Here’s something likely useful, definitely predictable, and a little bit sad too — more on the last point below.

Android phones might be getting their own “Find My” network, just like iPhones:

• XDA Developers decoded some data in the latest Google Play Services version that rolled out in the beta channel. The strings pulled out of the code describe a “Find My Device Network” service that “allows your phone to help locate your and other people’s devices.”
• That’s great because there are three billion Android devices, and the “Find My Device” feature is limited for now: it can find devices that are signed into the user’s Google account.
• At least once or twice a week I ask my Google Home Mini (aka Nest Home) “Find my phone” and my Pixel 4a 5G loudly and happily trills away until I track it down.
• Now it seems the “Find My Device Network,” could help other Android users find their phones, in a big, new network.
• We don’t know if this is an Android 12 inclusion or still a separate app, but we’ve asked Google for more information.

We really, really could use some kind of shared technology here:

• The sad thing is that this becomes an Apple vs Android fight. I can’t find your iPhone or your luggage with an AirTag using my Android, and you can’t find my Pixel with your iPhone.
• Surely it’d be better if iPhones could find Android devices, Androids could find iPhones (and AirTags), and we could all just …help each other.
• It’s worth partially crediting third parties like Tile which did offer cross-platform finding, though only for its Bluetooth trackers.
• But a system-level approach should go further because losing things (or having them stolen) is no fun at all. 
• Of course, Apple’s approach is to defer to its aggressive walled ecosystem approach, and maybe offer minor concessions over time.
• Can we just all get along, so we don’t lose our stuff?