You reach into your pocket and you realize they’re both empty. You start getting frantic, retracing your steps and asking everyone around you if they’ve seen your phone. It’s a situation that everyone goes through at one point or another. It happens to me once a month. It’s the price I pay for tight jeans and an iPhone 8 Plus. Luckily, iOS has the Find My iPhone feature which comes in clutch any time you can’t find your phone. Whether you’ve lost your iPhone or just can’t find it in your house, Find My iPhone is super useful. Here’s how to use it.
How to locate your iOS devices with Find My iPhone
Set up Find My iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods
- Tap Settings
- Tap [your name]
- Tap iCloud
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Find My iPhone
- Toggle on Find My iPhone and Send Last Location
When you set up Find my iPhone, your paired Apple Watch and AirPods are automatically set up too. All iOS devices that have been set up with Find My iPhone can now be located.
How to locate iOS devices using iCloud.com
- Go to www.iCloud.com
- Sign in with Apple ID used to set up Find My iPhone
- Click Find iPhone
- Click All Devices
- Click on iOS device you are trying to locate
The green dot represents where your iOS device was last located. As you can see from the picture above, you have three options of what you want to do with your device. You can play sound which will cause your iPhone to shrill loudly. It’s pretty loud and if you’re within 50 feet of your iPhone, you will definitely hear it. Lost Mode locks your device, displays a custom message and turns on tracking so you can see its location, even if location services was originally disabled. The last resort is to Erase iPhone which will allow you to erase the contents of your device remotely.
How to locate iOS device on another iOS device
- Tap Find My iPhone app
- Tap the iOS device you are trying to find
- Tap the icon of your iOS device to get access to the three options listed above
The green dot means it’s online. If the device can be located, you also see the time it was last located. A gray dot means it’s offline. If you see a gray dot, your device is either not connected to a Wi-Fi network or it is turned off. You can wait for it to connect to the Wi-Fi network or you can go to the device’s last known location in hopes that you find it.
Find My iPhone is a lifesaver. Whether you’ve lost your iPhone or just can’t find it in your house, the screeching “play sound” will penetrate through all sound barriers to let you know where the phone is at.