Google Find Hub is catching up to Apple Find My with left-behind alerts

For the longest time, Google’s Find Hub suffered from a really obvious oversight that competitors like Apple’s Find My did not: missing support for Left-Behind reminders. This missing feature would have definitely held back the Pixel Tag when it went on sale on November 11. Fortunately, Google has some good news.

Google has started rolling out support for “Notify when left behind” alerts for tags and trackers in the Find Hub app on Android, as first spotted by 9to5Google. We’ve previously spotted this feature in development, and it was also included in October’s Play Services update changelog. So its rollout isn’t surprising. However, it is a welcome addition to Find Hub’s capabilities.

To turn it on, open the Find Hub app and select a tag. Then tap the settings icon in the bottom sheet and turn on the “Notify when left behind” toggle. When turned on, Find Hub will send you a notification if the item is separated from your phone. Find Hub will also automatically add an exception for your Home address so you don’t get bombarded by “Item left behind” notifications every time you leave your house.

The feature is showing up with item trackers for users in the US and Europe, according to the outlet. It doesn’t appear for other device types, including headphones, though our teardown surfaced evidence suggesting that Google was working on support for them. It’s likely that the company will add support for Left-Behind reminders for devices in a future update.

Based on the October Play Services update changelog, the app may also offer an option to configure Left-Behind reminders for trackers and devices when they’re first added to the app. Google is also expected to introduce NFC support that lets users quickly identify lost tags by tapping them with their phone.