- Android 15 is adding support for Wi-Fi Ranging
- It locates devices indoors via Wi-Fi signal strength
- Hardware support hasn’t yet rolled out
Google Maps works great when you need to get from point A to point B outdoors, but what about when you’re trying to get from one end of a shopping mall to another? The latest Android 15 update should make that kind of indoor navigation more straightforward.
As spotted by Android Authority, Android 15 now supports a new location technology known as Wi-Fi Ranging: it uses the varying strength of signals from Wi-Fi access points to figure out whereabouts you are.
Technically known as IEEE 802.11az, the Wi-Fi Ranging protocol is accurate to less than a meter (just over three feet) and offers a high level of security and bandwidth (so it should keep working in crowded places).
Most buildings now have a multitude of Wi-Fi hotspots in them, and while Wi-Fi Ranging doesn’t actually connect you to these networks, it can triangulate a position from the different signal strengths as you move around.
Find my device
While there are already several standards in place for indoor tracking, Wi-Fi Ranging does offer a few advantages: compared to Bluetooth and ultra-wideband, it’s cheaper, it scales up better, and it works across longer distances (while being slightly less accurate).
Google has suggested numerous ways in which the tech can be used, from guiding you towards the right part of a store to find the product you’re after, to making smart home apps more intelligent (as you won’t have to say which room you’re in).
Now for the bad news: this requires hardware as well as software support, and (as far as we can tell) it’s not available on any current handsets at the moment. Hopefully that will change in the future, as the software standard gets finalized in Android 15.
Although Android 15 has yet to make it to many phones beyond Google’s own Pixel series, Android 16 is already on the horizon: we know it’s going to turn up in the first half of 2025, and we already have some ideas about the features it’ll include.