Find My Device for Android Now Lets You Track People
The Find My Device app for Android is getting an update, with the new Find My Device app now split into two tabs: one for Devices and one for People. With its help, you can easily coordinate meetings with friends or check if your children got home safely.
You’ll find that the app comes pre-installed on Pixels and can be downloaded for free on other Android devices. It is also available online , but there is no iPhone app. Despite this, you can still track your contacts’ real-time location if they have an iPhone – more on that in a moment.
This is the same Find My Device tool that got a pretty major update last year. Although it has been around in one form or another for a long time and shows Android phones and other gadgets on a map if they have ever been lost or stolen, the new and improved version has added a lot of features that make it more useful.
Whereas before you needed your phone to be turned on and connected to Wi-Fi to be able to find it, the 2024 improvements mean you can now enlist the help of all the other millions of Android gadgets to (safely and anonymously) track missing devices (Apple’s Find My Network works the same way).
There’s also now support for third-party Bluetooth trackers, and the latest Pixel models can be detected even when they’re turned off. Phones and tablets you track with the app can play a sound to help you find them, and you also have the ability to lock them or even remotely wipe them to keep your data safe.
All of these updates were already in place, and now People Search is the latest to arrive: Contacts you trust can show you where they are on the map, and you can share your location with them in return. If you think this sounds a lot like functionality that was already built into Google Maps, that’s because it is—you just now have another screen to access it.
Use Find My Device to find people
Open Find My Device on your phone and you’ll see that in the People tab there’s a small “Beta” label next to it, indicating that the feature is under development. There’s also a sticker on the map indicating that the location sharing feature is supported by Google Maps, even if you access it through Find My Device.
If you’ve already set up sharing through Google Maps, you’ll see a list of your contacts and their current location on the map. Tap the + (plus) button to share your location with someone new: The default option is to share your location for an hour, but you can tap it to change it to Today Only , Until you turn this feature off , and Custom Duration .
You can then select a contact from the panel below or create a link to send to someone in the app of your choice. They will be able to see your phone’s location at the time you specify, as well as the device’s battery level, and in return will be given the option to share their location, although this is not required.
This feature has been present in Google Maps for a long time. If you’ve never used it, you can find it in the Google Maps app by tapping your profile picture (top right) and then Sharing Location . Since this works through Google Maps, you can also add iPhone contacts and see your location – as long as they have Google Maps installed.
Back in Find My Device, tap any contact in the list to see where it is on the map. The next screen allows you to get directions to their current location (via Google Maps, of course) and stop sharing your location with them. Tap the three dots next to a name to hide it from the map if you only want to check it occasionally.
Open Find My Device on the web and you’ll see the same Devices and People tabs, although you won’t be able to add new contacts in the web app. You’re always in control of who can see where you are and for how long, and given the tight integration with Android, you may find this preferable to location-sharing tools in apps like WhatsApp.