Older Pixel telephones have a weak point relating to UWB monitoring

Replace 1, October 28, 2025 (2:33 PM ET): Google has confirmed to Android Authority that UWB precision discovering is just enabled on the Pixel 8 collection and later, which means the Pixel 8 Professional, Pixel 9 Professional, Pixel 9 Professional XL, Pixel 9 Professional Fold, Pixel 10 Professional, Pixel 10 Professional XL, and Pixel 10 Professional Fold. The corporate didn’t share why the function isn’t enabled on the Pixel 6 Professional or Pixel 7 Professional, nevertheless.

Authentic article, October 28, 2025 (12:46 PM ET): Selecting the best Bluetooth tracker will be difficult, however if you wish to reap the benefits of your Android telephone’s UWB {hardware} for precision discovering, the selection is straightforward: the Moto Tag. It’s at present the one UWB-equipped tracker that works with Android, permitting you to exactly pinpoint its location from the Discover Hub app.

Nonetheless, since most Android telephones lack UWB, only a few units can use the Moto Tag’s greatest function. The know-how is just accessible on choose units in Motorola’s Edge and Razr traces, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S and Z collection, and Google’s Pixel telephones.

Google properly added UWB to its Pixel lineup in 2021 beginning with the Pixel 6 Professional, anticipating the know-how’s expanded use within the years to come back. Sadly, it appears the precise UWB implementation in these older Pixel telephones doesn’t assist precision discovering, stopping them from utilizing the Moto Tag the identical manner their more moderen counterparts can.

Animation demonstrating precision discovering within the Discover Hub app. Supply: Google.

I lately got here throughout a put up on the Pixel assist boards from a person complaining that their Pixel 7 Professional can’t use precision discovering with their Moto Tag, though it has the most recent firmware. A Google product skilled later chimed in with a hyperlink to a assist web page stating that UWB precision discovering is just accessible on the “Pixel 8 collection and above (Professional fashions solely).”

This confirms that the Pixel 6 Professional and Pixel 7 Professional don’t assist precision discovering regardless of having UWB. The assist web page doesn’t clarify why, and Google didn’t reply to our inquiry, so we are able to solely speculate. Initially, I assumed it was as a result of each telephones lacked assist for figuring out the angle-of-arrival (AoA) of a UWB sign, a function that enables a tool to find out the sign’s path. Nonetheless, after checking the UWB capabilities of each units utilizing Android’s UWB API, I discovered that solely the Pixel 6 Professional lacks a part of this function.

The one UWB function that each the Pixel 6 Professional and Pixel 7 Professional lack in comparison with newer Pixels is background ranging assist. This function permits an app to make use of UWB whereas within the background, however I can’t see why it will be vital for precision discovering when the Discover Hub app is within the foreground when monitoring. Maybe it’s vital for a cause I’m not conscious of, or possibly there’s one other clarification for the function’s omission. Solely Google actually is aware of, so hopefully, we’ll hear again from the corporate relating to the necessities for precision discovering.