-only feature. After all, so long as you have an iPhone, you'll be warned about an AirTag you don't own following you. Apple wants to leverage this as an exclusive safety feature and have no intention of allowing other devices to do the same.
Apologies for providing this background as I know that this goes against the circle jerk of accusing Google of infringing our privacy. Feel free to disregard this context of it being beneficial to our collective privacy.
This is not correct. Android devices can detect apple's air tags and alert users when an unauthorized tag is nearby. Google delayed the launch of their network to wait for Apple to implement the same feature for Android compatible tags, which is finally coming in the next iOS update.
Android has no way of knowing if a tag is "unauthorized" because Apple does not provision access to their tag network. You could, in principle, ignore tags that you know about, but you'd have to do it by identifying it by some arbitrary hexadecimal GATT ID.
As always, Apple wants to keep it that way, because it gives a poor experience on Android.
Theoretically (and I might be wrong about this), without attempting to reverse engineer how Apple assigns these codes, there would be no to differentiate AirTags, AirPods, iPhones, etc.
Can't wait to add another tracker to the ol' keyring 😅
Am I misunderstanding, is this not that? My understanding is the this will allow you to find devices other than your phone--tablets, earbuds, etc--by triangulating the location using not just your own phone but all Android phones local enough to detect the device being sought.
Fuck their shit
I'm usually not one to kink shame but...
Cool, looks like no more Bluetooth anything for me...