Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

PaKa — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:45:11 GMT

This is a discussion you must take with Apple for FMN and Google for FMD. This is not supported by the current specification.

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

koldybin — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:37:29 GMT

Hello pkaz,

We produce wearable emergency call buttons for nursing homes. One of the functions is to use Bluetooth to determine the room the patient is in. If the patient leaves the building, their location may be lost. Is it theoretically possible to search for our emergency tags through the FindMy network if they sent advertising packets using the AirTag protocol? As far as I know, only 32 AirTags can be registered on one Apple ID. Is it possible to remove this limitation? Or is there another limitation for companies?

I would be glad to receive any advice

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

PaKa — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 11:25:22 GMT

Thanks for notifying us, this was a glitch on the website and we will add it to that page. You can fit a single network solution on the nRF52833 but not a dual one on chip. If you add an external memory then you should be able to do a dual.

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

MagnusPersson — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 10:18:51 GMT

Hi,

In the list of supported SoC's for Google Find My device at https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Technologies/Find-my-Device nRF52833 is missing.

if I understand your answer correctly this SoC should also work but may need external memory for dual network support?

Thanks!

-Magnus

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

droberson — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 19:26:00 GMT

Hey Paweł,

Thanks for the feedback! I will keep this in mind.

Derek

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

pkaz — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:43:23 GMT

Hello Derek,

If you intend to use the stock SDKs - then yes, the nRF52840 is the way to go. You will also need to figure out a cross platform DFU solution and a few other items (like the DULT standard compatibility) if you intend to integrate both Apple Find My and Google's Find My Device in one product.

With the specifications on hand - take a closer look at the requirements and review them in regards to your intended use case, to make sure it will be compliant from the specifications and safety standpoint.

If you want to save yourself significant effort - feel free to shoot me an email or reach out to oem@pebblebee.com
We may be able to help, as we've already been through that path and we have a few solutions that could make your time to market much faster.

You can also take a look at our profile on the Nordic Partner Program here.

BR,

Paweł

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

droberson — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 16:45:29 GMT

Hello SwRa,

Thanks for your reply! I will use the nRF52840 as a benchmark without external memory. I have also finally found the spec for Apple and Google Find My technologies which also helps. These tracker devices are quite a bit more complicated than I anticipated from a requirements standpoint.

Thanks!

Derek

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

droberson — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 16:38:38 GMT

Hello billtsai,

Thanks for the reply! Ah, I see. I wasn't able to find the specifications for the Apply Find My technology without signing up for a MFi account until yesterday. I still haven't signed up, but I found an outdated PDF version online. It's interesting that Apple doesn't make the high-level requirements publicly available without jumping through hoops, unless I missed it somewhere. Especially for people who just want to evaluate the technology.

It looks like Apple requires +8 dBm output power from what I have inferred. Google doesn't have a definitive requirements on this from what I have read other than "Provider devices should advertise at a low transmit power (TxPower) to limit exposure of the advertised device. However, the power shall be high enough such that the advertisement is visible by any phone at least 1 meter away"

So that makes sense. The nRF5340 is +3 dBm and requires a front-end module to boost the output if you want to use that for Apple. Otherwise, the nRF52832, nRF52840, and nRF54L15 all have +8 dBm output power and should work for both Apple and Google.

Edit: To your point, Apple also requires support for DFU (Firmware OTA). Google doesn't seem to require it, but suggests it "should" support it. I didn't know this at the time.

Thanks!

Derek

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

SwRa — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 12:36:46 GMT

Hi Derek,

Sorry for the delay..

[quote user=""]1. What is the limiting factor that allows the nRF5340 to support Google's "Find My Device" but not Apple's "Find My" technologies?[/quote]

Apple has some additional requirements that the nRF5340 doesn't meet and that is described in the FMN spec and in the FMN SDK, basically you need a FEM to use the nRF5340 for FMN. The device itself supports it and the code for implementing it available, just add the FEM (PA is what is needed).

[quote user=""] As long as the module has BLE support, the only limiting factor should be flash and RAM, correct? If not, what are the other limiting factors?[/quote]

Yes, Memory is the primary restriction for using FMN and/or FMD. Other limiting factors might be there which can only be evaluated once we have a clear idea on the application.

[quote user=""]What is the minimum flash and RAM required to implement a simple tracker that supports both Google "Find My Device" and Apple "Find My" technologies?[/quote]

Minimum device for a simple single network tracker is the nRF52832 with 512kB flash.

[quote user=""] Is there anything stopping someone from implementing both of these technologies on a nRF52820 for example[/quote]

The nRF52820 can not run FMD or FMN due to lack of memory (flash and ram are both too small). For a dual network support without external memory, the current minimum is the nRF52840 but we are looking at other options for later. With external memory you can use the nRF52832 again, external memory will then only be used for DFU.

Regards,

Swathy

RE: Apple and Google "Find My" technologies and supported modules

billtsai — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 05:33:45 GMT

Hi,

nRF5340's maximum tx power is 3dbm and this can't meet Apple Find my's spec.

I think nRF52820 does not have enough flash size to implement dual bank OTA.