Android will allow you to know the location of nearby unknown Bluetooth trackers

Dec. 12 (Portaltic/EP) –

Google has developed a new feature that will allow Android users to know where an unknown Bluetooth tracker is nearby by receiving an alert indicating that such a device is following their movements without their knowledge.

Although Bluetooth tracking devices are a tool designed to locate everyday objects, such as backpacks, keys or wallets in case of loss with the help of a mobile ‘app’, their use can be malicious, which is why Google has developed different functionalities intended to protect users.

Thus, trackers such as Tile, Apple’s AirTag or Samsung’s SmartTag, among others; They can also be used to monitor people’s locations and control what they do without their consent or knowledge.

Together with Apple, Google is already implementing the ‘Unwanted Location Tracker Detection’ industry specification, with which they seek to establish a series of industry standards aimed at combating unwanted tracking through Bluetooth tracking devices.

With this feature, users receive an alert from their smartphones in case they identify one of these unknown trackers moving with them over time, which happens regardless of the platform to which the tracking device is paired.

Google has worked to improve this feature to provide alerts “faster and more frequently”, and has begun to implement the option ‘Search nearby’. This can be used to determine the location of the device in case you receive an unknown tracker alert.

In this way, the device with the Android operating system will guide users to the tracker that is tracking it to help them find it if it is hidden, as he has shared on his blog Google The Keyword. In this way, by clicking on the notification, the user will be able to view a map showing the place where the tracker was last seen moving with it.

To make it easier to find where your device is, your device may play a sound, which In no case will the owner of the tracker be notified. When you find it, Android offers the ‘Next steps’ option to show what can be done with it. For example, notify the police, save the device information or deactivate it, as the company points out in the Help page.

This feature is one of two new tools that Google is adding to Apple trackers, which are currently the compatible with the ‘Find my device’ network. The other new feature announced is the ability to temporarily pause the phone’s location updates to prevent a Bluetooth tracking device from using it.

By preventing your device from updating location with trackers for 24 hours, Google provides an additional layer of privacy and control. This will allow users to take “a first action quickly while physically locating the tracker.”