A year after launching its Find My Device location tracking network, Google is adding support for ultra wideband (UWB) for more precise tracking using compatible phones and trackers. The network and its Android app are also getting a new name: Find Hub.
Google says that UWB will be enabled “later this month.” UWB provides more accurate tracking at close range than Bluetooth, reporting both distance and direction so you can find a missing tracker quicker once you’re in the vicinity. Apple’s AirTag has supported the tech since its launch in 2021, as have Samsung’s SmartTags. Tile’s is now the only major tracker network to lack a UWB option, since the UWB-enabled Tile Ultra it first announced way back in 2021 never actually launched.
No one will be happier about the news than Motorola, which launched its Moto Tag in June 2024 with plenty of fanfare around UWB support that has been inactive ever since.
The downside of UWB is that it requires compatibility from both trackers and phones. While all of Apple’s modern iPhones apart from the affordable-ish 16E support UWB, support on the Android side is spottier. Some Pixel and Galaxy flagships include UWB chips, but not all of them, though at least the new Galaxy S25 Edge does make the cut. Despite producing the Moto Tag, even Motorola only included the tech in a single phone, the Edge 50 Ultra, which never launched in the US.
Alongside the launch of UWB, Google is rebranding its network and app to Find Hub. That’s likely both to differentiate it from Apple’s network — even I still get Find My and Find My Device confused with one another — and to reflect Google’s recent inclusion of a “People” tab in the app for tracking contacts who’ve agreed to share their location with you.
Google also announced that Find Hub will incorporate satellite connectivity “later this year,” though wouldn’t comment on the specific satellite features it’s bringing to the app. Google’s Pixel 9 phones already include a Satellite SOS mode for emergency communications outside of cellular service. Early next year you’ll also be able to share trackers’ locations with airline staff.
Find My Device has long lagged behind Apple’s equivalent, arriving later with less accurate tracking and no UWB support. I spent several weeks testing trackers across the network last month and found that it had improved substantially since a rocky launch, but marked the lack of UWB as one thing still holding it back. Today’s update is a step in the right direction.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
