Bluetooth 6.0 features better tracking and precision — but what else?

This week, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced Bluetooth 6.0, the brand-new standard that will affect wireless tracking software and digital keys. With enhanced precision, people should find more precise tracking across Find My apps across Apple, Samsung, and Google devices.

Bluetooth 6.0 marks a shift towards better tracking of wireless devices. Using a new feature dubbed Channel Sounding, Bluetooth SIG aims to offer tracking that’s within “centimeter-level accuracy.” Theoretically, this should enable users to track missing phones, wallets, car keys, and anything tethered to a Find My network. The company also claims Bluetooth 6.0 can address some ongoing concerns over security and privacy as communities continue to adopt digital keys.

What is Bluetooth 6.0’s Channel Sounding?

A new protocol standard that gives way to better precision and accurate tracking

The Bluetooth 6.0 specifications introduce the Channel Sounding feature, which is only made possible thanks to the enhancements made through new Bluetooth technologies. Bluetooth Channel Sounding can provide more accurate precision tracking for a lost iPhone or an AirTag attached to a misplaced belonging — according to the Bluetooth SIG, accuracy is boiled down to roughly 0.3 inches. It should be a noticeable improvement over current Find My tracking, which can be somewhat unreliable at the moment.

Currently, many wireless device tracking utilizes Ultra Wideband (UWB). Apple is among those that do, utilizing the UWB chip on its Find My network. Samsung and Google’s devices also support UWB. While its tracking technology is relatively accurate, Bluetooth 6.0 should prove to be a viable alternative for tech companies.

Addressing security and tracking concerns

Developers may be able to address digital key hijackings

As UWB technology became more widely adopted across car keys, digital fobs, wireless trackers, and more, the concern surrounding hackers began to surface. A common worry these days is how easily a digital hotel key or car key can be cloned, and Bluetooth 6.0’s Channel Sounding aims to give developers more tools to help mitigate the risk. By using more precise tracking information, Channel Sounding can ensure that a device can only unlock a car within a closer proximity, which may prevent hackers from obtaining access to the communication between your smartphone and the lock in question.

The other major improvement users can look forward to is improved notification speeds when an item attached to a tracker is left behind. For instance, if you put an AirTag on a piece of luggage and leave it behind at an airport, you’ll receive a notification that you’ve left your belongings behind. However, with an AirTag, that notification doesn’t hit your iPhone until you’re at least 600 feet away, and a Tile tracker’s range is even further, at 1,000 feet, before notifying you. Bluetooth 6.0’s Channel Sounding should cut that level of separation significantly before users are notified.

It should help Bluetooth-enabled devices fall into an inactive status

Power down your phone from far away

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Perhaps one of the lesser-appreciated features announced by Bluetooth SIG is the developers’ improved ability to control the active states of their peripherals. Channel Sounding’s precision tracking will better allow everything from wireless buds to Bluetooth mice, gaming controllers, and more to swap to an inactive state based on the distance from the connected smartphone, laptop, tablet, and more.

This could effectively help save the battery of any connected device, speaking from a personal perspective. There have been so many times I’ve left a connected device turned on and walked away from it with my smartphone. Hours later, I return and find that the battery has been depleted — sometimes only partially, but other times, completely gone. Channel Sounding’s precision control should help mitigate this issue for users like me.