Android appears to be working on native Bluetooth tracker tag support

Hopefully cleaning up the current mess of a situation

The release of AirTags last year popularized Bluetooth trackers, but while Apple isn't the first company to release such a product, its ability to leverage its vast Find My network gives it a considerable edge over competitors. AirTags are able to communicate with nearby iPhones to report their location back to their owners, creating a gigantic network that makes them surprisingly accurate, especially in countries where Apple has a big user base. Android doesn't yet have system-level tracker support, but some new evidence suggests that could be about to change soon.

The latest Google Play Services (22.12.13) update includes a few new strings uncovered by the team at 9to5Google that reference work towards this goal, including mention of "unfamiliar device alerts" (presumably for detecting unknown tags nearby). Once finalized, this feature might show up in Google's Safety & emergency panel in Settings.

The app also makes reference to three different types of tags: "ATag" (presumably short for AirTag), "Tile tag," and "Finder tag."

It's not clear yet whether this feature, once finalized, would operate like a scanner (like the app recently released by Apple on Android to scan for nearby AirTags), or if Google is planning to introduce broader tag functionality on Android and this is just a part of that. We're hoping for the latter, as support for tags on Android is all over the place right now — Samsung SmartTags currently need the SmartThings app to be tracked, and Tile devices need the Tile app. You can only do so much without system-level support, which AirTags are lucky enough to enjoy. Even if this ends up only being a scanner, it's still a step in the right direction.

We might just start hearing more about this feature as we head into Google I/O 2022, which is set to be held on May 11-12th.