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How long can you track a Pixel after a thief has powered it off? I tested it to find out
(www.androidauthority.com)
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this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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Android
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How does this feature work? Is there a separate small battery just for this purpose? That's horrifying.
I know nothing but in my head I imagine this feature works by having the phone going into "air tag" mode when powered off. Same battery, low power chip running minimal BLE to broadcast a tracker ID.
Edit: after reading the article, both Apple and Google promise their feature works even with a dead battery, so probably a secondary rechargeable coin cell with the "find my" chip. So basically it's got a built in air tag with a much shorter battery light
Yeah, I don't like that. I see the benefit, but it's a real gift to authoritarians too.
No it works by simply putting the device into a deep sleep mode. Watch a disassembly video for any modern phone and you won't find any secondary batteries. The thing is a "dead battery" is not really dead, the device will just shut down before then.