A new update to the Find My Device app has landed, bringing with it a new two-tab UI and support for location sharing, as well as improvements to existing device and tracker functionality such as better location previews.
Find My Device v3.1.277 has started its initial rollout, bringing with it the promised “People” tab that Google announced earlier this week.
That new tab allows for users to see other users through Google Maps location sharing, as well as share their own location with other users via a link or via the Find My Device app through a Google account. Google notes that this tab is in “beta” even though the functionality has existed within Maps for years. This tab can also “fix” location sharing on new devices (as users effectively have to pick which device their location is shown from).
But not seen in Google’s announcement earlier this week is how the Find My Device app has changed for existing tracking functionality.
The “Devices Tab” now shows your list of devices and trackers on the bottom half of the display, with a location preview now taking up the top half. Not only is that considerably more functional since it immediately tracks a location when the app first opens, but it should feel familiar for users coming from Apple’s ecosystem, as the Find My app is designed in a similar way.
Sadly, there is still no way to change the order of devices, meaning the app still opens to whatever device is at the top of the list.
Perhaps one of the best small upgrades in this update is support for showing your current device’s live location when looking at the location of another device or tracker. Previously, Find My Device would only show the location of the device you were searching for on the map, which could make it incredibly difficult to see where a tracker was compared to your actual location.
Note: The maps are blank here due to a poor internet connection
Find My Device v3.1.277 isn’t widely rolling out just yet, but it’s one of the biggest updates we’ve seen to the app since Google started rolling out the FMD network last year.
What do you think of these changes?
More on Find My Device:
- Find My Device adding ‘People’ location sharing
- This Find My Device tracker for Android will have an e-ink display, if it ships
- Pebblebee is hiding Find My Device trackers for Android in bikes, golf clubs, and more
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