AirTag: Google would prepare its own version of the tracker for Android smartphones

Apple reigns supreme in the Bluetooth tracker market with its famous AirTag, but that could soon change with the arrival of another competitor: Google. The American giant would prepare its own version.

Released in 2021, AirTags have truly revolutionized a market which was until then filled with much less efficient devices, and above all less well integrated into an ecosystem. Samsung tried to take advantage of its competitor’s success with its SmartTags, which were released slightly earlier, but they clearly did not meet with the same success.

Today, after many years of waiting, we finally learn from journalist Mishaal Rahman and developer Kuba Wojciechowski that Google is working on its own version of the Bluetooth tracker. The latter would carry the codename “grogu”, “groguaudio” or “GR10” and the network would be called “Finder Network”. It looks like a Google employee is a fan of Disney+’s The Mandalorian series.

What do we know about Google AirTags?

As reported by the two Internet users, the device would support the Bluetooth low energy (LE) and ultra wideband (UWB) technologies, and could have a small internal speaker for alerts. In addition, it would be produced in several colors, but that’s all we know at the hardware level.

You should be able to find the tracker using the UWB chip in your high-end Android smartphone (only a few models have it), but Bluetooth LE should generally suffice. UWB simply makes it much more precise to locate the device.

Since the first traces of the device have been discovered, it is probable that Google confirms its existence during the next Google I/O conference next spring, and that it will be released alongside the Pixel 8 in the fall.

Ever since their release, AirTags have been a privacy nightmare for Apple. Apple’s tracker, for example, has often been accused of facilitating the harassment of women, or even of facilitating the work of car thieves, who can now simply track their targets. It is therefore understandable that Google is slow to launch its own product on the marketand we hope that the company will make sure to avoid all these controversies.