After Apple released its AirTag location tracking key fobs, the company Google not left out of the market Bluetooth-trackers, as many thought about it. The experts at Mountain View were just looking for the best implementation to bring a similar feature to the Android ecosystem.

At its recent Google I/O developer event, the company said it intends to include support for third-party Bluetooth trackers in an upcoming update to the Find My Device app, available for download at Google Play.

The principle of operation of the function will be similar to that in Apple AirTag. All existing and active Android devices with the Find My Device app installed will be linked together into one giant network that can be used to determine the exact location of the aforementioned Bluetooth trackers.

Bluetooth trackers are small devices that you can attach to your keys, wallet, hang on your bike, leave in your car, and then track their location via your smartphone. These trackers are notable for the fact that they do not have a GPS module on board, being limited only to Bluetooth. And the usual installed CR2032 battery can often provide continuous operation of such devices for a whole year.

Each smartphone with the Find My Device app installed will constantly scan for Bluetooth devices nearby (50-100 meters) and upload their coordinates to the cloud, while not greatly affecting the performance and energy consumption of the smartphone.

Location data will only be available to the owner of the tracker. The location of the smartphones connected to such a network will not be disclosed to third parties either. The function is implemented in a similar way in apple smartphones, and judging by the fact that everything has been working for several years, there are no serious security problems with this technology.

A few years ago, Apple revolutionized the Bluetooth tracker market when it released the AirTag and connected it to a network of nearly two billion of its devices. Due to the high prevalence of the iPhone, you can find AirTag almost anywhere, if we talk about densely populated cities. And since Android devices in the world are corny much more than apple devices, the function should work even better. Provided, of course, that “Find My Device” will work on all devices, and not just those whose owners downloaded the application from Google Play on their own.

Companies Chipolo And Pebblebee the first announced that they would support the new technology and release their versions of Bluetooth trackers for Android. Both companies offer their devices in various form factors. Both in the form of the usual key chains with replaceable batteries, and in the form of a “disposable” one in terms of charging a credit card for storage in a wallet. These devices also often have a speaker to make them easier to find. Trackers are already available for pre-order on official websites Chipolo And Pebblebee . Probably, in the future the list of supported manufacturers will expand.

Just last week we reported that Apple and Google want to team up and develop a common standard for protection against the abuse of Bluetooth trackers in order to combat potential user tracking. It will be funny if, in the process, the companies find a way to somehow combine their Android and iOS networks to make Bluetooth trackers work even better by improving the function’s range and location accuracy.