Many moons after its fabled, partly ill-fated launch, the now-rebranded Google Find Hub actually does a pretty darn good job of locating your minuscule Bluetooth trackers, in addition to the varied, increasing selection of electronics with tracking transceivers built in.

But while some argue it now rivals its nemesis, Apple’s Find My and the AirTag, it still needs to get better. To make that happen, Google appears to be ripping up the original Find My Device/Find Hub enrollment screens, and replacing them with explainers that are far more likely to get the average user on board with the most advanced level of Bluetooth tracking (Source: Android Authority). It also plans to integrate the signup within the initial device setup process, allowing users to make an informed decision right from the get-go.

A long-awaited refinement

Hopefully this fix goes far enough

The Moto Tag is still the only Find Hub tracker with precision UWB locating.

I’m old enough to remember when it was still called the Android Find My Device network, and way back when it launched in April — or was it May? — of 2024, it sure didn’t work very well. A lot of us thought it never would. Mere tech journalists and enthusiasts might never see the inner workings of a global Google device tracking network, but the main problem was pretty clear: not enough people were opting into the most effective setting.

The current enrollment process lists four choices: Off, Without network, With network in high-traffic areas only, and With network in all areas. The first one’s self-explanatory. The second makes it pretty clear that only your own device will ping your trackers. The second and third, quite frankly, aren’t exactly intuitive to somebody who doesn’t enthusiastically follow smartphone news.

Source: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

Be honest. You didn’t know what all this meant the first time you saw it, either.

Right now, quickly signing up without deeply reviewing the screens leaves the “in high-traffic areas only” option selected by default. That’s the one that requires multiple devices to ping the tracker, then anonymizes and aggregates the location data, and sends you an average once it’s calculated. That can take time, and reportedly contributes to Find Hub tracking’s sometimes unsatisfactory performance. Opting into the more effective “in all areas” setting is what gives the tracking network real teeth, and not enough people read closely enough to realize that.

So Google is completely revamping the Find Hub signup dialog, according to the new leak. Instead of a four-part menu list, each with unusual terminology and dropdown explainers, new Find Hub enrollees will see two main options: “Findable everywhere,” and “Findable in busy places only.” That’s the kind of natural-language device setup process that gets the general public on board with powerful-yet-simple features.

Close

‘Findable everywhere’ makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE. Screenshots courtesy of Mishaal Rahman via Android Authority.

To be clear, the functionality itself appears unchanged. Only the menu options are getting updates. If a user still wants Bluetooth tracking but wants a measure of privacy with it, the “in busy places only” option is right there. On the other hand, a considerably more straightforward choice will probably see a higher percentage of users enabling the more powerful option.

Possibly just as helpful, users will now be prompted to enable or disable Bluetooth tracking as a mandatory step during device setup. For now, you need to take the initiative to open Find Hub, then read the options and make a selection. If somebody doesn’t care all that much about Bluetooth trackers, they probably won’t waste their time, and the network won’t continue to expand. With the updated signup, they’ll still have that choice — they’ll just have to make it instead of ignoring it.

Some of us were already pretty impressed with Android’s continued efforts to approach its AirTag rivals’ performance. Hopefully this is the update that really puts it over the edge. After all, it directly addresses the need pointed out by countless Android Police readers and other experts, and it does so without springing privacy changes on anyone without warning.