- Google says UWB for Discover My Gadget is coming quickly
- There’s been a 4x pace enhance since final yr
- Testing by The Verge exhibits some issues with protection
Google gave the Android Discover My Gadget community a major improve final yr, with improved help for third-party trackers and offline location entry, and it feels like one other vital replace is nearly right here.
Talking to The Verge, Android product supervisor Angela Hsiao stated that help for extremely wide-band (UWB) expertise can be coming “very soon” to Discover My Gadget, which basically allows a way more exact type of monitoring.
If you happen to’re utilizing a UWB-enabled system to find one other UWB-enabled system – so trying to find an AirTag with an iPhone, within the Apple ecosystem – you get guided nearly precisely to the correct spot. You’ll know the misplaced gadget is behind the couch, not simply someplace inside your home, for instance.
Earlier this month, indicators hidden within the code for Discover My Gadget prompt that UWB may quickly be supported, and it appears that evidently a launch is now imminent. We all know Google I/O 2025 will get underway on Could 20, and we might hear extra about UWB then.
The necessity for pace
The Verge additionally ran some fairly complete assessments of the present state of the Discover My Gadget community. Google’s tech appears to carry out in addition to the Apple equal now, however solely in busy areas with plenty of exercise (and passing devices to find misplaced gadgets).
In additional distant areas, the protection and monitoring time appears lower than optimum, although it varies relying on the tracker used and the precise state of affairs. Keep in mind that Google doesn’t but have its own-brand model of the Apple AirTags, although the rumors are that some is likely to be within the works.
Based mostly on Google’s inner testing, Hsiao says, the community is ready to find gadgets round 4 instances sooner than it might when the main 2024 improve was rolled out – so it’s getting higher, even when it’s not fairly caught as much as Apple but.
For UWB to work, you additionally want a telephone with the expertise while you’re in search of one thing, however plenty of the finest Android telephones now include the expertise on board (together with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely and the Google Pixel 9 Professional).
