Google Tweaks Find Hub Enrollment to Help Track Lost Gadgets Faster

Google had introduced its Find My Network service to provide accurate tracking and privacy to users. It was later renamed to Find Hub. While the services it provides are good, they’re not as good as Apple’s counterpart. To address the problem, the tech giant has now made some changes to Find Hub’s auto-enrollment policy.

Google’s Find Hub now gets new triggers for auto-enrollment

When the Find Hub (originally, the Find My Network) was introduced, it would auto-enroll the device in a high-traffic area. Certain other conditions were also set to auto-enroll the device. The system, however, wouldn’t directly force the user to opt in. This was one of the key reasons why Android devices have inferior Find My Network support, despite having a wider network than Apple iPhones.

However, Google is now changing some rules for the Find Hub’s auto-enrollment. As per the APK teardown done by Android Authority, the Find Hub will now automatically enroll the devices when it hits certain ‘triggers.’ The users have 48 hours to opt out of the enrollment. The opt-out period has been increased from the earlier set 24 hours. However, it is pretty much on the narrower side.

Your phone can find others’ stolen items, but not everywhere

The Find Hub can use your phone’s Bluetooth and network to find others’ stolen or forgotten gadgets. But by default, the auto enrolment is set to “With network in high-traffic areas only.” This means that while your device will be able to help others find their gadgets, but will only in the crowded or what they call ‘high-traffic’ areas.

It is not yet clear what exactly ae counted as a ‘trigger’ for the auto-enrollment. But the source suggests that Find Hub could use the device’s location services, fast pair syncing, or inactivity of the device as one of the triggers.