- The Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra support Powered Off Finding, a feature that enables them to be located via Google’s Find My Device network even when they’re turned off.
- Very few smartphones support this feature, which requires reserve power to be dedicated to the Bluetooth controller when the rest of the phone is shut down.
- The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were the first phones to support this feature, but the OnePlus 13 was the first non-Google phone to support it.
Months after its launch in China, the Xiaomi 15 has finally launched globally. While the global version of the Xiaomi 15 has basically the same hardware as the Chinese version, the software is radically different due to the global version’s support for Google services like Find My Device. While every Xiaomi phone sold outside of China supports Find My Device, the Xiaomi 15 has a leg up on its predecessors, as it can be located even when it’s powered off.
Find My Device locates devices in one of two ways. Either a device reports its own location or another nearby device reports it for them. When an Android phone is turned on, it can easily report its own location by using Wi-Fi, mobile data, or GPS. It can also report the location of other nearby devices that are within Bluetooth range and are broadcasting Find My Device beacons. However, both of these tracking methods are unavailable for most Android phones that are powered off, as they stop sending power to any and all radios that could be used to locate them.