Google’s Find My Device to Let You Track Your Friends
Google’s Find My Device feature lets you track the devices and accessories linked to your Google account. Now, the Mountainview giant is borrowing a feature straight from Apple to let you keep an eye on your friends and close ones. Similar to Apple, you can now share your live location in Find My to track them. It is part of the new People’s tab in the app and here’s how you can use it.
Find My Device People Feature Allows You To Track Your Friends
The newPeople tabin Find My Device, currently in Beta, lets youshare your location with friends and family. Once you tap on the “New Share” button, you can set the duration you wish to share your location. You can choose:
Next, select thecontact you wish to share your location witheither within the app or by sharing a link so they can track you. It will also show you a list of people who are either sharing their location with you or the ones that you are sharing with. Do note that you will need togrant the location permissionsto use the feature which is rolling out withversion 3.1.277-4of the Find My app.
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This works similarly to Apple’s Find My feature where you may use the app to locate your friends. Just like Apple’s Find My, you can check the list of people you are sharing your location within the People tab.
However, Apple also lets you get notifications if your friend changes his location or leaves a specific area. Android currently does not have such a functionality. Similar to Apple, the location isn’t shared mutually meaning even if you share your location with your friend, you may’t check his location unless he manually does so.
Find My Device Gets a UI Overhaul
The new update adds a split-screen view with a map on top and a list of devices at the bottom. It replaces the previous full-screen view of devices you were greeted with after opening the app.
You can now choose the phone, tablet, smartwatch, earbuds, headphones, and trackers you wish to track and it will show its location on the map in the upper half of the screen. The profile page and settings are now tucked into the floating icon in the top right of the screen.
Here you can choose to sign in as a guest, see the users you have blocked, and also set the location-sharing settings. The revamped UI not only looks cleaner but is also more functional.
Abeer Chawake
A part-time gamer and a full-time Tech Writer. Abeer is a tech enthusiast who keeps track of all the trending gadgets and smartphones. When he isn’t busy smashing words with his keyboard, you can find him playing the latest PC Games or binge-watching TV Shows.
