Samsung has launched SmartThings Find, a new service that helps you quickly and easily locate Galaxy devices. After 6 million users across Korea, the U.K. and U.S. signed up for early access to the service, SmartThings Find is ready for a global launch on devices running Android 8 or later.
SmartThings Find uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies to help people find select Galaxy smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and earbuds.
“Utilizing the latest in BLE and UWB technology, SmartThings Find will make your life less stressful when it comes to searching for misplaced Galaxy devices,” said Jaeyeon Jung, Vice President and Head of SmartThings Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics.
“With the added advantage of using AR in conjunction with maps and sounds to guide you back to your devices, SmartThings Find is a simple and visual solution that will help you easily locate your favorite devices. This is just one example of the new meaningful mobile experiences that UWB technology will bring to people across the world.”
After completing a quick registration process, SmartThings users can easily find their Galaxy devices – from smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, down to each individual earbud.
With the SmartThings Find service, you can easily locate your missing device even if it’s offline. That’s because SmartThings users can now opt in to securely use their Galaxy smartphone or tablet to help others locate their lost devices.
Once a device has been offline for 30 minutes, it produces a BLE signal that can be received by other devices. If you report your device as lost via SmartThings Find, any nearby Galaxy smartphone or tablet that has opted into helping find misplaced devices can alert the Samsung server about its location, which will in turn notify you.
All SmartThings Find user data is encrypted and securely protected, ensuring that the device’s location is not revealed to anyone except its owner.
Locating your missing device is a breeze with integrated map directions and the ability to “ring” a lost device to find it more quickly. When you lose a device, you can simply open SmartThings Find on your smartphone or tablet and select the device you want to locate.
Your smartphone will then show you the exact location of your device on a map. Once you’re close to your device, you can choose to either have your device “ring” or locate it using the AR-based Search Nearby function, which displays colour graphics that increase in intensity when you are getting closer to your device.
Starting today, a new software update for the SmartThings app will be released for Galaxy smartphones and tablets running Android 8 or later around the world. After that, users can access the SmartThings Find service by tapping the banner at the bottom of the home screen in the SmartThings app.
In addition, from early next year, Samsung will further expand these capabilities to tracking tags, which will help users locate their favourite items, not only for Galaxy devices, but also others as well.
“We are excited to also be working closely with leading companies in the item-finding space to both expand this experience and enable you to find more of the belongings you care about most,” said Jaeyeon Jung,
“We look forward to sharing more information soon.”
