this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024

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Redditor has worst possible experience with Google’s new Find My Device network (www.androidpolice.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

One Redditor tested Google's Find My Device network against Apple's Find My Network by shipping an AirTag and a Pebblebee tracker to a different state and tracking the package through the respective apps.
The Pebblebee Tracker struggled to provide location updates, while Apple's AirTag consistently updated throughout the journey.
Google's Find My Device network is still nascent and opt-in, limiting its effectiveness compared to Apple's Find My Network. Google is reportedly working on improving its network's speed and reliability.

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[–] [email protected] 166 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Worst possible experience, not hardly. He mailed the thing and tried to track it, and it didn't work. When I saw "worst possible experience" I expected a swat raid or something. This is 2024, and if all that goes wrong with a new tech gadget is that it doesn't work, that's literally a nothingburger. At least give us some battery explosions or something.

Obligatory: https://biggaybunny.tumblr.com/post/166787080920/tech-enthusiasts-everything-in-my-house-is-wired

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

Exactly. Worst case for me is a stalker of some sort tracking me through my phone and sexually assaulting me in a parking garage or something when I'm alone.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

battery explosions

Samsung: "introducing our new tracking devices!"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

“Says here my courier’s delivered it to the emergency ward”

[–] [email protected] 82 points 4 months ago (2 children)

"Redditor uses service that no one really uses yet, resulting in competing service that everyone defaults to using being better."

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

How could this be?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

One of worlds largest companies, can’t even afford to fund a project to make it competitive and attract users to grow it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Are you aware of Google's track record of products that have success? The graveyard would make Stalin blush.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Still annoyed that tile has not committed to making their devices compatible with this and rather want to push that life360 rubbish, which openly sells user data.

People only really went with their product because something first party didn't exist, now their service will get worse as people start adopting this over their service and they turn all their trackers into e-waste—because trackers without a good enough network are kind of useless

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

opt-in

I tried opting-out. There's no way to do this account wide; the setting has to be changed per-device. I didn't really like that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I use GrapheneOS, so it just doesn't exist on my phone at all. I want nothing to do with this feature whatsoever.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

Because Google decided to make it opt-in and by default also to send data only in crowded places.

They said it's because they care about privacy. But because it's Google and we all know they don't care a bit about privacyI wonder instead if it's because keeping track of billions of devices it's expensive and requires many servers, so it's a cost cutting measure

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Is Apple's network opt-in?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago

I thought the whole reason for its usefulness (coverage) was that it wasn't opt-in.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Sort of. It asks as part of a series of questions on first boot when you sign up for a new account at the same time, but it defaults to yes, so idk if you would count that as opt-out or not.

[+] [email protected] -20 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Shit like that is why Apple devices are banned from our home network.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)

why? what does their device locator service have to do with your home network?

I'm genuinely curious, because nothing from that service has anything to do with anything that might happen on your network

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

Shhhhhhhhhh. We hate on google, and microsoft all day long here. Didn't you know every once in a while we like to hate on Apple, too? Variety is the spice of life, my friend!

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

why?

For the same reason that one might block ads or cookies, of course. I don't want a third party corporation profiling the bluetooth devices in my house and selling data about me to advertizers.

what does their device locator service have to do with your home network?

Apple's device locator service uses the internet to report device IDs and GPS coords to Apple.

I'm genuinely curious, because nothing from that service has anything to do with anything that might happen on your network

Ideally, that would be true. But device locators necessarily report their snooping using an internet connection, and if they're on my home network when they do it then they'd associate my IP address with my location. That's way more of my personal information than I want Apple to have.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

profiling the Bluetooth devices in my house

Uh, I hope you’re banning anyone with an iPhone from even getting within 10 meters of your house. Because their phone could easily just grab a list of all BT MACs (or hell, even WiFi MACs) it finds and then transmits that with its current GPS coordinates via its cell network. Doesn’t even need your network at all. And your wireless devices have to transmit their MAC addresses to work even if their not in pairing mode.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Not much I can do about that, but I can at least keep them off my network so that info isn't associated with my IP address and sold off to whoever wants it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

According to Apple (and I’m sure people have already investigated it), location data is encrypted in such a way that only the owner of the device can read the transmitted location. So no, this isn’t going to “associate your IP address with your location”.

Only you can see where your AirTag is. Your location data and history are never stored on the AirTag itself. Devices that relay the location of your AirTag also stay anonymous, and that location data is encrypted every step of the way. So not even Apple knows the location of your AirTag or the identity of the device that helps find it.

(from https://www.apple.com/airtag/)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

It only proves how dystopian our present time is with how easily and accurately something can be tracked