Google's Find My Device Tool Can Now Map Out Exactly Where You Left Your Phone Inside Some Buildings (androidpolice.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Google's been messing around with indoor maps for years; you can check the layout of many department stores and other large indoor spaces in Google Maps. Find My Device can show on those maps where your device is located. Here's the changelog for the latest version: "Support for indoor maps to help you find your device in airports, malls, or other large buildings. And, Support for work profiles."

Comments

So they just retrieve the last place they

[Fly Swatter]

tracked you.

For once it might benefit the end user, but really they just want to help you get your tracking device back.

-We passed creepy a long time ago.

Re:So they just retrieve the last place they

[PsychoSlashDot]

You understand that they did this on Star Trek, right? You could ask the computer the location of any other crew member, and it would tell you. So this is OK.

You may mean this sarcastically, but I think it's potentially insightful.

Back when ST:TNG came out there was a lot of this sort of thing, but it never felt creepy Maybe it's because the only people who ever were shown asking the ship's computer for things like that were doing so for legitimate purposes or were high-ranking bridge crew. In real life, it's massive corporations doing it for profit and advertising, where advertising is a code-word for "influencing people to spend money they wouldn't otherwise."

Of course, that means Google knows where you are

[Anonymous Coward]

That means Google is spying on your location at all times.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Why stop at being merely evil? Go whole hog and sell out to totalitarian governments, too!

And if you're a poor surgeon

[mykepredko]

You can figure out which patient you left it in!

Ugh, thanks Google... maybe

[93 Escort Wagon]

I'd feel better about this if they'd also spell out exactly who else can access this sort of information about Android phone owners - but I suspect the honest answer would be "everyone with a business relationship with Google".

For those that don't know

[BringsApples]

This is an app that you knowingly install and setup to use in case you need to find your device. It's not installed by default. It's not Big Brutha.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!! ...if that's a thing that you do this time of year :)

whistle key chain

[pr0fessor]

In the 80s I had a key chain that would beep every time you whistled. I lost it some where in my bedroom and even though I could here it beep I could never find it I think it fell into a vent somehow. Every time Walk Like an Egyptian came on the radio and later Patience it would go crazy. I never did find it even with the room empty when I was moving out years later and the battery never died.

It says the phone is on the couch it must have fallen down inside and now it lost forever along with the half dozen missing tv remotes.

Re: whistle key chain

[Cmdln Daco]

I had a defective stopwatch that I bought at a yard sale this summer. The stopwatch function didn't seem to work at all. I paid a quarter for it, so it wasn't any big deal. But then it landed somewhere in the house in a junk pile. And somehow the alarm function started working at about 11 pm. So every night I heard it beeping until a timeout, but could never locate it by the timeout. By then I had forgotten entirely about the stopwatch so I really wasn't even certain what I was looking for. It also emitted a single beep once an hour at about the :40 point. It took me days to finally track down and figure out what was beeping once an hour and alarming every night.

Re:Obligatory Dilbert

[webmistressrachel]

Anyone who has ever had a phone stolen or lost and turns off data and location when not using them actively to save battery (my S7 cannot last the day with data on, budget phones are better for battery life than my flagships!) knows that Google cannot spy on on me unless I ask them to.

Repeat, turning off data and location results in an unfindable phone, combine this with all of the FRP bypasses and bugs, and you realise, Google can only spy if you let them. Otherwise, I'd still have the S5 and a Z Ultra on my belt with the S7, HTC ONE M9, and Tab S which all behave the same way if you turn off data.

At the time, I wished Google was spying on me! I would have at least been able to chase my S5 and confront the criminals. The reason Google give for this loophole? Privacy. This silly argument is killing me!

Re: Obligatory Dilbert

[Cmdln Daco]

I logged out of Google on my Android phone. I don't use Gmail. Google probably has a level of tracking they can still do, but it's significantly reduced. The Amazon app store and other alternatives have plenty of apps.