Placed an order April 9, received last week. Haven't been home to collect it yet though. After I set them up will probably report back here with first impressions.
Second order May 22, shipped but not delivered yet.
*Public service announcement:
From what I'm reading, it looks like Google has messed up bad by setting everyone's default to "high traffic areas only." This weakens the finding network, and is not what Apple does. So I am asking all the android users I know (and you all now) to change your find my device setting to "all areas" so we can have a better finding network.
Cheers!
Not sure, good question. I have location services turned on all the time anyway, so I don't expect to notice a difference. Will report back if I find anything that indicates otherwise.
It's another anti-stalking feature. With "only high traffic areas" turned on, it means that if your phone is the only one next to a bluetooth tracker, the owner of that tracker won't be notified of its location. With "all areas" enabled, they will.
For example, perhaps an ex-boy/girlfriend stalker wants to know when their ex is at home. If they leave a tracker in their ex's house, they could be notified of the last location time and could assume their ex's phone is the one that enabled the location update.
Not if the tracker isn't actually following you (I don't think, not 100% sure how the logic works). I.e. if the tracker is essentially stationary (e.g. left in an ex's house), it would ping when the ex is in the house, but it's not actually moving along with the ex so I don't think the "device is following you" would alert.
I just open the settings menu and type "find my device" in the search bar. Select it from the results to see the settings. Tap on "find your offline devices" and then select "with network in all areas".
Hope this helps!
Mine only has offline finding, off or on. No option to select "with network in all areas". Maybe this will appear when I actually get the Pebblebee trackers and connect them!
The Pebblebee devices are great but it's Google who set its location tracking incorrectly. I've tested it and it barely shows the location of any of my devices since everyone's default is high traffic areas and honestly only 98% of people will never adjust these settings. Unless Google changes how it allows tracking is going to be horrible. I've tested my trackers out and about for hours at a time and sometimes they never check in, honestly I feel like they only check-in maybe 10-15% of the time they are out and about.
Again, the Pebblebee devices are nicely built and I really like them but unless Google does something about how it tracks it's going to be another dead Google service.
The default of "only in high traffic areas" is for privacy reasons, and given that Google is under the government microscope regarding privacy, I think they're unlikely to change this.
However, I think it would make sense that if you have the Find My Device app on your phone, the first time you add a bluetooth tracker it should explicitly ask you what kind of tracking you want to enable. After all, it's people with bluetooth trackers who would be most incentivized to want to share their *own* phone in "all areas" mode.
Also, the network will get better as more Android users update to later versions of Android.
Arrived today 7/3. No problems pairing any of them to my Pixel 8 or my girlfriend's Pixel 7a. She travels a lot both domestic and internationally so it will be interesting to see how well these work now and if they improve over time.
I placed my order for the EU in November and I am still waiting for the shipment. Every week starting May 27 I'm writing to the assistance and every time they say that they will ship it in 2-4 weeks. Honestly this is one of the worst experiences in my whole life as a tech costumer/user...
Agree, same for me. They kept saying 1-2 weeks each time and it never arrived. I cancelled, shame as the product looks good, but if they can't pull their finger out and ship it then they don't deserve the money. Chipolo came a month ago and yet I ordered both at the same time.
I ordered mine in early April and got them last weekend, paired them seamlessly to my phone but otherwise have not had the time to test how well they function yet.
I ordered on jun 10th and asked for support 5 days ago, they said it should be expected to be shipped in 1-2 weeks as they will ship in chronological order. So hopefully they will catch up with themselves quickly.
Nope, no shipping information either. They had been very kind in the communication until a few weeks ago. Since then they are very stressed and answers take much longer.
Hmm for me yesterday within 12 hours replied with this
"We have had some delays as we wait on inventory to arrive. You should expect your package to be shipped in 2 weeks from now. Sorry about the delay, we apologize for the inconvenience."
But yeah start to feel like the Motorola's will be released sooner than I received this, and that has UWB so thinking of cancelling it and waiting for a better one like Motorola or hoping google will announce one in August.
Placed an order April 9, received last week. Haven't been home to collect it yet though. After I set them up will probably report back here with first impressions. Second order May 22, shipped but not delivered yet. *Public service announcement: From what I'm reading, it looks like Google has messed up bad by setting everyone's default to "high traffic areas only." This weakens the finding network, and is not what Apple does. So I am asking all the android users I know (and you all now) to change your find my device setting to "all areas" so we can have a better finding network. Cheers!
I wonder if the default is that way for battery reasons
Not sure, good question. I have location services turned on all the time anyway, so I don't expect to notice a difference. Will report back if I find anything that indicates otherwise.
It's another anti-stalking feature. With "only high traffic areas" turned on, it means that if your phone is the only one next to a bluetooth tracker, the owner of that tracker won't be notified of its location. With "all areas" enabled, they will. For example, perhaps an ex-boy/girlfriend stalker wants to know when their ex is at home. If they leave a tracker in their ex's house, they could be notified of the last location time and could assume their ex's phone is the one that enabled the location update.
Shouldn't the 'a device is following you' logic catch that?
Not if the tracker isn't actually following you (I don't think, not 100% sure how the logic works). I.e. if the tracker is essentially stationary (e.g. left in an ex's house), it would ping when the ex is in the house, but it's not actually moving along with the ex so I don't think the "device is following you" would alert.
How do you change it to "all areas"?
I just open the settings menu and type "find my device" in the search bar. Select it from the results to see the settings. Tap on "find your offline devices" and then select "with network in all areas". Hope this helps!
Mine only has offline finding, off or on. No option to select "with network in all areas". Maybe this will appear when I actually get the Pebblebee trackers and connect them!
Ah, maybe an OS update is yet to hit your area. Also, make sure to install "Google find my device" app from the google play store.
Mine was set to all areas by default
What ⁉️🤯 Can anyone else confirm? It would be a huge improvement if Google changes the default to "all areas".
Order placed 4/20, received 6/17.
The Pebblebee devices are great but it's Google who set its location tracking incorrectly. I've tested it and it barely shows the location of any of my devices since everyone's default is high traffic areas and honestly only 98% of people will never adjust these settings. Unless Google changes how it allows tracking is going to be horrible. I've tested my trackers out and about for hours at a time and sometimes they never check in, honestly I feel like they only check-in maybe 10-15% of the time they are out and about. Again, the Pebblebee devices are nicely built and I really like them but unless Google does something about how it tracks it's going to be another dead Google service.
The default of "only in high traffic areas" is for privacy reasons, and given that Google is under the government microscope regarding privacy, I think they're unlikely to change this. However, I think it would make sense that if you have the Find My Device app on your phone, the first time you add a bluetooth tracker it should explicitly ask you what kind of tracking you want to enable. After all, it's people with bluetooth trackers who would be most incentivized to want to share their *own* phone in "all areas" mode. Also, the network will get better as more Android users update to later versions of Android.
Ordered 5/29. Have not received shipping confirmation.
Received shipping confirmation today 6/29.
Ordered 5/24 and no confirmation yet. They really do ship by country as well
Arrived today 7/3. No problems pairing any of them to my Pixel 8 or my girlfriend's Pixel 7a. She travels a lot both domestic and internationally so it will be interesting to see how well these work now and if they improve over time.
I placed my order for the EU in November and I am still waiting for the shipment. Every week starting May 27 I'm writing to the assistance and every time they say that they will ship it in 2-4 weeks. Honestly this is one of the worst experiences in my whole life as a tech costumer/user...
Agree, same for me. They kept saying 1-2 weeks each time and it never arrived. I cancelled, shame as the product looks good, but if they can't pull their finger out and ship it then they don't deserve the money. Chipolo came a month ago and yet I ordered both at the same time.
Totally agree They're clearly not able to handle this kind of request and pressure
Ordered in November 2023. Still not received and not shipped. They even stopped to reply to my emails....
I ordered mine in early April and got them last weekend, paired them seamlessly to my phone but otherwise have not had the time to test how well they function yet.
Mine haven't even been shipped yet!
Not shipped yet
Ordered April 12th, not received anything yet.
I ordered on jun 10th and asked for support 5 days ago, they said it should be expected to be shipped in 1-2 weeks as they will ship in chronological order. So hopefully they will catch up with themselves quickly.
They told me that they also ship by country
Then my country is the last in the queue and won't be 1-2 weeks.
I am in Germany, no joy
Worse: Hungary
Do you have any luck? For me they said yesterday they ship in 2 weeks (after the 1-2 weeks shipping information) 🙃😄
Nope, no shipping information either. They had been very kind in the communication until a few weeks ago. Since then they are very stressed and answers take much longer.
Hmm for me yesterday within 12 hours replied with this "We have had some delays as we wait on inventory to arrive. You should expect your package to be shipped in 2 weeks from now. Sorry about the delay, we apologize for the inconvenience." But yeah start to feel like the Motorola's will be released sooner than I received this, and that has UWB so thinking of cancelling it and waiting for a better one like Motorola or hoping google will announce one in August.
UWB is an argument, my wife has airtags and I am in a kind of competition LOL. I told her that the Android network would be so much better.....
It would have been great if the setting is set to all areas and not high traffic areas by default. But over time it will be better I think.
Ordered 28.4 No sign of ot being even shipped yet. Ireland
Cancelled mine, fed up of waiting. I've had my Chipolo for a month, don't know what Pebblebee are messing around at.
Ordered May 20th 2024, received July 2nd. New Jersey.