American multinational technology company Google is reportedly developing a device-locating network feature similar to Apple’s ‘Find My’ network.
“A string of code associated to a network for finding Android devices has been found in the latest version of Google Play Services app,” according to the reports.
It should be noted that while APK teardowns can show features coming in future updates, Google has officially not shared any details on this functionality so it may not come to Android or may have a different set of features if it does arrive.
The team at XDA Developers has decoded the latest Google Play Services app version 21.24.13 and found two strings of code, “mdm_find_device_network_description” and “mdm_find_device_network_title.”
The description for the first code states, “Allows your phone to help locate your and other people’s devices” while the description for the second states “Find My Device network.” This clearly indicates a find my device network system for Android similar to Apple’s own Find My feature, as per the reports.
It also implies that Google will make this service available through Google Play Services, which makes sense given that it can be installed on every Android device on the world (except Android devices in China).
Google currently has a Google Find My Device app that allows you to track down devices that are linked to your Google account. With the extended network functionality as seen in code, users will be able to help find other Android devices signed into different accounts.
Recently, Google has introduced an option for small businesses to upgrade their Gmail accounts for greater calendaring, video chat and email newsletter functionalities.
