Google is soon to be the latest tech giant to manufacture a Bluetooth tracker. The company is following in the steps of other tech giants like Tile, Apple, and Samsung.
Tile Bluetooth trackers are often used to track car keys, luggage, and other valuables that often get lost. Tile has been doing great in the space for around 10 years, but when Apple’s AirTags found big success, other big tech establishments became interested.
Naturally, both Samsung and Google decided to jump into the market. Google, for its part, has a secret weapon which could quickly make it the number one or two Bluetooth tracker product worldwide. That assistant? The power of billions of smartphones to help locate the trackers.
Introducing Grogu
Experts like Kuba Wojciechowski reported spotting code for a Google first-party Bluetooth tracker codenamed “Grogu.” He found references that check almost all major box anyone would want in a Bluetooth tracker. This device has a speaker, UWB compatibility, and it supports Bluetooth LE. It is also being reported that the product is built by the Nest team.
In case the user doesn’t want to tracker to play a ringtone in order to reveal its location, the Ultra Wide Band (UWB), a radio technology can physically locate the item. UWB needs to be built into the user’s phone. It can successfully find nearby device via a compass-like interface in this way. Some smartphones such as the Pixel 6 Pro, 7 Pro, and high-end Android devices have UWB built into them.
See Also: Google is working on a seamless way to transfer Spotify tracks between your devices
Locator Tag Option
Esper’s Mishaal Rahman is another Android expert, who recently revealed information about what he called a locator tag option landing in Google’s Fast Pair developer console. Fast Pair API is the means Google is using to detect and pair to nearby Bluetooth devices. This one shows a pop-up on the screen rather having users go through the hassles of Settings menu.
Of course, AirTags have their advantages and disadvantages. It has been used for spying and stalking but let’s hope there will be major improvements when Google finally releases its AirTag.
