- The Pixel 8a, like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, supports Android’s powered-off finding feature.
- Powered-off finding enables devices to be located on Google’s Find My Device network even when they’re off or have run out of battery.
- This is made possible by specialized hardware that reserves power to the phone’s Bluetooth chip for several hours.
Google’s Find My Device network finally launched last month, and although its rollout has been slow and limited to the United States and Canada so far, there’s a lot to look forward to. Once fully rolled out globally, the Find My Device network will help billions of Android users find their lost devices. Select Android devices like the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro can be located through the Find My Device network even when powered off or out of battery. This is made possible by specialized hardware on the Pixel 8 series, which means it can’t be enabled through an over-the-air update on other devices. Thankfully, it looks like Google’s newly launched Pixel 8a will also support this feature.
The way that Google’s Find My Device network works is basically as follows. Android devices that contribute to the Find My Device network broadcast a beacon over Bluetooth that other nearby Android devices can pick up on. The devices that pick up this beacon then encrypt the location of the broadcasting device and upload it to Google’s servers. Location data is end-to-end encrypted with a key that’s only accessible to the broadcasting device’s owner and whoever the owner shared the location of that device with.