Older Pixel phones have a weakness when it comes to UWB tracking

Choosing the right Bluetooth tracker can be challenging, but if you want to take advantage of your Android phone’s UWB hardware for precision finding, the choice is simple: the Moto Tag. It’s currently the only UWB-equipped tracker that works with Android, allowing you to precisely pinpoint its location from the Find Hub app.

However, since most Android phones lack UWB, very few devices can use the Moto Tag’s best feature. The technology is only available on select devices in Motorola’s Edge and Razr lines, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S and Z series, and Google’s Pixel phones.

Google wisely added UWB to its Pixel lineup in 2021 starting with the Pixel 6 Pro, anticipating the technology’s expanded use in the years to come. Unfortunately, it seems the specific UWB implementation in these older Pixel phones doesn’t support precision finding, preventing them from using the Moto Tag the same way their more recent counterparts can.

Animation demonstrating precision finding in the Find Hub app. Source: Google.

I recently came across a post on the Pixel support forums from a user complaining that their Pixel 7 Pro can’t use precision finding with their Moto Tag, even though it has the latest firmware. A Google product expert later chimed in with a link to a support page stating that UWB precision finding is only available on the “Pixel 8 series and above (Pro models only).”

This confirms that the Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro don’t support precision finding despite having UWB. The support page doesn’t explain why, and Google didn’t respond to our inquiry, so we can only speculate. Initially, I assumed it was because both phones lacked support for determining the angle-of-arrival (AoA) of a UWB signal, a feature that allows a device to determine the signal’s direction. However, after checking the UWB capabilities of both devices using Android’s UWB API, I found that only the Pixel 6 Pro lacks part of this feature.

The only UWB feature that both the Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro lack compared to newer Pixels is background ranging support. This feature allows an app to use UWB while in the background, but I can’t see why it would be necessary for precision finding when the Find Hub app is in the foreground when tracking. Perhaps it’s necessary for a reason I’m not aware of, or maybe there’s another explanation for the feature’s omission. Only Google really knows, so hopefully, we’ll hear back from the company regarding the requirements for precision finding.