Find My Device update includes new icon and hints at future FMD Network

If you’ve ever lost your phone or mobile accessories, you may have used Google’s Find My Device app to locate them. This service has been around for a long time and can quickly give you an approximate location of multiple devices connected to your phone or Google account.

Yesterday, Google pushed out the latest update to this app, causing it to jump from v2.5 to v3.0 (via 9to5Google). Along with this update comes a new Find My Device icon. The green bubble with a phone in the middle is gone, replaced by what appears to be a radar symbol in Google’s usual four-color theme. Check it out for yourself below:

As of now, this v3.0 update hasn’t made its way to the public yet. You can manually get it using APKMirror if you feel so inclined. Otherwise, you should see it on your phone in the next few days.

Along with the new Find My Device icon, the update includes hints regarding the future of the Find My Device Network. Google announced the FMD Network at Google I/O in May. It promises to leverage the power of millions of Android phones to help precisely locate devices, including future trackers built with the FMD Network in mind. Essentially, it’s Google’s response to Apple’s Find My service, which operates similarly and powers the world of AirTags.

However, Google subsequently delayed the network launch due to safety concerns. You’ve likely heard of people using Apple’s AirTags to stalk people and conduct other illegal activities. Google doesn’t want that kind of heat, so it is working out ways to make the network as safe as possible before it rolls out. Interestingly, part of the delay is to give Apple more time to make its own interactions with the network safer.

Find My Device v3.0: New icon and new hints

We don’t know much about what it will do because the Find My Device Network isn’t active yet. However, this new Find My Device v3.0 update gives some hints.

Per Mishaal Rahman on Threads, one new feature could be a “Mark as lost” toggle. This would enable you to tell the network you’ve lost something, which will remotely lock the device, sign you out, and receive a notification if the network locates it. Other features hinted at in the new code are the ability to share the location of devices with other people temporarily, edit the contact info of accessories, set the ring volume of a device, view the battery level of an accessory, and more.

Google still has not declared an official rollout timeline for the network. However, we hope to see it before the end of the year.