Find My iPhone

How to find an iPhone with Apple Watch

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There are several ways you can quickly find a misplaced iPhone with another Apple device.
There are several ways you can quickly find a misplaced iPhone with another Apple device.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Everyone misplaces their iPhone.* You’re walking around, you set down your iPhone, you do some chores, you get ready to go. Where is it? If you own an Apple Watch, it really is the fastest way to find your lost iPhone.

It’s totally easy to ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch. At the push of a button, you can make your iPhone ring, even if it’s on silent. And, while you might know about the basic feature that lets you ping your iPhone, the Apple Watch also offer advanced options for tracking down your missing device.

Bonus: Even if you don’t own an Apple Watch, anyone in your Family Sharing group can ring your iPhone even louder with the Find My app. And if you don’t have a family, you can use any other device signed into your Apple account.

iPhone X survives 11,000-foot fall from an airplane

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An iPhone X fell about 11,000 feet from a Diamond DA40 aircraft -- and survived!
An iPhone X fell about 11,000 feet from a Diamond DA40 aircraft -- and survived!
Photo: Diamond Aircraft

You know how technology publications do “drop tests” on gadgets like smartphones, just to see if the thing is likely to survive if and when you knock yours off the kitchen counter? Well, an iPhone X recently passed an accidental drop test from 11,000 feet. From an airplane.

Apple leaks AirTags name in support video

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airtags
Oops! Whoever did this is getting fired.
Photo: Apple

The official name of Apple’s Bluetooth tracking tiles leaked online on Thursday and Apple only has itself to blame.

Apple published a new iPhone support video on YouTube the educates customers on how to erase your iPhone that made reference to ‘AirTags’ that have been rumored to be coming down the product pipeline since last year.

Apple Watch thieves arrested after owner ‘pings’ device during police search

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Apple Watch thieves arrested after owner 'pings' device during police search
Lesson: Don't steal an Apple Watch.
Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac

Two possible Apple Watch thieves have been jailed after the rightful owner “pinged” the device while police officers were searching the thieves’ home.

Pinging an Apple Watch from an iPhone is a way to find your watch if you’ve somehow misplaced it. From the sound of things, it’s pretty great to do if a couple of criminals have stolen your Apple Watch, too.

Court backs ex-Apple engineer who says he was left off inventors’ list

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Find my iPhone
Inventor worked on "Find My iPhone," among other features.
Photo: Apple

The ex-Apple engineer who claims he helped invent “Find My iPhone” and other features has beaten Apple in a preliminary court hearing.

Apple lost its bid to dismiss the former employee’s lawsuit earlier this week. The suit claims Apple left him off a list of five patents on which he was a rightful co-inventor. Along with “Find My iPhone,” Darren Eastman also notably worked on Passbook, the electronic ticketing system.

It’s not just you, Apple online services hit with multiple problems [Updated]

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Out of Order
This sign should be posted on many of Apple’s iCloud services.
Photo: publicdomainpictures.net

Apple reports that every iCloud service is currently experiencing problems. This affects users of iCloud Drive, Keychain and many more.

However, this doesn’t seem to be cropping up for every user. And many of this company’s other online services are running fine.

Update (3:40pm): All today’s issues with Apple services have been cleared up.

Rumor roundup: What to expect in iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 [Video]

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holding iPhone with
iOS 13 could offer tons of huge improvements to Apple's mobile operating system.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

The last few weeks have been packed with rumors and leaks about what Apple may have in store for us with iOS 13 and macOS 10.15. With so much information coming out day after day, it’s hard to keep track of all the possible rumors.

Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled the full list of expected features coming this year to iOS and macOS. From dark mode to iPad updates, and new Mac apps to Siri improvements, here’s everything we are expecting (so far) in iOS 13 and macOS 10.15.

Surfer finds Apple Watch lost at sea for 6 months – and it still works!

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Apple Watch lost at sea found
Robert Bainter lost his watch in the Pacific Ocean. It returned to his wrist six months later.
Screenshot: KTLA 5 TV

Forget the needle in the haystack. The odds of finding an Apple Watch lost to the Pacific Ocean are much worse.

But a body surfer from Huntington Beach, Calif. got lucky and was reunited with his Apple Watch six months after losing it to a big wave.

And it still works.

Revamped Find My iPhone app may get Tile-like item tracker

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Tile will speak out against Apple in Congress antitrust hearing
A Tile tracking tag can be used find lost items. Apple is reportedly designing a rival.
Photo: Tile

Find My iPhone and Find My Friends are currently separate applications, but Apple is reportedly going to merge them in future versions of iOS and mac OS, and add useful features.

In addition, the company is supposedly developing its own tracker tag that will apparently compete with Tile.

Find My iPhone tracks down possible armed mugger

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Find My iPhone
Scourge of thieves everywhere.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

iPhones’ high market price makes them tantalizing to thieves. Unfortunately (for criminals, at least) Apple also provides ways for these devices to be tracked down if they’re lost or displaced.

James Antonio Pradia learned this lesson the hard way this week. On Wednesday, the 27-year-old was indicted for robbing a wallet and iPhone at gunpoint. It seems that he didn’t know about the “Find my iPhone” feature.

How to find your iPhone when it’s muted

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Find My iPhone can be used for much more than just tracking iPhone-stealing criminals.
Find My iPhone can be used for much more than just tracking iPhone-stealing criminals.
Photo: Apple

Before you read the rest of this article about how to find your iPhone, check down the back of the sofa. No? OK, what about the pocket in the jacket you wore today? Still no? OK. Read on.

It might sound crazy to write about how to find your iPhone. After all, everyone knows about Find My iPhone, right? Well, perhaps. You know that it can be used to track a stolen iPhone on a map, if the perp hasn’t switched it off (which they almost certainly have).

But at least one writer here at Cult of Mac didn’t know that Find My iPhone is also great for finding your iPhone in your own home. That writer — let’s call him Luke Dormehl to avoid embarrassment — spent more than an hour trying to track down his muted iPhone before resorting to Apple’s tracking app.

Carjacking victim uses ‘Find my iPhone’ to get back stolen vehicle

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Find My iPhone
This has turned out to be one heck of a handy iPhone feature for many.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

There’s no shortage of people getting stolen iPhones back, courtesy of Apple’s “Find my iPhone” feature. However, a person from Nashville, Tennessee recently improved on this — by using the geotag-locating feature to also get back his stolen car.

Find My iPhone helps save kidnapped bride from forced marriage

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Find My iPhone
Well, this is one we've not heard before!
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

We’ve heard about Apple Watches saving people’s lives before, but here’s a new one: an iPhone which helped someone escape a forced marriage.

That’s what happened to a U.K. citizen, whose parents effectively kidnapped her by tricking her into vacationing in Bangladesh for what would have been an enforced marriage to her cousin. The incident took place in July 2016, although it only recently came to light due to a court case.

Find My Friends app saves injured climber’s life

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Find Friends
Find My Friends is super useful.
Photo: Apple

Next time you go hunting for a famous hidden cave, make sure to turn on the ‘Find My Friends’ app. One lucky climber from the U.K. just found out it can totally save your life.

Mountain rescuers workers came to the ill-prepared hiker’s aid after he was injured during his pursuit of the famous Priest Hole cave at the UK’s Lake District National Park. The hike fell over 60 feet and suffered a serious head injury, but was eventually located using Apple’s app.

Everything you need to know about location sharing in iOS

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Location sharing
Where’s my iPhone? I know I left it around here somewhere
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Your iPhone knows where you are, pretty much all the time, and you probably know that it can share your location with other people, too, if you let it. Many apps ask to know where you are so that they can do their job (a weather app, a mapping app), but the iPhone has a few built-in ways to let other folks know where you are, and also to help you find a lost iPhone. There are so many ways to use location sharing that it can get a little confusing, but really, all those options are connected to the same service.

Let’s see how they all tie together.

iOS 10.3 is out with Find My AirPods, Apple File System and more

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iPhone 7
Grab iOS 10.3 while it's hot!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The first big iPhone and iPad update of 2017 has finally arrived.

Apple finally released iOS 10.3 to the public today after months of beta testing the new software. iOS 10.3 can be downloaded now as an over-the-air update, or installed via iTunes. iPhone and iPad owners can expect a rash of new features that not only make iPhone and iPad easier to use, but also more secure.

Here’s everything that’s new:

Apple seeds new betas for iOS, watchOS and tvOS

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x
iOS 10.3 is full of new features.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Developers received a fresh new batch of updates from Apple today: the third beta builds for iOS 10.3, watchOS 3.2 and tvOS 10.2.

The new beta builds come two weeks after Apple’s last betas got made available to developers, bringing a host of bug fixes, performance improvements and even some new features and UI changes for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Apple pulls tool that helped identify stolen iOS devices

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iCloud-Activation-Lock-dead
The Activation Lock checker has mysteriously disappeared.
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Apple has pulled its iCloud Activation Lock page which helped users find out if an iOS device was locked to an iCloud account.

The tool could be used to verify that a used iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch wasn’t stolen before you purchased it — but the website’s URL now leads to an error page.

Apple seeds first iOS 10.3 beta with Find My AirPods feature

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AirPods in case
AirPods now work with Find my iPhone
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Finding your tiny AirPods charging case is about to get a lot easier, thanks to a new iOS 10 beta that adds a Find My AirPods feature to iPhones and iPads.

Apple seeded iOS 10.3 beta 1 to registered developers this morning, bringing new hope for lost AirPods, plus a host of other new features and bug fixes. Unfortunately, there’s still no sign of the long-rumored Dark Mode.

Find My iPhone might soon work when your device is dead

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iPhone 7 back
Apple is making it harder to steal iPhones.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac.

Recovering your lost iPhone may get a lot easier soon, based on a patent Apple was recently awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The new patent describes a method for determining an iPhone’s location after shutdown that would make Find My iPhone work even if a thief turns your device off.