The OnePlus 13 borrows a very useful Find My Device trick from Pixel phones
- The OnePlus 13 can be located even when it is turned off
- OnePlus has enabled the necessary hardware support for the feature
- Google Find My Device received a major update in 2024
Google has given its Find My Device tool a huge upgrade in 2024, one that will help find certain Pixel phones even when they’re turned off. Now it has been confirmed that the new OnePlus 13 will get the same trick.
The Disabled Search option was discovered during testing by Android Authority. It’s certainly a handy feature because if someone swipes your phone, chances are they’ll immediately turn it off so you can’t find it.
Until now, the Google Pixel 8, Google Pixel 8 Pro and Google Pixel 9 handsets were the only ones that could be detected via Find My Device when they were turned off. With other phones, you only get the last reported location before they were turned off.
The addition of the feature adds to the appeal of what is already a hugely impressive phone: in our full OnePlus 13 review, we described it as a “nearly perfect flagship”, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars gifts.
How it works
Here’s the secret to locating a phone that’s turned off: It’s not actually completely turned off. Part of the Bluetooth module remains activated and broadcasts its location to nearby devices on the Find My Device network.
That means you have to rely on other gadgets to find the lost phone. That was another upgrade Google added last year: crowdsourcing the task of finding devices in an anonymous and encrypted way, much like Apple does on its Find My network.
This Bluetooth transmission won’t last indefinitely, but should be good for at least a few hours. It requires both specialized hardware in the phone and the manufacturer to enable it. Therefore, it is currently not widely supported.
Hopefully that will change in 2025. It looks like Google Pixel phones will support the feature in the future, and we’ll have to wait and see if it shows up in the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, which will be unveiled in January. 22.