With the goldfish memory I have, I leave my iPhone in the strangest places and forget where I saw it last. I’ve recovered my phone from the kitchen cabinets, inside dressing table drawers, and the closet. Thankfully, I’ve never had it stolen, but I’d want to be prepared for that, too.
Whether it’s misplacing your phone in the house or on a park bench, the Find My app—previously called Find My iPhone—is a reliable way to track it. It lets you track your AirPods, too.
How to find your iPhone on an Apple device
You can quickly track your iPhone on your iPad, Mac, or a family member’s iPhone. The first step is to open the Find My app. Upon opening the app, you’ll see Devices in the bottom bar. Click on Devices and look for your iPhone in the list. Once you see it, tap on it to see its location on a map. Apart from the map, there’s also a Play Sound feature that you can select for your iPhone to ring and assist you in the hunt. I love this feature and find it very helpful when my phone’s hiding on a shelf in my closet.
Note that for your device to show up on a family member’s Find My app, you must either belong to a Family Sharing group or have your location shared with them. You might want to do that if you’re reading this before it’s too late.
For your iPhone to show up on your iPad or Mac, you’d have to be signed in to the same Apple ID you use on your iPhone. It’s good to ensure you share and log in to the same ID across all your Apple devices.
How to use Find your iPhone on a non-Apple device
If you don’t have another Apple device in the house, you can type iCloud.com/find on a web browser on any device to track your iPhone. When you’re there, sign in to your Apple ID and follow the same steps as above. Go to Devices to look for your iPhone from a list of all the devices on that ID. And then select it to see its location on a map.
What if I can’t see my iPhone’s location?
Sadly, you’re not always going to be able to see where your iPhone is in real-time. Someone who stole your phone might have turned it off, so its location isn’t constantly updated.
If that’s the case, you’ll just be able to see its last known location before it was turned off. If this continues for seven days, Find My removes even the last known location of your iPhone and replaces it with “No location found.” If it says “Not sharing location • Online,” your phone is in a dead zone and unable to receive location services.