Summary
- Android Find My Device trackers are now performing well, potentially solidifying a place in the market.
- Eufy seems to have abandoned plans for its already announced FMD trackers, possibly due to competition and lack of innovation.
- Other brands, like Rolling Square and Motorola, have most recently announced or introduced new FMD trackers with promising features and durability.
The Android Find My Device Bluetooth tracker experience has been somewhat of a roller coaster. After tons of hype, a lackluster rollout, and the network’s long-anticipated, significant performance upgrade, FMD trackers finally seem to have a place in the gadget enthusiast’s collection. Better yet, Google says it’s continuing to develop the network’s features and reliability.
To this point, sets from Pebblebee and Chipolo, and an AirTag imitator from Motorola, make up the most studied selection of Android Bluetooth trackers from well-known brands. Many moons ago, Eufy announced its intention to bring a pair of FMD trackers to market. After a 6-month delay followed by radio silence, 9to5Google’s Ben Schoon dug into when we could expect Eufy’s smart tags, and found something interesting. They no longer appear to exist (Source).
Don’t look now, but Android Find My Device trackers suddenly work great
Good pings come to those who wait
How to glean tech news from delisted announcements
A little internet sleuthing goes a long way
If there’s one thing Mr. Schoon does right (and there are many such things), it’s that he brings receipts. The original announcement (viewable on archive.org) disappeared sometime in December according to scraped website images. And we know this isn’t some kind of collective hallucination, because the Google blog still mentions upcoming Eufy trackers. Ben even tracked down an Android Find My Device reference on a Eufy support page, although it’s just a matter of time before that disappears, too.
Given the lack of updates, Anker (Eufy’s owner) getting cold feet here doesn’t surprise us much. The existing trackers have largely been lambasted for a problem that seems to have been mostly Google’s responsibility (that is, the service’s generally poor performance). It took long enough for that problem to go away that Anker might not see the same potential for category inroads any longer. That makes sense from a business standpoint, especially when considering Eufy’s models didn’t look like they’d offer anything more than basic Bluetooth tracking, which Pebblebee, Chipolo, and Motorola currently cover pretty well.
How many identical Bluetooth trackers do we need?
Eufy bowing out isn’t the end of the world
In theory, Eufy withdrawing its basic tracker launch opens a pathway for it to take advantage of newer features like UWB-based AR object finding at close range, or left behind notifications that some of us still naively hope to see manifest. Those may happen someday (the first is more likely than the second), but there’s zero concrete indication right now as to when.
In the meantime, another barely distinguishable Bluetooth tracker wouldn’t serve a ton of purpose, even if it’s a few bucks cheaper than competitors (which is often true of Eufy’s various electronics lineups). Now that the Android Find My Device network functions surprisingly well in some settings, Anker and sub-brand Eufy might find it worthwhile to enter the space at a later date.
Android will help you find sketchy trackers that may be monitoring your location
Better safety for all Android users
While we patiently await that word, boutique gadget developer Rolling Square is poised to drop a pair of FMD trackers — in keychain and card format, not unlike current offerings from Chipolo and Pebblebee — that sport some potentially leading details. An IP68 rating and durability-focused construction could set these apart from the current crop. We’re waiting with bated breath on word of those, as well as on the opportunity to test the Moto Tag, which users have repeatedly called the best Android Bluetooth tracker yet. So stay tuned, because we’re pretty excited this category of devices is finally very much worth reading news about.
