The Find My Device network locates devices by harnessing the Bluetooth proximity of surrounding Android devices.Imagine you drop your keys at a cafe. The keys themselves have no location capabilities, but they may have a Bluetooth tag attached. Nearby Android devices participating in the Find My Device network report the location of the Bluetooth tag.When the owner realizes they have lost their keys and logs into the Find My Device mobile app, they will be able to see the aggregated location contributed by nearby Android devices and locate their keys.
Interesting, it's a mesh network. Not sure why they call it "crowdsourced device-locating network". More friendly for normies?
I can see this being useful but I am also worried about implications further down the road like people getting used to it and not caring how it's implemented anymore (assuming they would even care now).
Also, I understand that with "even if it's offline", they mean it's Bluetooth which is independent of internet access but does this mean you can't disable Bluetooth anymore?
What also confused me is this as mentioned in #499445:
thanks to specialized Pixel hardware, Pixel 8 and 8 Pro owners will also be able to find their devices if they’re powered off or the battery is dead.
How does this not need a battery? Did they include a dedicated battery similar to "CMOS batteries"?
I think this is another prime example of consumer tech that is at risk to be abused by anyone but especially state actors. The other prime example is the Internet of Things.
Thinking more about this, this might be the Internet of Things but instead of things it's phones running Android and instead of internet it uses Near-me area networks.