Oliver Haslam·

Apple’s Find My App Is Gaining Support For Third-Party Accessories

Apple’s announcement of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 took place a few days ago but there are still little nuggets of information that we’re working our way through. One of those is the fact that the Find My app is set to gain support for third-party accessories via the new Find My network accessory program.

Just as it sounds, the program will allow third-party products like those from Tile to tie into the Find My app, similar to the Home app and third-party smart home accessories.

‌Find My‌ will add support for finding third-party products and accessories with the new ‌Find My‌ network accessory program. This will allow customers to use the ‌Find My‌ app to locate other important items in their lives, in addition to their Apple devices. User privacy remains central to the ‌Find My‌ network with end-to-end encryption built in. A draft specification is available for accessory makers and product manufacturers starting today.

The timing here is particularly interesting. Apple has been in the dock lately over claims of anti-competitive practices and Tile is one company that has been vocal about the way Apple’s own products and apps have advantages that others don’t. Could this be a move to quell that dissent?

Apple is making the specification available to accessory makers already and it will be interesting to see what kind of adoption it sees.

Apple is already rumored to be launching its own Tile-like competitor, something that upset the incumbent tremendously.

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