- Android 15 is expected to introduce a Powered Off Finder API.
- This API will enable compatible devices to be tracked even when switched off.
- The feature is expected to be available on the Google Pixel 9 series, and the Pixel 8 series.
On one hand, this is great for lost or stolen phones. On the other hand (and rest of the body), this is horrible for privacy.
The Dangerous Criminal (Poor) has always been used to justify asking people to give up their freedoms, in exchange for “safety”.
And most of the time, the danger is close to made up. “Reality inspired”, if we were to be poetic about it. (Can’t say about this case, maybe your city is full of pickpockets unlike mine. But this API sure seems neither opt-in, nor like it’s going to be “limited to a select few models” going forward, to me…)
It’s a trade in risk. There’s the really severe risk of being hacked, which has an incredibly low likelihood, vs the relatively low severity risk of compromised privacy but with an absolute certainty for likelihood.
Personally, I prefer to take my chances with the high severity/low likelihood. But then, I’m also disgruntled that people don’t realise they’re basically being robbed of $100 every year, if not more, in terms of the value of their data.
This year is the year of fighting that for me.
Like 15 years ago, I was willing to install a monitoring app on my phone and get like $40 in Amazon gift cards a year. Now that’s gone…Amazon is basically mask off Evilcorp, I have to opt out of letting AI read all of my text messages for “training data”, basically every service I depend on is throwing privacy policy changes at me every month and adding forced arbitration clauses to contracts, and my TV sends Samsung something 30,000 times a day while forcing my default channel to be streaming their ads network after every update. I’m so damn tires of it all getting worse. I feel like the last few years it’s really ramped up and the recent “AI training data” needs of virtually even major tech company have just broken me.
Now I’m working to host everything locally and strip tracking and harden security as much as I can.
Forced arbitration needs to be made illegal, or at the very least properly regulated such that the arbitrator doesn’t work for the business.
I live in London. This feature is a must. The amount of theft in recent years is just bonkers.
Does it need to be non-disableable even with the passcode to remain useful?
People really need to learn to think of the details and not the general idea.
In my opinion, anti-theft features should be always active and your phone should be permanently bound to your account. There should be no way to unlink your phone from within the phone itself. If you want to sell it, you can unlink it from your PC, but there should be no tools for thieves to unblock and unlink the phone.
Again, you are making decisions for people that others could EASILY abuse just because, what? You’re too stupid to turn the tracking feature on yourself? Stop requiring everything to conform to your stupidity.
Found a thief!
Removed by mod
I have never had my phone stolen. My data on the other hand…
I say let them do it…on devices that have a removable battery only
Thieves will just dump your phone in a Faraday cage anyway, defeating the purpose.
I didn’t think about that. It completely defeats the purpose of geolocation for theft prevention and recovery, and at very little cost and effort to the thief. The amount of effort and technological advancement for something so simple to make it obsolete is almost comical.
its almost as if thats not the actual motive for manufacturers
Tbh the average thief can’t even spell Faraday
This is a great feature ngl. It may not be any use for majority users here but it’s a must have in my country for women. We already have government apps that track location if opted in but they only work as long as the phone isn’t switched off. Idk if it also requires a different hardware but if it was software only then it would be easy to install in existing phones.
If it’s a problem for you then turn it off in settings.
The fact that it’s a feature at all implies that other, possibly nefarious actors, have the ability to track it too
Man. I really need Pine, Ubuntu Touch, or one of the other alt systems to accelerate and release a phone that’s usable as a daily driver. The dystopia is getting increasingly difficult to avoid.
On one hand: It’d be nice to be able to locate my phone if I lose it and it shuts off.
On the other hand: I only want me to be able to track it; not Google or any of their associates.
That’s so true of so many technologies. Google Maps history, gmail, search history… nearly everything would be great to have if only I had access to it.
At least they’re finally acknowledging that the base band never really shuts down.
This is probably going to be similar to Apple’s find system, which is a low powered Bluetooth based system. Apple Airtags and powered-off phones just broadcast a “I am here” signal once in a while that other devices can receive and report back to Apple.
Time to get a Faraday bag if you don’t already have one.
Great, now when I lose my phone, it’s lost for good!
If you’ve lost the bag it goes in, too, you probably have bigger issues.
If it’s not a Faraday bag then you’ll find it when you find your phone.
how often do you actually lose your phone though? maybe you should work on not doing that…
IIT; people who have never turned off their tracking devices freaking out about their tracking device tracking them in made up situations
Phone owners hate this. Just one simple trick.
