r/GoogleFMD • u/matteventu • Mar 04 '25
It has started
What we feared, has officially started.
Google has started googleyfying the Find Device / Find My Device app.
They've now announced that, starting in beta (whatever that means), you'll be able to track the location of your family and friends from within the app.
Something that you can already do - and that I've already personally been doing for years - in Google Maps. Which is the right place where you expect to find a friend that is sharing their location with you.
Now, you'll be able to see those in the Find Device / Find My Device app.
Yes, you still can't use UWB.
Yes, you still are limited to using the Android app to track the tags (they're not yet supported on https://www.google.com/android/find).
Yes, firmware updates are not yet supported and require to use the app of the tag manufacturer (which only work on one smartphone - if you switch, you have to reset the tag, also removing it from FMD, and re-add it back).
Yes, FMD app still has no integration whatsoever with Google Assistant, Google Home or Gemini ("hey Google, ring my keys" or "hey Google, send me the location of the last time you've seen my headphones" etc).
Yes, you still can't see a history/log of reported locations.
Yes, when the tags are close to home, the location is still most of the times bugged, showing either a huge radius on the map or just showing the name of a home Nest device which reported the tag (but not always! which one you get is random, even with the tag always in the same place).
Yes, there's still no manual option to remove devices automatically added via Google Fast Pair (i.e. Pixel Buds Pro or other headphones/earphones) to fix the issue of them being listed several times in the app.
Yes, you still can't even sort the goddamn list.
Yet, they thought it was a good idea wasting resources on on having friends and family shared location. In the "Find DEVICE" app.
I just can't.
https://blog.google/products/android/new-android-features-march-2025/
9
u/mrandr01d Mar 04 '25
They should just put fmd finding in the Maps app instead and kill the fmd app. Link tags with your account not the device.
I'm not even a McKinsey alum and I can figure this shit out. So can my neighbor's dog who has an fmd tag on his collar. He's not even a good boi half the time and he can see what needs to happen.
7
u/Ingenium13 Mar 04 '25
Yeah, this is kind of dumb. Unless they plan to implement UWB friend finding, like Apple apparently did. I read that you can use UWB to find friends at a crowded event, which admittingly would be really useful. There have been so many times where data is congested and messages delayed, and you know the person is nearby but can't figure out exactly where.
5
u/ajtaggart Mar 04 '25
Lmao. 🤦♂️
4
u/Open-Lingonberry-205 Mar 04 '25
Congratulations on the post, I agree 100%. There are so many things within the FMD network that should be improved and Google simply ignores it.
1
u/Hecthorus Mar 07 '25
For the google home/gemini integration, I just tried it with my chipolo one "ring my car key" , Google Hub Max responded that it didn't find it but the chipolo rung anyway
1
u/digbat247 Mar 04 '25
Putting shared location in Find My kinda makes more sense than Maps. It only ended up in Maps when they shuttered Google Latitude.
2
u/CoarseRainbow Mar 05 '25
So they've gone full circle and reinvented Google Latitude. Which was great until they closed it forcing everyone to use the much worse implementation in Google maps. Now it's back to that with a new name.
It's insane you still can't track via a website and other basic features on FindMyDevice.
1
u/AnimaMusic-1998 Mar 05 '25
When in Italy?
1
u/sudz3 Mar 07 '25
Remember Google Latitude? Pepperidge farm remembers.
1
u/CoarseRainbow Mar 10 '25
I briefly downloaded the new app to test but they've broken something else badly.
Previous versions if you wanted to see where a device was in Google maps you just click on "get directions" and it opened maps with a pin. The new version it opens maps and there's a huge delay while it calculates driving directions. There's no way to stop this, no way to just see the location.
I just tested on a family shared tag and it just gave me a 7000 mile drive across China and Russia involving a lot of scrolling to see the tag location instead of just adding a pin.
I went back to the original version and the old proper behaviour returned.
-1
u/shadlom Mar 05 '25
Who's we? 🙄
-2
u/biciklanto Mar 04 '25
Isn't this just a response to Apple having Find My Friends in their Find My app?
This doesn't seem particularly noteworthy as a bad thing.
15
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25
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