When Google unveiled its Find My Device network – Android’s riff on Apple’s Find My network – one Pixel 8-exclusive feature caught the eye. Even if your Google Pixel 8 is switched off, or its battery has died, it can be found on the network. Now Google has revealed a few more details about the feature – and it already sounds a lot less impressive.
On its official support page, under ‘Step 4: Find offline devices and devices without power’ Google explains that there are a handful of caveats to finding these devices.
We already knew that the feature currently only supports two devices – the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro – but Google adds that you must also turn the setting on. By default it’s set to work ‘With network in high-traffic areas only’ – which means that offline devices can be found with “their encrypted recent locations or the network in areas like airports or busy footpaths.”
You also have the option to set it to be found ‘With network in all areas’ no matter how busy they are, or ‘Without Network’, so that you only use the device’s last known location, or you can switch the setting off. Though those last two won’t update if your device is offline.
Google adds that when your device is switched off or shuts down you must also have both the Location and Bluetooth settings turned on – if they aren’t then you can’t rely on the Find My Device network to locate it.
Lastly, this offline option has a time limit, which Google says is “several hours.” So if you do need to rely on the Find My Device network to locate an offline device you’ll want to act fairly quickly, as accurate location data won’t be available forever.
Disappointing, but not unexpected
A lot of these specifics do make sense – they just make Google’s seemingly magical offline device-finding feature a little less special. And it’s worth keeping them in mind if you’re hoping the feature would mean you’d never lose your phone ever again.
There is one silver lining, in that Google’s page mentions “supported devices”, suggesting other Find My Network-compatible devices could get the offline feature too – though most likely these would be upcoming handsets like the Google Pixel 9 or Samsung Galaxy S25.
You can still use the network with other devices; they just won’t benefit from offline tracking. To turn it on go to your Settings app > Google > All Services > Find My Device. You’ll also need to turn on your Location setting.
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