Find My Device app adds a “compass” to help you find trackers

Google’s implementation of the Find My Device network has been a little less than ideal, but things should improve over time. One of the much-anticipated additions to Find My Device is support for UWB trackers, which the app is apparently preparing for by adding a “compass.”

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About APK Insight: In this APK Insight post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an app that Google has uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs in the case of Android apps), we can see various lines of code that suggest possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever deliver these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. However, we’ll try to include the ones that are closer to completion to show what they’ll look like if they do. With that in mind, read on.

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In the latest version of the Find My Device app for Android, v3.1.148, Google has laid the groundwork for a new “compass” feature in the app. The strings of characters show that the app will guide you to find your device with messages like “Turn left,” “Turn right,” and “Device is behind you.”

It can be assumed that this feature will be used in UWB trackers, alongside the augmented reality functionality that we reported on a few months ago.

• The device is behind you
• Use the compass to find your device.
• Turn left
• Turn right

Alternatively, the language and strings here leave the door open for this to be an improvement on the existing tracker search functionality. The Find My Device app already has a UI that helps narrow down where a regular Bluetooth tracker is, but it’s pretty limited. In theory, this could be a more advanced version, but it’s much more likely to be used on UWB-equipped trackers.

Unfortunately, even during our testing with Moto Tag, this functionality was not yet fully available.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler which is used by some APK Insight disassemblers.

More about Find My Device:

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