- Google Pixel Drop Adds People Tracking to Find My Device
- You can share your location with friends and family.
- It will appear as a separate tab for your devices.
As part of the March Pixel Drop — and Android Update — Google Pixel phones (and specifically the Google Pixel 9) have received a handful of new tools. But one in particular has been on my mind because I’m not sure if I love it or hate it: Find My Device’s new people tracking feature.
Find My Device is the Android version of Apple's Find My Network. It gathers all of your connected Bluetooth devices and the Android products you're signed in to and gives you an easy way to quickly locate those gadgets, with directions to their last location or having them play a ring so you can hear where you lost them.
That’s all par for the course, but the new tool lets you search for people, too. Well, it lets friends and family search for you specifically via the “New People” tab (currently in beta) if you choose to share your location with them. This works in much the same way as Google, only you can see people in Find My Device, too.
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On the one hand, this is extremely useful. Being able to quickly share my location with people would be great when trying to organize, say, a meet-up where I could direct them all to my exact location at the press of a button instead of sending vague directions. Alternatively, after a night out, I could share my location with friends and family so they could see I made it home safely.
Is it safe?
At the same time, all these tracking apps (Google's Find My Device is just one, there's also Life360, Glympse, and Google Maps to name a few) show how easily our phones can find us, and definitely make me think twice about the threat of digital stalking — especially with news like Apple's recent discovery.
Thankfully, there are digital safeguards in place with all of these services, with the main one being that you have to manually send your location to people you choose. My device will also alert you when tracking is enabled (as many other services do) so you’re reminded that your location isn’t private – meaning you can either turn it off or keep it active if you still want to share your location.
And if you're worried about tags being tracked that you don't authorize, Android Tech can automatically alert you to: Unknown tracker present And help you find it – Some compatible trackers can play a ring tone to make it easier to locate.
Overall, then, the Find My Ageform feature is likely to bring the useful side of the equation closer to the dreaded device. If you're keen to learn more about the recent feature drop, here are my picks for: 7 best tools just added to Pixel phones and watches.