Samsung has taken a cue from Apple and upgraded its "Find My Mobile" app to offline support, allowing a lost phone to be located on other Galaxy devices even if it is not connected to a network

The update to the Find My Mobile feature was discovered by XDA Developer Max Weinbach and has apparently been rolled out over the past few days Our Galaxy Note 10 Plus has not yet received the update, but that may be because we are using the device in the UK and the update may not have reached UK shores yet

The updated "Find My Mobile" app works by using the Galaxy device to scan an area and look for other lost Galaxy gadgets It is unclear how exactly it does this, but presumably it looks for the MAC address associated with the lost device's Bluetooth connection to locate the device, or it uses near field communication technology to detect nearby Galaxy devices

This is a feature that iPhones and iPads have had for some time, and the "Find My iPhone/iPad" app, which is installed on devices by default, can be used to locate devices without a network connection

Indeed, Samsung and Apple's offline location feature requires the phone to be in the location where it was lost However, finding a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra that has fallen out of someone's pocket into the long grass could be a much easier process

The Find my Mobile app also has a new feature that allows users to "encrypt offline location information" It is not clear what it is for, but we would guess that when scanning for its location, its a way for a lost Galaxy device to obscure its location unless someone has the correct password for it Or it could be an additional layer of security to lock down the device's location and keep it away from devices that may not be directly searched

If you don't already have the update, you can wait for it to be pushed to your Galaxy device or go to Samsung's Galaxy Store to download it