The newest beta of the Google Play Services app revealed that the company might be working on its own «Find My Device» network.<\/b>
\nWith the release of Apple\u2019s AirTags, we\u2019ve all seen just how powerful and useful the company\u2019s Find My network can be to find misplaced items around our homes or lost items out in the world. Google apparently also took notice and appears to be cooking up its own version of the network for Android devices. In recent days, XDA Developers did an APK teardown of the latest beta version of Google Play Services and noticed references to a possible Google \u201cFind My Device\u201d network. It\u2019s not clear if that\u2019s a possible name for the network, and was referred to as the \u201cnetwork title\u201d in the code. XDA Developers also found a purported description of the Find My Device network. \u201cAllows your phone to help locate your and other people\u2019s devices,\u201d the description stated. As pointed out by the outlet, Google is the only other company that could possibly build a device tracking network as large as Apple\u2019s Find My network. Apple says that close 1 billion Apple devices are connected to Find My. In the case of AirTags, when one of those billion devices comes near an AirTag, Find My communicates the location to the owner of said AirTag in an anonymous and private way. Now, if Google wants to build a similar network, XDA Developers points out that it can utilize the Google Play Services app, which is on nearly every Android device. Google Play Services is used to update Google apps and apps from the Google Play store. In addition, Google states the app provides services such as authentication, synchronized contacts, access to the latest user privacy settings, and higher quality, lower-powered location-based services. That\u2019s not to say that Google doesn\u2019t already offer users a way to find their lost devices. It has the Google Find My Device app in the Play Store, but this app can only find phones, tablets, or watches that are logged into your Google account. According to XDA Developers, if Google does indeed create its own Find My Device network, this will presumably give Android users the ability to help other users locate their devices, as Apple\u2019s Find My network does now. This concept was spotted in the latest beta of Google Play Services, so it\u2019s not by any means a done deal. We\u2019ll have to wait and see. Nonetheless, just the indication that Google is working on this is a good thing for those of us who lose devices. If the worst does happen, we\u2019ll have more chances to find them.<\/p>\n