Google Adds More Bluetooth Tracker Protections to Android

Building on unknown tracker alerts, Google today revealed two new more Android features to help protect users from Bluetooth trackers.

“Android’s unknown tracker alerts automatically notify you if an unfamiliar Bluetooth tracker is moving with you to help you take action to protect yourself,” a new post to Google’s The Keyboard blog reads. “As part of our ongoing commitment to safety, we’ve made technology improvements to bring you alerts faster and more often. We’re also rolling out two new features for Find My Device compatible tags.”

Those features are:

Temporarily Pause Location. This lets you temporarily pause the phone’s location updates to prevent it from being used by a detected unknown tag for up to 24 hours. The idea is that this will give you time to locate and disable the tag.

Find Nearby. This helps you pinpoint an unknown tag’s location so you can find it if it’s hidden.

Google introduced unknown tracker alerts to Android in mid-2023, so that users can get notifications when the device detects an unwanted Bluetooth tracker. You can learn more on the Android Help website.