SmartThings Find: Samsung's in-demand device location service now includes 300 million nodes

Samsung Electronics' SmartThings Find has added more than 100 million nodes in less than a year. The network is now comprised of 300 million "find nodes" working to help find lost or misplaced devices, the South Korean firm said on Wednesday.

For the unversed, SmartThings Find is an in-demand device location service by Samsung that can quickly locate multiple types of Galaxy devices, including smartphones, tablets, watches, earbuds, SmartTag or SmartTag+2 devices. Each opted-in device has the ability to help locate another device.

According to Samsung, the service has registered 100 million more find nodes since July 2022, achieving 1.5 times growth in less than a year. Find nodes are devices that have been registered on the service to help other Galaxy users to locate their lost devices.

"We're thrilled to witness this fast growth in SmartThings Find. Our connected device ecosystem enables many new possibilities and meaningful benefits, such as alleviating the stress of misplacing a device and ensuring the safety of belongings," said Jaeyeon Jung, Corporate Executive Vice President and Head of SmartThings at Samsung Electronics.

Here's how Samsung's SmartThings Find works:

SmartThings Find leverages Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to locate a lost or misplaced item. If the device is outside of your phone’s range, other nearby Galaxy users who have opted into SmartThings Find can help you locate it. If you grant SmartThings Find permission, it can also alert users that they have left their device behind.

As far as data privacy and security are concerned, SmartThings Find encrypts user data and implements further protection via Samsung Knox. A device's location data is shared only with the explicit consent of the user, and the device ID of each user is randomly changed every 15 minutes and stored anonymously.

In addition, the service offers users further security via its "Unknown tag alerts" feature which sends a notification to the user if an unknown SmartTag is detected following them, providing protection against unauthorized tracking and preventing the abuse of location tracking services.