Someone Put an Apple AirTag and an Android Tracker in the Mail. The Results Aren't Good News for Google

After working on a system like Apple’s Find My since 2021, Google finally launched its Find My Device network in April. In recent years, this system has been one of the cornerstones of Apple’s ecosystem strategy: finding our devices and the accessories associated with our Apple ID when we lose track of them. It’s also the key to AirTag. Now, the Find My Device network aims to revolutionize this segment for Android users.

As always, when there’s competition, there's also a logical question: Is an AirTag better than an Android tracker compatible with the Find My Device network? We already have an answer, and the bottom line is that Google’s system doesn’t fare too well.

The Find My Device network. First, it’s worth devoting a few lines to explain something. AirTags didn’t invent anything. Before these devices, there were already brands like Tile selling trackers. Basically, you stick these devices to objects you can easily lose, such as keys, a suitcase, a backpack, or a wallet, and track them with your smartphone. However, they aren’t GPS devices, but rather rely on other people’s phones to locate them, working as beacons.

Apple’s big breakthrough is that almost every device works automatically and transparently to the user as a beacon. So, when an AirTag comes within range of an iPhone, its location automatically updates in the Find My app. This simplicity was missing from Android-compatible trackers and is what Google wanted to address with the Find My Device network launch.

The experiment. Now that we've established some basics, it’s time to compare the Apple's AirTag against a tracker using Google's Find My Device network. The person in charge of the experiment was a Reddit user named Chiselplow, who, on July 3, put a Pebblebee tracker—one of the few currently compatible with the Android network—and an AirTag in a box and mailed it to another state.

The result was disastrous for the Pebblebee tracker: The package arrived at its destination on July 6, and while the AirTag showed the route and provided updates on its location—both in warehouses and on the road—the Android-compatible tracker only provided an update in one of the warehouses to indicate that it was last seen at the user’s home. In order words, the Find My Device network was only able to track the Pebblebee when it was near the user's phone.

Traffic areas. When the Pebblebee arrived at the destination, it updated again to report the same thing: It was at the user’s home. In other words, an Android device “saw it” at least twice, but the tracker didn’t update its location. And yes, in the U.S., iPhones are in the majority, but there are also Androids, and it's unlikely that the Pebblebee tracker wouldn’t have crossed paths with any in three days.

Of course, unless the default setting of Android phones to report the location of a tracker comes into play. Then, an ambiguous term from Google appears: “Sparsely populated areas.” This default setting prevents Android phones from reporting a tracker’s location unless it’s in what Google considers a “densely populated area,” which is again ambiguous. And the locations the device has passed through may not have met these requirements.

Improvements are on the way. 9to5Google contacted Google to ask about improvements to the Find My Device network. While the company hasn’t said much about when it will implement these improvements, it did confirm that they're on the way:

“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 setting to ‘With network in all areas’ to help improve the network’s ability to find their lost items in lower-traffic areas,” a Google official said.

Advantages of a closed ecosystem? To be clear, this experiment doesn’t determine that Android trackers don’t work. The network doesn’t seem sufficiently populated at the moment, and it may also be that a closed ecosystem is an advantage in this case. It's a given that AirTags gives excellent results when traveling. However, Android trackers have provided very good results as well in our tests. Therefore, it's likely just a matter of fine-tuning the Google network, which still seems to be under construction. There are also new devices joining the Google network on the horizon, such as Motorola's Moto Tag.

By the way, the Reddit user Chiselplow plans to repeat the test in other countries with a higher percentage of Android devices. The user hasn't provided many details, only stating that their next target market is 78% Android and 21.5% Apple. We'll have to wait and see how this new test turns out and if Google has delivered on its promises by then.

Image | Pebblebee | Anna Martí

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