Privacy

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Thoughts on Google turning every device into a scanner for Find My Device? (self.privacy)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by s38b35M5 to c/[email protected]

46 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Received notice of a change to the service in my inbox today. Seems icky to me.

Devices in the network use Bluetooth to scan for nearby items. If other devices detect your items, they’ll securely send the locations where the items were detected to Find My Device. Your Android devices will do the same to help others find their offline items when detected nearby

Your devices’ locations will be encrypted using the PIN, pattern, or password for your Android devices. They can only be seen by you and those you share your devices with in Find My Device. They will not be visible to Google or used for other purposes.

ETA: here's the link to opt out: opt out of the network

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We're on the same boat with Fi. I only use it because it's the only service I know about that I can pause and not have to pay when I'm not in the US. I don't live in the US, but I but do have to travel there very frequently, so it's an acceptable trade-off for me. And it works perfectly fine on GrapheneOS even With GMS off.

[–] s38b35M5 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I've been out of the US since late '22 and they still haven't cut my data or sent one email about it. I expected to lose it after 90 days. I get a google play services error once in a while about Fi needing it to have all permissions, but I don't have any problems leaving them off. My next install of lineage I'm going to try no GApps and see if it still works. I know the LOS team say you need it for Fi.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. I also use it when I travel to Canada, Ecuador, Colombia and México, and it just works. I'm telling you, it's been a life saver because the roaming fees from my country's providers are ridiculously high.

I've been expecting Google to kill it like they tend to do with everything people start to like, but it's been over 7 years already, and still going.

I have no idea what the impact would be with LOS, but with GrapheneOS, I don't even get error messages. Granted, I did use play services while setting up the Fi app, then un-installed it all and update from Aurora. Flawless.

[–] s38b35M5 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I've been expecting Google to kill it like they tend to do with everything people start to like, but it's been over 7 years already, and still going.

Don't jinx it!!! 😉

Aurora

I'll be checking this out tonight; thanks for the tip!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Enjoy.