Implement Find My Device Network (Tracker Support)

[dylangerdaly]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Tag Tracking is coming to Android, this issue shall serve as a megathread for implementing Tag Tracking within microG.

Allowing the user to log then report seen tags, or totally disable the entire feature would be a major plus.

Alternatively allowing the user to just log seen tags would also be neat.

Given the open source nature of microG, it may even be possible to have Google's Product and Apple's FindMy feature interoperate within microG.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/google-plans-airtag-clone-will-track-devices-with-3-billion-android-phones/ https://twitter.com/Za_Raczke/status/1615062461744549888

[alex9099]

Disable entirely may actually hurt one's privacy. As "everyone" has a phone with play services, if a tag is with you, you'd more than likely be tracked without you knowing.

At least being alerted a tag has been with you for some time would be a "critical" feature

Implementation wise as it says on the twitter thread it will likely use UWB and BLE. On my research about nearby (share) I've seen that google already has some code available for UWB and BLE on the nearby implementation. Not entirely sure if it would already be accepting those tags

[alex9099]

Relevant project https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard/

[Idcrafter]

implementing a similar feature to how google did it in Play services would be great for microG do have only it be the only application to run in the background and do that and because it's often installed as system app would it also have maybe better chances to find hidden trackers and because it has Network location services does it also have a record of the location already which would make it better to log the location to maybe show that to law enforcement.

[dylangerdaly]

Willing to start with a bounty for $200USD, as mentioned before this should fully implement Google's FindMy Network, allowing users to buy and use trackers with Google's FindMy Network, while giving microG users the ability to log requests sent to Google's backend, or disable it completely.

Relevant project https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard/

This looks great, but it only alerts you if it detects a tag following you, I'd like to see the entire feature implemented within microG, with more options.

[freshgum-bubbles]

At the risk of being ants at a picnic, what would the legality of this look like? Tapping into Google's proprietary network might result in a DMCA. I especially doubt Apple would be very happy -- it would be wise to make sure this is actually legally feasible before going through the trouble of RE & building (and testing) it in microG. Further, if something is done, perhaps doing it out-of-tree would be wise.

Nevertheless, if this could be implemented, I've love to see it. Always wanted some sort of open-source Find My solution :-)

[account183892]

It would be the same as how Safetynet works where it is a free client implementation while it connects to the non free Google servers. Just make it a toggle in the services like location access.

[RedAuburn]

https://www.techradar.com/phones/android/android-find-my-device

there looks to be a very big update to the FMD network incoming, including tracking items like Find My.

[LxtteDev]

Not being able to use Find My has been a major friction point for moving to any degoogled system. Although Google having access to my location is a bit much, it's a negative I'm willing to live with.

[Idcrafter]

adding a Find My Device Feature to microG that works even if you're Phone is offline and also keeping privacy would be a great thing, it already has the location data and is mostly used and installed as system app. via ble would it be able to locate other devices if they are offline. it probably isn't a high priority to make such a system and hosting and managing such a backend for all that data is also not easy.

[rugk]

hosting and managing such a backend for all that data is also not easy.

Wait no. As all other services microG uses, it would obviously (need to) use the official Google (or whatever the cross-platform thingy between Apple und Google is then/now called) backend. Otherwise, devices could not find each other… After all, there is some similarity (and previous work/implementation here in microG) to the (covid) exposure notifications.

[Cassander313]

Has anyone had any luck reverse engineering the google findmy system?