If you’ve ever accidentally misplaced your iPhone, Apple’s ‘Find My’ phone tool is there to help you find it! If you’ve not used Apple’s Find My iCloud app before, don’t fret, we are going to help you understand just how helpful this app is…

What exactly is Find My?

If you have ever misplaced your iPhone or other Apple device, Apple has a handy app that can help you. Whether it’s dropped out of your pocket in the car or you left it at the gym, the ‘Find My’ app can help you locate your device quickly and easily, even if they’re offline. The Find My app is not only usable on your iPhone, but also your iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch or Airpods.

You’ll be able to see all your devices on a map, as well as your location relative to each of your devices. Helpfully, some devices can also mark their location when their battery runs low to help you find them even when they’re out of power.

What if I’m in the same room as the lost device?

 Apple knows that all too often, you’ll be in the same room as your lost device so simply looking at a map may not be the best thing. With this in mind, your device can play a specific noise to help you locate it. Even AirPods have a specifically designed sound that can project across a room and even further in some instances.

I believe my device has been lost outside of my house…

If you fear that your device has been lost whilst you were out and about, such as on public transport, you can place the device in Lost Mode. This will lock the device completely and make it unusable. However, you can also display a preset message on the device with your contact details if a kind stranger happens to find your device so they can return it to you.

You can also erase it remotely to protect your personal or work data. If you do get your device back, you can even restore it from your iCloud backup so it will be identical to the last time you used it.

In the hopefully unlikely event that a device is stolen and the culprit either tries to use or sell the device on, Activation Lock comes into play. Once Lost Mode is applied to a device, Activation Lock is automatically turned on. This requires that before the device can be erased or reactivated, they will need to have your AppleID.

Lastly, when offline, your Apple devices can utilise a Bluetooth signal to be located instead of having to depend on WiFi or cellular signal. This location is then relayed to your iCloud and Find My app and is encrypted end to end so no one (including Apple) knows the identity of any specific device.

Built with Privacy in mind…

Crucially, just like every Apple product, Find My is designed with your privacy in mind, helping to keep your data safe. When using bluetooth to detect an offline device, your information is protected with a key that is unique to that specific device and linked to your own passcode which is again unique to you.

And there it is, our whistle-stop tour of Apple’s ‘Find My’ phone tool! For more of the latest news and articles, check out our news page.