Even before the launch of Apple AirTags, the Cupertino company launched the Find My network accessory program with support for third-party products and accessories. Through the program, device and product manufacturers can build finding capabilities directly into their products using the Find My network ecosystem with privacy built in, and allowing users to use the Find My app on their devices to locate all important items in their lives. Details about the program can be found at mfi.apple.com.
The Chipolo ONE Spot item finder, which can easily be attached to personal items to allow users to find them, was one of the first products to be unveiled and was designed using Nordic’s Apple Find My network compatible SDK. The new Nordic SDK also supported the design of Bluetooth Low Energy Find My-enabled products such as Belkin’s Soundform Freedom wireless earbuds.
“The Apple Find My network delivers a solution for helping consumers keep track of their important devices while fully protecting the owner’s privacy,” comments Pär Håkansson, Nordic’s Product Manager for Short Range IoT. “With Nordic’s SDK, developers can create products which take advantage of the powerful Find My network. The end-products become part of the Apple ecosystem which ensures vast tracking coverage and helps consumers find their devices more easily.”
“While finding solutions have been on the market for a while, the Find My network’s enhanced privacy and global coverage, made up of hundreds of millions of Apple devices, makes this sector an even better prospect for manufacturers. Companies such as Belkin, with its Soundform Freedom wireless earbuds, and Chipolo, with its Chipolo ONE Spot item finder, have already taken advantage of Nordic’s technology for their Find My-enabled devices,” adds Håkansson.
For Apple MFi Program members only, Nordic has extended its software offering to include Apple Find My network technology options. In addition to new products, Find My network support can be easily added to existing Nordic Bluetooth LE-enabled devices. This means dvelopers can incorporate Find My functionality into their wireless end-products without major changes to form-factor or design.
“Incorporating Apple Find My network technology into Belkin’s Soundform Freedom wireless earbuds will improve the user experience for our customers and means they will no longer need an external tracker attached to the earbuds to be able to locate them,” comments Andrew Camba, Director of Product Management, audio category, Belkin International. “Belkin has added the feature without sacrificing battery life, thus making the wireless earbuds an even more compelling purchase.”
Another Find My network-enabled device based on Nordic Semiconductor technology is the Chipolo ONE Spot item finder, which can easily be attached to keys, a backpack or almost anything else so users can track down their lost items. “By using the Nordic Find My network SDK as a starting point for implementing our solution, we offloaded a lot of software work,” comments Jure Zdovc, Chipolo’s CTO. “This allowed us to complete the Chipolo ONE Spot in record time and to be one of the first companies to launch a Find My-enabled device.”
Nordic’s nRF52 Series SoCs meet the challenges of a broad range of applications that need advanced Bluetooth LE connectivity, protocol concurrency and a rich and varied set of peripherals and features. The SoCs are based around powerful 64 MHz 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 processors and offer up to 1 MB Flash and 256 KB RAM. The multi-protocol radios offers up to +8 dBm power output and -96 dBm sensitivity (1 Mbps Bluetooth LE throughout).
www.nordicsemi.com
