We know that there is a lot of development around Android and devices running Android and that there is progress being made on lost device tracking as well. There is the ‘Find My Device’ feature by Google for every Android device that lets you track your lost device by ringing a buzzer, disabling the phone or wiping it remotely. Even Samsung has a similar ‘Find My Device’ feature on all their phones. However, the problem is that these features work when the device is online but not when they are offline.
It is problematic when a device is not connected to WiFi, Mobile Data or any other means to find that device. But we see that Samsung has a new feature that lets you find your lost device even when the device is offline. Weirdly, Samsung has not announced this feature yet but leaker and Samsung enthusiast Max Weinbach found code inside ‘Find My Mobile’ app. According to his tweet, Samsung has added offline tracking by taking advantage of other Samsung users.
There is a feature that needs to be enabled named as “Offline finding” and Samsung describes this functionality as the ability “to be found by other people’s Galaxy devices even when it’s not connected to a network. It will also allow your phone to be used to scan for lost Galaxy devices that may be nearby. You can also find watches and earbuds if this was the last device they connected to.”
Therefore, not only can you find your own device with this feature but you can help others find their device when this feature is enabled on both the devices. Basically, Samsung is using the nearby devices feature inside Android to find the other Samsung devices using Bluetooth, Location or another metric.
And for those wondering, this has been available on iPhones since iOS 13 and the name is also “Offline Finding” which means Samsung did copy this feature but we can say that such features should always be adopted because it is better for everyone.
