With Apple AirTag, finding misplaced devices or accessories like keys and wallets in the range of Bluetooth is a painless affair. Notably, Apple’s item tracker comes with a smart feature called Precision Finding, which takes advantage of the U1 chip (available on iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models) to easily locate lost items. But this hassle-free item tracking works only when your tagged item is within the Bluetooth range. Now, if the AirTag is out of the Bluetooth range, how do you find it? In this situation, you will need to put your AirTag in lost mode and rely on the Find My Network to locate your lost accessories. So, if you have lost an AirTag, here’s what you need to do.
- What is Find My Network and How Does It Work?
- What Happens When You Mark Your AirTag As Lost?
- What If There are No Apple Devices in the Area Where AirTag is Located?
- How to Mark an AirTag as Lost
What is Find My Network, and How Does It Work?
Find My Network is a crowdsourced network boasting millions of Apple devices that use Bluetooth wireless technology to locate lost devices or items nearby. Once the network finds the missing device, it reports its approximate location to the owner. As the Find My network is anonymous and encrypted, you shouldn’t worry about your privacy.
The Find My app not only lets you enable lost mode for your AirTag but also allows you to enter a phone number and custom message that will show up when someone finds the item tracker. Furthermore, you also get the option to enable the “Notify When Found” option to get an alert when you are in close proximity to the item.
After you mark your AirTag as lost, anyone who finds the item tracker can find your contact details easily. All they need to do is bring the AirTag close to an iPhone or NFC-equipped Android smartphone to go to a website URL containing your phone number and the lost message. Besides, you might also see the location of the device tracker relayed through someone else’s device.
Even though Find My Network is vast, with nearly a billion Apple devices that could help locate a lost item, the fact of the matter is not everyone in the world uses Apple devices. So, what if your AirTag is not nearby, and unfortunately, there aren’t any Apple devices in the area where the device tracker is located? In this scenario, the Find My network will only show where the AirTag was last seen on the map.
- Open the Find My app on your iPhone.
- Up next, read the instructions and tap on Continue.
