Losing your smartphone is a frustrating and often anxious experience.
The sinking feeling of realizing you can’t locate your phone, with all its important data and connections, can be overwhelming.
Google is poised to address this common problem with the introduction of Android 15 and its exciting “Powered Off Finding” feature.
How does Powered Off Finding work?
Traditionally, finding a lost Android phone relies on it being powered on and connected to a network. When the device is off, it’s essentially invisible to tracking services like Google’s Find My Device.
Android 15’s Powered Off Finding addresses this limitation through clever software and hardware innovations.
The Pixel 8 series (and likely future Pixel models) incorporate a Bluetooth controller capable of remaining partially active even when the phone is off.
Android 15 allows the system to pre-compute and store Bluetooth beacons within this controller’s memory. These beacons are low-energy signals that the device can continue to broadcast even in its powered-off state.
Any nearby Android device running the Find My Device system can now detect these Bluetooth beacons. When detected, it reports the location anonymously back to Google, aiding you in tracking your powered-off phone.
Which devices will get this feature?
Unfortunately, there’s no definitive answer yet, but we can outline the most likely scenarios for which devices will support the Powered Off Finding feature:
Highly likely to support
- Google Pixel 8 Series: The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro already have the necessary hardware indicated by system settings
- Google Pixel 9 Series (and likely beyond): As the flagship line, Pixel 9 devices are strong candidates to premiere this feature natively
Unlikely to support
This feature fundamentally relies on very specific Bluetooth controller capabilities, not just software updates.
Features like this often debut on flagship devices to build hype and differentiate product lines.
Currently, there’s little indication other manufacturers are integrating the specific hardware needed for true Powered Off Finding. So, most non-Pixel devices will not get this feature.
As Google’s Find My Device network expands and more devices incorporate the necessary hardware, this technology is positioned to become an essential tool for protecting your valuable smartphone.
Featured image credit: Emre Çıtak/Google Gemini.
