Samsung launches SmartThings Find to help you find your Galaxy devices

The newly launched service will arrive as a part of a software update on all Galaxy smartphones and tablets around the world running on Android 8 or newer version of Android operating system.

Notably, this service is available for select Galaxy devices this year. However, Samsung says that from early next year, it will further expand these capabilities to tracking tags. (REUTERS)

Samsung on Friday launched its SmartThings Find service. The newly launched service will arrive as a part of a software update on all Galaxy smartphones and tablets around the world running on Android 8 or newer version of Android operating system.

Once the update has been installed, users can access the SmartThings Find service by tapping the banner at the bottom of the home screen in the SmartThings app.

To give you a quick brief about the service, Samsung's SmartThings Find service enables Galaxy smartphone users to find other Galaxy devices such as smartwatches and earbuds. Samsung's SmartThings Find service uses Bluetooth Low Energy BLE and ultra-wideband technologies to help people find select Galaxy smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and earbuds.

Samsung says that with its SmartThings Find service, users can easily locate their missing device even if it's offline. Once a device has been offline for 30 minutes, it produces a BLE signal that can be received by other devices. If users report that their device has been 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 the user.

Samsung says that the All SmartThings Find user data is encrypted and securely protected, ensuring that the device's location is not revealed to anyone except its owner.

Using this service is extremely easy. When a user loses a device, they can open SmartThings Find on their smartphones or tablets and select the device that they want to locate. Their smartphone will then show the exact location of the device on a map. Once they are close to the lost device, they can choose to either have your device “ring” or locate it using the AR-based Search Nearby function, which displays color graphics that increase in intensity when they are getting closer to the lost device.

Notably, this service is available for select Galaxy devices this year. However, Samsung says that from early next year, it will further expand these capabilities to tracking tags.