Android Devices Are Being Auto-Enrolled in Find My Device

[eslaught]

PSA: The following email is being sent to Pixel owners

subject: Your Android devices will soon join the Find My Device network

Find My Device network is coming soon

You can use Find My Device today to locate devices when they’re connected to the internet. With the new Find My Device network, you’ll be able to locate your devices even if they’re offline. You can also find any compatible Fast Pair accessories when they’re disconnected from your device. This includes compatible earbuds and headphones, and trackers that you can attach to your wallet, keys, or bike.

To help you find your items when they’re offline, Find My Device will use the network of over a billion devices in the Android community and store your devices’ recent locations.

How it works

Devices in the network use Bluetooth to scan for nearby items. If other devices detect your items, they’ll securely send the locations where the items were detected to Find My Device. Your Android devices will do the same to help others [1] find their offline items when detected nearby.

Your devices’ locations will be encrypted using the PIN, pattern, or password for your Android devices. They can only be seen by you and those you share your devices with in Find My Device. They will not be visible to Google or used for other purposes.

You’ll get a notification on your Android devices when this feature is turned on in 3 days. Until then, you can opt out of the network [2] through Find My Device on the web. Your choice will apply to all Android devices linked to \[YOUR EMAIL\]. After the feature is on, you can manage device participation anytime through Find My Device settings on the device.

Learn more [3]

[1]: https://support.google.com/android/?p=crowdsourcing

[2]: https://www.google.com/android/find/settings/fmdn

[3]: https://support.google.com/android/?p=find_offline_devices

[hakfoo]

I got a message regarding that too, and I just have cheapo Nokia devices. I found it very confusing trying to use the opt-out link... it takes you to a page with a map asking you to opt-in or "no thanks", and if you click the latter, it takes you to documentation explaining how the find-the-device scheme is supposed to work, but does not clearly indicate if you're opted out or with an obvious button labelled something "opt-out" related. I turned the feature off on my device, but somewhere there's probably the ghost of my old dead phones now trying desperately to call home.

[exmadscientist → hakfoo]

I had the same (awful) experience, but I'm also on an ancient Nokia. That may be a common denominator?

[eslaught]

I wanted to post this because I didn't see any discussion in the original blog post [1] about the actual privacy and security implications of Find My Device. In particular:

1. I usually have Bluetooth turned off on my phone for security reasons, will this respect that?

2. While Google tells us that the information will be encrypted, it seems to me that having your phone constantly pinging on Bluetooth (if this cannot be disabled per #1) is still a security/privacy leak in some situations, and something users should be aware of.

At any rate, I wanted to see this get more discussion before it goes live on a bunch of devices.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39971673

[lioeters]

> Find My Device will use the network of over a billion devices in the Android community and store your devices’ recent locations.. This feature is turned on in 3 days. Until then, you can opt out of the network through Find My Device on the web

That sounds like some horrific malware-like behavior.

[al_borland]

Apple has had this for several years and it has been quite a nice feature. That said, I don't trust Google with it. I assume they'd use it to better target ads, despite it saying otherwise in the post. They like to bait and switch.

I'm surprised they didn't pick a more unique name, considering Apple's feature is called "Find My". It seems like it will lead to people assuming interoperability between Apple and Google Find My networks.

[ikari_pl]

That wouldn't cause me to panic yet. What caused me to panic was that Find My Device triggered itself on my phone (while I was silent, in my room, phone in the pocket) today, and I have no idea why. Google activity history does not say I've triggered it (It didn't interpret dog barking somewhere as "OK Google, where's my phone" apparently). So, is it a misclick when releasing a forced feature, or am I already hacked? :)

(Pixel Fold)

[solardev]

Does this mean they'll finally make something like Airtags? That's the only thing I miss from the ios ecosystem.

[satvikpendem]

Good, opt-in for these sorts of network effects based use cases never works. Apple doesn't have theirs opt-in for this very reason too.

[lobito14]

I don't trust google to store a photo of my dog, imagine storing my location...

They're crooks.

[steelframe]

Just a reminder that you can install GrapheneOS on a Pixel from your web browser.

https://grapheneos.org/install/web

[OutOfHere → steelframe]

Is it necessary to use a Google device (Pixel) to install it? I don't feel comfortable relying on a Google device for it.

[BenjiWiebe → OutOfHere]

Google Pixels are actually easier to install your choice of software on than most other phones. As well as not being locked to one carrier (or only having one carrier's worth of frequency bands) like so many phones.

[OutOfHere → BenjiWiebe]

The carrier argument is bogus because other companies, e.g. Samsung, also sell unlocked phones.