After several delays, Google finally rolled out its upgraded Find My Device network earlier this year. However, in our testing of the new Chipolo One trackers, we found the network to be a bit unreliable. Google seems to be aware of this and is working on some improvements.
In a statement to Mishaal Rahman, a Google spokesperson had this to say:
We are actively working to roll out enhancements to how the Find My Device network operates that will improve the speed and ability of locating lost items over the coming weeks. Devices are continuing to join the new Find My Device network, and we expect the network to grow, which will also help improve lost device findability. We encourage Bluetooth tag owners to change their Find My Device network settings to ‘With network in all areas’ to help improve the network’s ability to find their lost items in lower-traffic areas.
If you’ve bought one of the new Chipolo or Pebblebee trackers and have noticed that the tracker’s location doesn’t update often, you can enable the setting mentioned above by navigating to the ‘Find your offline devices’ option in the Find My Device section of the Security & privacy settings. You shouldn’t expect to see a dramatic improvement, though, until Google releases the promised network enhancements.
If you haven’t purchased a tracker that works with Google’s updated Find My Device network, consider the new Moto Tag. It features a built-in UWB chip that can communicate with other UWB devices for precise location tracking. Despite the similar price point, the Bluetooth trackers from Chipolo and Pebblebee lack this feature.