The Pixel 8’s powered off Find My Device feature won’t be exclusive to the handset
Google recently announced that its Find My Device feature for Android has gone live. One of the cool aspects of the feature is that if you own a Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro, it works even if your phone is turned off or the battery is dead. This is good if you are a Pixel 8 owner, but what if you’re not?
Thankfully, Google has not forgotten about other Android users. In an email sent to Android Authority, a Google rep said that they are working to bring the feature to other Android phones. They state that they are working with SOCs and OEMs to find a way to implement it on non-Pixel phones.
For those unfamiliar, this is because the powered off feature isn’t just about software. It requires specialized hardware for it to work. It works by using special hardware that can keep the Bluetooth chip inside of the phone turned on even when the phone itself is powered off or the battery is completely dead.
This means that it isn’t as simple as flipping on a switch in the software side of things. It might be a while before we see it arrive on other Android handsets. It might also be possible that it might not be available for existing devices and that only future handsets will have it. Either way, we suppose it’s still better than nothing.