I just checked. My phone was set to the third option (for high traffic areas only), so selected the forth option. I'm in Australia. Samsung S22. Thanks for pointing out that setting.
This is why all of these companies need to get together and make one gigantic network which includes every Internet connected device with Bluetooth and GPS capability, or if the device is stationary and is at a known location.
@@digiblurDIY Well, the Amazon sidewalk network is pretty good because there are so many compatible Amazon and Ring devices, I'd say it's about as strong if not stronger than the Apple find my network. I am surprised that Google can't put together a Find My network, at least somewhat. There are so many more Android devices out there than Apple devices that Google's Find My network should absolutely destroy tile and Apple both, but especially tile. However, I guess that there is a huge boundary there, which is that Google doesn't have total control over android on any android devices except for ones that it makes. So other companies could just turn off the Find My network on their devices, and while there are a good amount of Google pixel devices out there, as far as I know they are not extremely popular..
The Tile device is working so much better because of the Amazon sidewalk network thing. I got a test device from Amazon that beacons position messages and it works great. The LoRa radio in the Amazon Sidewalk network has pretty amazing coverage. I believe that the LoRa radio in the Amazon sidewalk network is on the 900 MHz ISM band and has much better characteristics just because of the spectrum vs. 2.4GHz for BLE + the LoRa modulation scheme is really optimized for long links (and low bandwidth) which gives it amazing range. Very interesting comparison that you did, thanks for doing the experiment.
@@digiblurDIY It's a battery powered "puck" shaped thing, about 55mm X 30mm X 18mm. It's branded "Ring" and has a single blue LED, with 3 contacts on the back that mate with the little charging cradle. The cradle has a magnet in it that grabs the puck and it charges via a USB A plug. I drove around with in my car and looked at the dashboard and it really is quite amazing what the range of the LoRa radio is. The device itself has a GPS receiver in it that it uses to report location. Now, I think the Tile device may only do BLE, but based on the reporting I saw with my device there are a lot of sidewalk-capable products out there. I wonder if future Tile devices will have LoRa in them? I suppose you'd need to place a bet based on the future of the Sidewalk network/service offered by Amazon.
Exactly! As I tested it with one and two phones on the 4th option and it still didn't report. It wasn't until they got to a shopping center that it reported a ping.
Nothing Phone (1), I do have the last option set as default. This was rolled out by Google Globally via Play Store Services update but it was staged rollout so not everyone might have it yet. I personally received an email saying that my device is now part of "Find my device" network couple months ago.
This release has been terrible. 1) No UWB(not a huge deal). 2) Opt in rather then opt out. 3) The recommended option only tracks in busy areas. WTF? They should have started enabling tracking before these tags came out. All the bad reviews are probably going to make roll out even slower.
Yeah UWB isn't a big deal to me either. I see Motorola has one coming but with the Play Sound, signal strength screens, and LEDs... And even it showing which Google speaker it is near in the home is cool. Totally agree on the busy area default only deal. The vast majority of people aren't going to change that! Such a dumb decision. I even changed two of our phones to that and sent the tracker off with them. Nadda.. Nope. It wasn't until they got to a shopping center and maybe a third phone picked it up? But I only got one ping from it. The slow rollout is killing them. They need to fix this and change the default setting.
@@digiblurDIY Like you I'm in a rural area so as things are currently this isn't much better then the way I've been doing it for years just tracking RSSI with an app.
Nice to see Samsung checking in! I have checked a lot of Samsungs in the past few weeks as that is what a lot of Android people seem to have. None of them had it except one.
@@digiblurDIY It was kind of weird at first because I had to look deeper for "Find my Device". At least on my version, you will see "Find my Mobile" first which is a Samsung app and completely different. I found the Android "Find my Device" from Settings > Google (Google Services) > Under Recommended "Find my Device". Alternatively, I also used the Lens search option under Settings.
Apple still has a failure with airtags, they don't let your Apple Family be treated as owners. If my daughter takes our dog on a long walk, her phone tells her she's being followed. I have the item location shared with her, but that's not good enough either.
I have the option on my Pixel 6 pro and 8 pro. I've played with the Chipolo One tags and similar lack luster results. I think the big issue is the defaults in Android as Google says they're trying to respect privacy?
yeah I don't buy that really given it scans for tags that aren't yours which does work but it won't report just with a single phone or two either even with the 4th option enabled. It is really weird. They have some major issues to work out.
@@digiblurDIY Yes, they do. I am keeping one in my kids backpack and lunch box because always misplacing them. I'll keep checking it over the year and see if anything improves over time. I wonder if I can use the beacon in HA for detecting when my kids are away/home from school.
Find My Mobile on Samsung Galaxy S23+. Options are Allow this phone to be found, Send last location, and Offline finding. Check any. I have a couple Samsung SmartThing tags on my key fobs, a Samsung Watch, and my phone, but I don't often go anywhere, and I haven't lost any of them. When I look, they are always where I am, since I always carry both keys...
Galaxy S21 Ultra - i have that 4th option enabled, and switched to it. P.S. even if Google does something right, they kill it after several years, so don't bother with Google products. :) I rather use similar product, but from company, that relies on its product for survival, unlike Google, that can kill industries and still cope good.
FMD is not fully rolled out yet and that's why your toy test didn't work. Nice try though... It just recently got included in the Nordic SDK with BLE devices like the Nrf52840 series chips BTW. :v:🍆
Really they botched the default setting. Sadly they had months and months to roll it out timely. They have been shipping to customers for a few months as well. Definitely a screwed up rollout.
I just checked. My phone was set to the third option (for high traffic areas only), so selected the forth option. I'm in Australia. Samsung S22.
Thanks for pointing out that setting.
Glad to see it hitting other Samsungs
This is why all of these companies need to get together and make one gigantic network which includes every Internet connected device with Bluetooth and GPS capability, or if the device is stationary and is at a known location.
Yes! They just finally all got on the RCS texting game so let's do the Bluetooth tag game.
Will they be getting together on this before or after hell freezes over?
"Cat's and dogs living together. Mass hysteria!" - Ghostbusters
@jmr even Tile said they aren't doing the Google Network. I guess they are banking on the Life360 merger and Amazon Sidewalk network deal.
@@digiblurDIY Well, the Amazon sidewalk network is pretty good because there are so many compatible Amazon and Ring devices, I'd say it's about as strong if not stronger than the Apple find my network. I am surprised that Google can't put together a Find My network, at least somewhat. There are so many more Android devices out there than Apple devices that Google's Find My network should absolutely destroy tile and Apple both, but especially tile. However, I guess that there is a huge boundary there, which is that Google doesn't have total control over android on any android devices except for ones that it makes. So other companies could just turn off the Find My network on their devices, and while there are a good amount of Google pixel devices out there, as far as I know they are not extremely popular..
Google is so bad at making a cohesive product.
Yup! It could be great but they botched it.
Thanks for sharing Travis.
The Tile device is working so much better because of the Amazon sidewalk network thing. I got a test device from Amazon that beacons position messages and it works great. The LoRa radio in the Amazon Sidewalk network has pretty amazing coverage. I believe that the LoRa radio in the Amazon sidewalk network is on the 900 MHz ISM band and has much better characteristics just because of the spectrum vs. 2.4GHz for BLE + the LoRa modulation scheme is really optimized for long links (and low bandwidth) which gives it amazing range.
Very interesting comparison that you did, thanks for doing the experiment.
Oh nice! I have a sidewalk dev kit on my desk that I need to fire up and toy around with. Which one do you have?
@@digiblurDIY It's a battery powered "puck" shaped thing, about 55mm X 30mm X 18mm. It's branded "Ring" and has a single blue LED, with 3 contacts on the back that mate with the little charging cradle. The cradle has a magnet in it that grabs the puck and it charges via a USB A plug. I drove around with in my car and looked at the dashboard and it really is quite amazing what the range of the LoRa radio is. The device itself has a GPS receiver in it that it uses to report location.
Now, I think the Tile device may only do BLE, but based on the reporting I saw with my device there are a lot of sidewalk-capable products out there. I wonder if future Tile devices will have LoRa in them? I suppose you'd need to place a bet based on the future of the Sidewalk network/service offered by Amazon.
The sidewalk has been rolled out to many areas due to the lawsuit filed by Texas against GM. I will leave the rest up to the discerning reader.
Just Google things. Why wouldn't you make location tracking for 'all areas' as default for a tracking device? I don't buy their privacy reasonings.
Exactly! As I tested it with one and two phones on the 4th option and it still didn't report. It wasn't until they got to a shopping center that it reported a ping.
Nothing Phone (1), I do have the last option set as default. This was rolled out by Google Globally via Play Store Services update but it was staged rollout so not everyone might have it yet. I personally received an email saying that my device is now part of "Find my device" network couple months ago.
This release has been terrible.
1) No UWB(not a huge deal).
2) Opt in rather then opt out.
3) The recommended option only tracks in busy areas. WTF?
They should have started enabling tracking before these tags came out. All the bad reviews are probably going to make roll out even slower.
Yeah UWB isn't a big deal to me either. I see Motorola has one coming but with the Play Sound, signal strength screens, and LEDs... And even it showing which Google speaker it is near in the home is cool.
Totally agree on the busy area default only deal. The vast majority of people aren't going to change that! Such a dumb decision. I even changed two of our phones to that and sent the tracker off with them. Nadda.. Nope. It wasn't until they got to a shopping center and maybe a third phone picked it up? But I only got one ping from it.
The slow rollout is killing them. They need to fix this and change the default setting.
@@digiblurDIY Like you I'm in a rural area so as things are currently this isn't much better then the way I've been doing it for years just tracking RSSI with an app.
Samsung SM-N975F in New Zealand, option can only be on or off
Just received an update, now the option shows up.
Oneplus 12R with Android 14 here. I have the Find my Device with the 3rd option defaulted
Nice! I haven't heard from the One Plus crew yet. Such a weird decision to be defaulted to the third option. That helps no one.
Hi. I have the Samsung Galaxy S23 and I do have the option. Already have Tile go I guess I won't be changing.
Woah! First Samsung flagship I have seen with it. That cuts out the conspiracy theory of Samsung meddling with things a little bit. Much appreciated!
I have a US version of Samsung Z-flip 5 unlocked and I have 3rd option as well .. high traffic.
Im on android 14
Nice to see Samsung checking in! I have checked a lot of Samsungs in the past few weeks as that is what a lot of Android people seem to have. None of them had it except one.
@@digiblurDIY It was kind of weird at first because I had to look deeper for "Find my Device". At least on my version, you will see "Find my Mobile" first which is a Samsung app and completely different. I found the Android "Find my Device" from Settings > Google (Google Services) > Under Recommended "Find my Device". Alternatively, I also used the Lens search option under Settings.
Pixel 8 Pro in Ireland, 3rd option on. Feel free to post one internationally to me.
I saw the rollout is even slower in other countries. It probably wouldn't work with your phone being the only one in your area 😭
Pixel 6 Pro - all of the options are showing and selectable.
Didn't mention the obvious - phones need BT turned on to detect trackers.
I would think this isn't much of a thing anymore given people use Bluetooth so much in speakers, earbuds, watches, vehicles etc. during the day
Apple still has a failure with airtags, they don't let your Apple Family be treated as owners. If my daughter takes our dog on a long walk, her phone tells her she's being followed. I have the item location shared with her, but that's not good enough either.
Creepy screen for sure there.
I have the option on my Pixel 6 pro and 8 pro. I've played with the Chipolo One tags and similar lack luster results. I think the big issue is the defaults in Android as Google says they're trying to respect privacy?
yeah I don't buy that really given it scans for tags that aren't yours which does work but it won't report just with a single phone or two either even with the 4th option enabled. It is really weird. They have some major issues to work out.
@@digiblurDIY Yes, they do. I am keeping one in my kids backpack and lunch box because always misplacing them. I'll keep checking it over the year and see if anything improves over time. I wonder if I can use the beacon in HA for detecting when my kids are away/home from school.
I have the "feature" but not enabled. Guess I live risky.
Lol. You aren't helping the failed network.
@@digiblurDIY 🤷 it's g00gle's responsibility to get it working not mine. Besides, they already do too much under the hood already.
Find My Mobile on Samsung Galaxy S23+. Options are Allow this phone to be found, Send last location, and Offline finding. Check any.
I have a couple Samsung SmartThing tags on my key fobs, a Samsung Watch, and my phone, but I don't often go anywhere, and I haven't lost any of them. When I look, they are always where I am, since I always carry both keys...
That's what I am finding on some Samsung flagships like they blocked it from the rollout for some reason
Google so bad
On a POCO - only able to turn on or off, no other options
No opt out email either to your main Gmail account?
Had an email last month about some opt out but didn't pay much attention as I'd like to have some trackers, looks like Google has screwed it up 😂
damsung galaxy fold 4 has all the settings options
damsung or dammnnn sonnnnnn! the G is silent? :)
@@digiblurDIY 😂😂🤣🤣😂😂
Oneplus 11t . No options only turno on off
US? Or?
@@digiblurDIY international android 14
Apple has a long support life, tile seems to have a decent long term support.... google, they are known for unaliving product lines.
Yup. They've killed off a ton of great apps and products. Chromecast Audio was awesome!
I dont use that stuff 😄
Galaxy S21 Ultra - i have that 4th option enabled, and switched to it.
P.S. even if Google does something right, they kill it after several years, so don't bother with Google products. :) I rather use similar product, but from company, that relies on its product for survival, unlike Google, that can kill industries and still cope good.
It wouldn't surprise me to see it killed off in a couple years. So many cool products already killed.
FMD is not fully rolled out yet and that's why your toy test didn't work. Nice try though... It just recently got included in the Nordic SDK with BLE devices like the Nrf52840 series chips BTW. :v:🍆
Really they botched the default setting. Sadly they had months and months to roll it out timely. They have been shipping to customers for a few months as well. Definitely a screwed up rollout.