Lost your AirPods? Here’s how to find them and their cases

By Ashley Simmons

As lovely as it is to use AirPods, the scary thing about them is losing them. I’m not even talking about someone stealing them (even though that’s another way to lose them). 

I’m talking about dropping them somewhere and then not remembering where you dropped them. It happens to the best of us. So, how do you find the AirPods after losing them?

AirPods are an essential asset for iPhone users. You know how difficult or impossible it is to do the little things like listening to music, shows, and even making calls, especially in public. So, even though it might be challenging to keep track of these earphones, it is very important. At some point, some companies made dedicated neck-straps for AirPods to reduce their vulnerability. 

With this in mind, it becomes even more important to learn the use of services such as the Apple Find My App on iPadOS and iOS 13+, and the iCloud’s Find My Service. These services will help you find your AirPods with ease by displaying a map, playing a sound, etc.    

These tools ensure that you’re able to locate the AirPods should they go missing with the help of chimes and mapped locations.    

How to locate the AirPods with these apps?

Once you set up the “Find My App” service on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad, the same service becomes enabled automatically for your AirPods, as well. 

So if you’re looking for your AirPods (one or both of them), you can locate them with the “Find My” service. One caveat: this only works if they’re within Bluetooth range (30 feet or 10 meters) of an iDevice using the same Apple ID. So, this service is effective in your house, your office, car, and other similar confined spaces where you can easily remain within Bluetooth reach.  

However, if you’re outside the Bluetooth range of the AirPods or the battery is flat, this app will give you the location where the AirPods were detected last. You also get to know when it was connected to your device last and where. 

Tracking AirPods with the Find My app

If you want to track your AirPods with the Find My app, here are the steps that you have to take:

1. Open Find My app on your iPhone.
2. Sign in if you’re asked to but use the same Apple ID that the AirPods are connected to.
3. Click on the “Devices” tab at the center bottom of the screen. This will show you all the devices that are signed in and connected to the Apple ID.
4. Click on your Airpod’s name.
5. This will display a map that shows the current location of your AirPods or the last location where it was connected to your device. You’ll also have the option to get directions or play a sound.
6. If you decide to play sound, you’ll hear the AirPods chime if they’re online, and this will increase gradually for two minutes so that you’re able to locate them. Look for the AirPods one at a time by clicking on right or left. Click on Stop once you’ve found them. This action is kept pending if the AirPods are offline. If you’re looking for just one AirPods, be sure to remove the other from your ear before playing the sound.
7. If you decide to choose Directions, the map will open and show you to the specified location.

If the AirPods are entirely out of charge, this app shows the last known location or where it was last connected. In this case, you won’t be able to display location or even play a sound because they are not connected to your iDevice through Bluetooth at the time.

How to use iCloud to find my AirPods?

To find your AirPods from the iCloud website, follow the following instructions.

1. Surf the iCloud website from a computer.
2. Sign in with the Apple ID that the AirPods is connected to.
3. Click on Find iPhone.
4. If it requests for your Apple ID password, be generous to enter it.
5. Click on all devices.
6. It will show a list of devices from which you’ll choose your AirPods. You’ll see a green dot if the AirPods are online, but you’ll see a gray dot instead if it’s offline or out of charge. If this is the case, you’ll also get a map that shows the location where the AirPods was last connected.
7. If you click on “Play Sound,” it plays a chirping sound and gets louder with time.
8. If you’re looking for one AirPods, mute the other one that’s with time.

Conclusion

As crucial as these AirPods are, they are also very vulnerable, especially to getting lost. So you have to take extra care when handling them to ensure that you don’t lose or misplace them. However, if the inevitable happens, you can find them with the “Find My” app on your iPhone.

Ashley Simmons is a professional journalist and editor. She has been working as a paper writer in a newspaper in Salt Lake City for four years. She’s a content writing expert in such topics as psychology, modern education, business, and marketing innovations. Also, she’s a master in her craft.