What SmartThings Find gives Android users
A crowd-sourced network of Galaxy devices reporting sightings, ringing, and offline finding for Galaxy Buds, watches, tags and phones. It is a good system.
It requires a Samsung account on an Android device. There is no equivalent iPhone route.
What works from an iPhone
- A general Bluetooth scan. Galaxy Buds, watches and tags all broadcast standard Low Energy advertisements that any phone can read.
- Signal-strength search for the final approach, which is where most household losses are actually resolved.
- Last-seen positions recorded by your own phone.
What does not
Network-scale finding. If a Galaxy device leaves your Bluetooth range, an iPhone has no way to reach it. Borrowing an Android phone to sign into SmartThings Find is the only real answer to that case.
Other comparisons
How this sits against the rest of what is available.
- Google’s Find Hub and iPhone owners
- Why iPhone Settings doesn’t show every device
- Free or paid: what actually differs
- How to choose a Bluetooth finder app for iPhone
- Tile, Chipolo and budget tags: what the app adds
- Save the devices you care about, My Devices tab
- MAC randomisation: Rotating Bluetooth identifiers
- All comparisons, the complete list
Common questions
Can I use SmartThings Find on an iPhone?
No. It requires an Android device signed into a Samsung account. A Bluetooth scan is the local alternative and covers the in-range case.
In the app: This is what the app does. Read about Bluetooth Scanner.