The Fast Pair feature developed by Google is an essential feature for easily searching and connecting to different devices for the first time. It is considered the core code for the connectivity module in the latest Android Open Source Project (AOSP). However, it has been discovered that the code related to this feature has been removed from AOSP by Google themselves. Despite this, the feature still remains on Android phones that have Google Play Services installed.
The removal of this code from AOSP means that devices running Android without Google Play Services will not be able to utilize the Fast Pair feature. The devices that are most impacted by this are those running AOSP in China. To address this, some Chinese OEMs will have to create a similar feature to Fast Pair in order to connect with various devices. However, this will only allow connectivity with devices from their own brand.
Previously, Google aimed to widely distribute the Fast Pair feature on Android. Therefore, Google included Fast Pair in AOSP as a main component of the device connectivity module. The code for Fast Pair and the HalfSheet UX (the pop-up UI that appears when a device is detected) was uploaded to AOSP and released in Android version 13. However, recently, Google removed these codes from AOSP a few days ago. This information was discovered by a user on X/Twitter named Mishaal Rahman.
The trend of moving Android features from AOSP to Google Play Services has been consistent. In fact, with Android 14, the Certification Authority database for certificate verification will also be moved to Google Play Services.
AOSP, or Android Open Source Project, is the source code of the Android operating system that Google releases for free for developers interested in further development.
TL;DR: Google has removed all code related to the Fast Pair feature from AOSP. This means that Android devices without Google Play Services will not have access to the Fast Pair feature. Chinese devices running AOSP will need to create their own similar feature to connect with devices. This move is part of Google’s ongoing trend of transferring Android features from AOSP to Google Play Services.
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