When I’m not being ridiculed for my futile opposition to free chargers, you might find me ranting about Google giving the shaft to consumers with the dying feature or cockamamie advertising technique of the day. It’s good to reach common ground, and I find reassuring support from readers who also complain about Android’s struggle to compete with AirTags.
But those days are behind us. I’m excited to confirm what 9to5Google’s Ben Schoon revealed after traveling to CES 2025. You can now successfully and easily use the Find My Device network with Android-compatible Bluetooth trackers, and we couldn’t be happier.
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Since Google’s tracker network showed widespread signs of life several weeks ago, we’ve seen feedback from average users, enthusiasts, other pundits, and industry figures hinting at what was coming. I refuse to get my hopes up because I’ve been burned before.
Not this time. After getting the assignment, I went for a late-night dog walk, activated airplane mode, and periodically disabled the paired Pebblebee trackers I carried. They checked in multiple times during a short, 45-minute jaunt through the neighborhood. It was 2 AM, and the city streets weren’t flooded with phone users.
Further testing revealed that the Pebblebee Clip, Card, and Tag Universal now work very well. I never noticed updates lagging more than an hour behind, and the locations the app suggested were no bigger than a single street corner. A neighbor’s device pinged two of my trackers and updated their locations from “last seen 45 minutes ago across the street” to where I sat at home with my phone in airplane mode.
Traveling to lower-traffic areas didn’t ruin it, either. Pings came as quickly outside a suburban shopping center as they did in a dense metropolitan area. I slid a spare SIM card into my iPhone, and it sent me an unknown tracker warning to alert me to the Google device’s presence. Success.
Find My Device’s long-awaited moment in the sun
It would’ve happened the same if I had been patient
Finding your Find My Device settings, including the all-important opt-in setting.
The network experienced repeated setbacks leading up to its launch. At one point, it actively decided to hold back Find My Device’s launch explicitly to wait on Apple. That’s one reason the lackluster performance disappointed everybody. The most obvious factor was the default In high-traffic areas setting compared to the opt-in nature of the In all areas toggle.
By default, FMD requires multiple phones to detect a tracker’s existence. Then, it aggregates the pings and sends the owner a likely location. The low prevalence of required pings and the imprecise nature of location aggregation sets the network up for early trouble.
One setting might explain most of the performance bump, but more happens behind the scenes. A different and more useful tool than at launch. It’s like someone switched on the lights at Find My Device headquarters. But as a Google representative explained to Android Police, they’ve been tweaking it this whole time:
We recently rolled out enhancements to the Find My Device network that improved locating lost items. From early feedback, users are seeing an improved device locating experience. The network is also continuing to grow, with a crowdsourced network of over a billion Android devices and counting, which also helps improve lost device findability. We are continuously improving the Find My Device network to provide a better experience for users worldwide.
For our part, we plan to continue ongoing testing and will expand it to new models when available. But the current takeaway is that, in some environments, Pebblebee’s Android Find My Device trackers work as well as AirTags or better. That’s a refreshing sentence to write.
The future of Android device tracking
The industry-leading Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones have FMD connectivity built in.
Mr. Schoon’s Las Vegas revelation, increasing numbers of satisfied users, and a touch of prodding from the professionals led to this long-hoped-for update. But it doesn’t end here. The network will likely get high-precision UWB tracking for AR-assisted finding at some point. Google is still working on new Android Find My Device features, and if those can improve a fraction of the amount basic functionality has, AirTags had better watch out.
We’re always making enhancements to the Find My Device network, raising the bar for the industry on safety protections against unwanted tracking while balancing user experience with accurate device finding. — A Google spokesperson
We have updates coming to some FMD tracker reviews and showdowns. We stand by our (industry- and user-corroborated) reports that Chipolo trackers don’t usually work as well as Pebblebee’s. However, Google aims to provide users in every market with a consistent experience across tracker brands and models, which hints at a good trajectory.
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At the very least, Google has followed through on its promise, such as implementing Android-wide unknown tracker protection that spans the entire operating system. That way, people who don’t use trackers can manage their Find My Device privacy without digging through additional apps.
The smartphone and tablet interfaces are getting biometric unlocking and a landscape-orientation-friendly layout. Android’s Find My Device Network outlook has done something close to a 180 over the last several months.
The current state of Bluetooth tracker hardware
Remember when Google planned to launch its own?
Source: Justin Ward / Android Police
Samsung users in certain regions, like the US, won’t have much reason to ditch the Galaxy smart tags until the day Samsung loses its massive market advantage. But there’s no more categorical reason to avoid these third-party gadgets. Maybe that means we’ll see more of them because Pebblebee’s typically outperforms Chipolo’s, and the Moto Tag (which we’re about to test) is the only other game in town.
For its part, Pebblebee is also going all-in on FMD. It abandoned its proprietary network with the Universal tag launch, announcing a new tracking ethos at CES 2025. The evolved stance includes the Link platform, which makes it easy to affix a digital copy of ownership details to items that, according to Pebblebee, “don’t need constant monitoring.”
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Pebblebee is streamlining Link’s setup and how manufacturers can integrate secure, digital personal details into their products using the LinkUp enterprise functionality. It also unveiled a pair of tiny, implantable (in electronics, not people, we think) tracker modules called the Plate and Pin, developed to make Find My Device integration a breeze for device designers.
A small selection of trackers, for now
With more somewhere in the works
Until new, advanced features spring up, the Pebblebee Universal lineup will satisfy most users. Its three form factors meet most needs, and tracking works fantastically. They’re lightweight, low-cost, understated gadgets with straightforward operation and long-lasting, rechargeable batteries, although their IPX6 rating leaves a bit to be desired.
We’ve seen anecdotal evidence that the Moto Tag could perform even better, and we’ll share the details when it emerges from Android Police’s testing. A more durable, AirTag-like design makes it a good Pebblebee alternative if it tracks effectively.
The current (sparse) competition
It’s mostly Samsung vs. Pebblebee at the moment.
Something still prevents Chipolo’s Android trackers from working as well as the competition. Eufy pushed back its launch announcement so many times that it’s probably never coming. A small company called Rolling Square indicates that its new card and keychain Bluetooth trackers will ship sometime this month. Upcoming trackers from Rolling Square, the company behind the Tau 2 keychain emergency power bank, boast futuristic-looking bodies and powerful design considerations that should make them the most durable smart tags, if nothing else.
Read our review
Apple’s excellent AirTags remind us how hard Google has to work to catch up
Apple’s AirTags are the best-in-class
Tile and Pebblebee compete for the most versatile Android Bluetooth tracking solutions for non-Samsung users. Despite the scant selection, Find My Device appears to have found its future. Unknown tracker protection does what it says now. FMD trackers (from Pebblebee, at least) deliver precise, timely locations in metropolitan and suburban settings during the day and (mostly) at night. And the promise of expanded features still looms.
The winning conclusion of a confusing chapter
Hey, Google, write the devs a note saying, ‘Thanks’
With the tumultuous Find My Device beginning behind us, Google will maintain its implementation and FMD availability in high-end smartphones like the OnePlus 13. Third-party manufacturers will continue to develop interesting form factors. The two parties will hopefully work together to enable new features like location history and left behind notifications. Meanwhile, consumers will benefit from the ultra-useful Android software tools that it didn’t steal from Apple.