TL;DR Google is rolling out a new setup screen that encourages users to enable the more reliable tracking setting for its Find Hub network.
This setting allows the network to use a single device’s location data to find lost items, improving reliability in low-traffic areas.
The new screen simplifies the options and explicitly warns that the default setting may make it harder to locate items in remote places.
For most Android users, the best item tracking option is Google’s Find Hub, as it works on almost every Android device. There are even a variety of compatible Bluetooth trackers you can use to locate your items. Unfortunately, Find Hub can have trouble locating items in some areas due to its default configuration. Out of the box, the network requires multiple Android devices to detect an item before reporting its location, limiting reliability in low-traffic areas. While it looks unlikely that Google will reverse this decision soon, the company is starting to nudge users to enable the network’s more reliable tracking setting.
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Because Find Hub is part of Google Play Services, it is available on nearly every Android device — though it isn’t enabled by default. Users can manually opt in via settings or wait for the service to automatically enroll their device after a few days. Since most people likely didn’t enable the feature manually, their devices are almost certainly using the default tracking setting. Although the service notifies users that they can change this setting prior to auto-enrollment, many likely haven’t done so, possibly due to how the settings are worded.
Currently, Android’s Find Hub settings page lists these four options: Off: Find Hub won’t store your devices’ recent locations, and your Android device won’t participate in the network. You can still use Find Hub to locate, secure, and erase your devices when online.If you don’t want to use Find Hub, you can go to Settings > Google > All Services (if tabs exist) > Find Hub to turn it off.
Find Hub won’t store your devices’ recent locations, and your Android device won’t participate in the network. You can still use Find Hub to locate, secure, and erase your devices when online.If you don’t want to use Find Hub, you can go to Settings > Google > All Services (if tabs exist) > Find Hub to turn it off. Without network: Your device won’t participate in the network. You can still locate your offline devices using their stored recent locations when they were online.
Your device won’t participate in the network. You can still locate your offline devices using their stored recent locations when they were online. With network in busy places only: Locate using stored recent locations or the network in areas like airports or busy footpaths.To help find a lost item, location info from your device is used only if others in the network can also detect the item.
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