Pixel 8’s powered-off Find My Device tracking also coming to other Android phones

Google’s upgraded Find My Device network can locate devices even when they are offline and not connected to the internet. But with the Pixel 8 series, Google goes a step further and lets users find the phones even when they are switched off or have a dead battery. Google has confirmed to Android Authority that this capability will also come to other phones.

Google says it uses specialized hardware on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro that powers the Bluetooth chip inside the phones even when they run out of battery or are powered off. Google is encouraging other Android phone OEMs to adopt this approach.

“We are working with other SOCs and OEMs on how we can bring the capability to find devices with dead batteries to additional premium Android devices,” a Google representative told us in an emailed answer to our queries.

So it seems other Android phones will also get powered-off tracking capabilities with the new Find My Device network once other OEMs figure out a way to keep the Bluetooth chip inside alive in switched-off mode. What’s not clear is if this can be implemented on existing Android phones other than the Pixel 8 series.

At present, most Android devices that are powered off can’t ping each other over Bluetooth. iPhones have been able to do this long before Google brought the capability to the Pixel 8 lineup. What remains to be seen is whether existing flagships like the Galaxy S24 series have the baked-in hardware support to keep the Bluetooth chip powered even when the central processor and OS are shut down.

As Android Authority contributor Mishaal Rahman previously explained, the feature will also likely require updated software that Google Play Services can use to send precomputed Finder Network keys to the Bluetooth chip.

Will other existing Pixel devices get the feature? Unfortunately, Google did not give us an answer to that question.