Samsung may be getting an offline Find My Mobile feature
The Find My Mobile feature for Samsung devices makes it easier for owners to locate their device if they have lost or misplaced it. You can even use the feature to unlock your device if you’ve somehow forgotten your password. But what happens if the phone you’re looking for is currently offline? Samsung may be offering users a solution soon as someone has spotted an offline option which will let you use other nearby Galaxy devices to help you find your own smartphone or tablet.
XDA Developer’s Max Weinbach tweeted out his discovery that Samsung seems to have added a new feature in Find My Mobile. There’s now an offline finding page and you can toggle on the switch at the top of the page. Basically what it does is to let you find your device even when it’s not connected to a network. You will depend on other nearby Galaxy devices to help detect where your smartphone or tablet is as it will show up on the app if it’s nearby.
Looks like Samsung just added offline finding to Samsung’s Find My Mobile.
Let’s you track your phone even if it doesn’t have WiFi or cellular by using other Galaxy users. pic.twitter.com/psLl1rcb4X
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) August 22, 2020
By toggling the feature on, you’re also letting your device be used if someone else’s phone is missing and it is offline. The lost device will show up on your phone also if it’s near to you. The Samsung page also says that it can be used to find watches and earbuds “if this was the last device they connected to.” Hopefully, there will be other Samsung users near your lost device to help you out. Otherwise, this offline feature is basically useless.
You should get a notification if the Find My Mobile offline feature is available for you already, like what Weinbach received on his phone. Or you can also go to Find My Mobile directly to see if there’s an offline finding page already. You also will see the “encrypt offline location” option there for you although it doesn’t really explain what effect it will have if you turn it on or off. There doesn’t seem to be any other setting on the page.
Some users are not seeing it yet on their device so we don’t know if this is a server update or if it’s still being tested out on random devices. We’ll probably find out more once Samsung makes an official announcement.
