Find My Nouns

First there was Find My iPhone, a feature that allowed you to, you know, find your iPhone if it was lost or stolen. Even though Apple later extended the capability to the iPod touch, the iPad, Macs, the Apple Watch, and even AirPods, for a long time the “Find My iPhone” name was still used generically to describe this feature.

Separately, Apple has long offered a Find My Friends feature, which locates iOS or iPadOS devices (or cellular-enabled Apple Watches) and thus, by extension, the people carrying them—and shares that location with anyone to whom the owner has granted permission.

Apple finally realized that it makes sense to have just one place to go to find all your nouns (devices and people), so in Catalina and iOS 13/iPadOS 13, they rolled out a new app called Find My that combines all those features. However, behind the scenes, the two sets of capabilities remain distinct, and on the iCloud.com website, there are still (at least as of mid-2020) two separate web apps. So in this chapter I talk about finding your own devices first, and then (in Find Your Friends) turn my attention to finding people.

Note: Starting later in 2020, Apple plans to make it possible to use Find My to find objects made by third-party developers, too. Glenn Fleishman covers this topic in his TidBITS article Apple Opens Find My Crowdsourcing to Third-Party Accessories. Once such objects are actually available for sale, I hope to update this chapter to cover that new capability.

Understand What Find My (Device) Can and Can’t Do

You can use the iCloud website, Apple’s Find My app on any iOS or iPadOS device, or Siri to locate a lost or stolen Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Apple Watch, or AirPod.

You can also play a sound, lock a Mac or iOS/iPadOS device (optionally adding or changing its passcode in the process), or erase all its data (to keep its contents away from prying eyes in case you’re unable to retrieve the device). You can even see your wayward device’s battery level.

Find My Device also lets you activate a distinct Lost Mode on an iOS or iPadOS device or Apple Watch, which displays the phone number and message of your choice on the missing device’s screen, in the hope that whoever has your device will call you to arrange for its return. (Hint: Offer a reward!)

The tracking service works more reliably on devices with cellular capabilities, such as the iPhone, certain iPads, and certain Series 3 or later Apple Watch models. These devices are more likely to have an always-on network connection—cellular access is pretty ubiquitous, whereas Wi-Fi is spotty, and may require a login and even payment.

Note: Series 2 and later Apple Watch models, iOS devices, and iPadOS devices with cellular support also have GPS chips, so their reported location is more precise than for Macs and for iOS or iPadOS devices that lack satellite positioning circuitry.

In addition, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch maintain their mobile connections even when “sleeping,” as can Macs that use solid-state storage (and thus support Power Nap—see Apple’s article How Power Nap works on your Mac). And newer devices can even use a clever technique to transmit their location via Bluetooth if they have no internet connection.

Activate Find My (Device)

Find My Device be used to track an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5 or later or iPadOS, an Apple Watch, AirPods, or a Mac running 10.7.2 Lion or later. But the service only works if Location Services is enabled and then Find My Device is also turned on.

To enable Location Services:

• macOS: Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Location Services, click the lock icon and authenticate, and select Enable Location Services. Next, scroll down to System Services, click the Details button, and then ensure that Find My Mac is selected in the set of items under “Allow System Services to determine your location.” If it’s not, you can enable Find My Mac, but your Mac won’t share its location.

• iOS/iPadOS: Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and make sure Location Services is turned on at the top.

You might find that Find My Device is already active, because Apple aggressively encourages enabling it during setting up a device from scratch and during upgrades, but to make sure:

• macOS: Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud (Catalina or later) or System Preferences > iCloud (Mojave) and make sure Find My Mac is checked.

• iOS/iPadOS: Tap Settings > Your Name > iCloud and make sure Find My Device is on; if not, tap Find My Device, tap the switch to turn it on, and optionally turn on Send Last Location, which sends the location automatically when the battery is nearly depleted.

• AirPods and Apple Watches: Find My Device is activated automatically as long as Find My iPhone is enabled on the iPhone to which it is paired.

As an optional (but recommended) extra step, check the status of “Find My network” (Big Sur or later, and iOS 14 or later) or Offline Finding (earlier operating systems), as it allows secure crowdsourced location tracking of your devices by other people’s Apple equipment. To check this setting:

• macOS: Go to System Preferences > Internet Accounts > iCloud (Big Sur or later), System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud (Catalina), or System Preferences > iCloud (Mojave), click the Options button next to Find My Mac, and confirm that “Find My network” (Big Sur or later) or “Enable Offline Finding” (Catalina or earlier) is set to On.

• iOS/iPadOS: Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location > Find My Device and ensure that “Find My network” (iOS 14/iPadOS 14 or later) or “Enable Offline Finding” (earlier versions) is turned on. (Send Last Location should also be turned on, while you’re there.)

How Crowdsourced Find My Works

With “Find My network”/offline finding, Apple built a system that reveals nothing about your hardware or identity, but still allows a device to be tracked when it’s lost and can’t reach the internet. While Apple hasn’t provided full details, even over a year later, it appears that whenever a Mac or iOS/iPadOS device with the feature enabled cannot reach the internet, it begins to broadcast a Bluetooth identifier that’s anonymous and contains encrypted information about the device’s identity.

Any Apple hardware nearby owned by other people that’s running Mojave or later or iOS/iPadOS 13 or later and has an active internet connection automatically identifies this special Bluetooth broadcast. Their device then extracts its own location, pairs it with the Bluetooth ID, and uploads it to Apple’s servers.

From another Apple device you own or that you’ve logged into your iCloud account, you can mark your device as lost, and iCloud sends identifying information to Apple, which then matches and downloads only Bluetooth IDs that your devices can decrypt to determine the location.

It’s a one-way data street, so you can’t activate Find My Device features on your missing Apple hardware—like wiping its contents—just because other people’s equipment has managed to locate it.

If you’d like more details, read Glenn Fleishman’s article, “How Apple’s New Find My Service Locates Missing Hardware That’s Offline.”

Be aware that enabling Find My Device also enables Activation Lock, a theft deterrent that makes it more difficult to resell a stolen device because it will be rendered unusable: it can’t be erased and then used without the iCloud account password that originally locked it. However, this adds a step that buyers and sellers of used devices must be aware of. See Check Activation Lock, later in this book, for details.

Note: Although you can set up more than one iCloud account on a Mac or iOS/iPadOS device, Find My Device can be enabled for only one of the accounts—the first one you set up.

With your device properly configured, you can then find it using the Find My app on Catalina or later, iOS 13 or later, or iPadOS 13 or later; the Find My iPhone app on iOS 12; or the iCloud website. I describe all these options in the pages ahead.

Warning! As Adam Engst explains in his TidBITS article Disable Find My Mac by Resetting NVRAM, it’s easy for an attacker or thief to disable Find My Mac on older Macs unless you’ve enabled a firmware password (which carries its own risks). That’s not to say you shouldn’t use the feature, but you should be aware of its potential limitations and what you must do to mitigate them. (Newer Macs, ones with the T2 security chip, lock Find My in the same way that iPhones and iPads do.)

Find Your Device with an App

On Macs running Catalina or later, and mobile devices running iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 or later, the easiest way to find your iCloud-enabled iOS/iPadOS device, Mac, Apple Watch, or AirPod is to use the built-in Find My app, and since that’s now the main way of using Find My Device, that’s what I describe here.

In Mojave, you’ll use the Find My iPhone web app on the iCloud website, whose name is abbreviated to Find iPhone on the home screen, which is also similar, but not identical.

To use the Find My app, open it and authenticate if prompted to do so. Then click or tap Devices. Initially, the screen shows a map (Figure 32) on which iCloud tries to locate all your devices (and those of your family members, if you’ve enabled Family Sharing). On Macs and iPads, the list of devices appears as a sidebar. On iOS devices, you may have to swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see the full list. In the web app, the All Devices pop-up menu at the top of the screen lists all the devices.

Figure 32: The Find My app (shown here on a Mac) lists all your devices. Select a device to zoom in on its location on the map.

Select a device to pinpoint its location on the map. Assuming the selected device is both powered up and online, the map shows its current location. (If it’s not turned on and connected to the internet, but has been recently, the map should show the last known location, along with how recently its location was determined).

The location becomes increasingly specific as Find My zeroes in on the device’s location using a combination of cell tower trilateration, Wi-Fi network positioning, and GPS, depending on which of these are available.

A control panel for the selected device (Figure 33) appears automatically on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS; to see the control panel in the Find My iPhone for the web, click or tap the Info icon.

Figure 33: This control panel (shown here for an iPhone) lets you select various Find My Device actions.

Beyond merely locating the device, you can take any or all of several other steps depending on the device type. To do so, use these options in the control panel:

• Play Sound: If the device is online, clicking or tapping this button will play a pinging sound at full volume, even if the device is locked, has its ringer switch turned off, or is in Do Not Disturb mode. This can help you locate it if you misplaced it in your home or office. If the device is offline, the sound plays when it comes back online.

  On the wayward device, you can turn off the sound or dismiss the message by unlocking the device (if necessary) and then clicking or tapping a button. If the sound has been played or the message sent, iCloud sends you an email message to confirm this, which helps let you know it was online if you can’t find it.

  Note: To turn off the sound on a pair of AirPods, click or tap the Stop button in the Find My app. Notice that the Left and Right buttons adjacent to the Stop Playing button allow you to mute just one AirPod, allowing you to better hear the other one.

• Directions: As with any other location on a map, you can click or tap Directions to get walking, driving, or transit directions to your device’s location.

• Notifications: If a device cannot be located and was most recently located more than an hour ago, you can turn on Notify When Found. When the device next comes online, iCloud will alert you by email so you can return to Find My and take the next step.

• Mark As Lost: Mark As Lost, still referred to by its previous name, Lost Mode, on the web, lets you not only lock your device, but also put a telephone number and message on the screen to help a finder return it to you. If your device wasn’t already locked with a passcode when you click or tap Mark As Lost, you’ll be prompted to choose one. When the device becomes available online, it will be locked, the message you sent will appear on the screen, and you’ll get an email confirmation.

  Marking a device as lost also disables Apple Pay on that device, which suspends any credit, debit, or other cards. If you recover your device, you can re-enable Apple Pay with your Apple ID password, and if you sync cards with iCloud, they will be restored to and reactivated on the device.

  Note: The Find My iPhone web app offers Lost Mode only for newer Macs; for older Macs, you’ll instead see a Lock command. Click this and click Lock again to confirm. Then enter and repeat a numeric passcode, enter an optional message, and click Lock. Your Mac will shut down and lock itself immediately so that no one else can use it or see its data. Only entering the code you chose will unlock it. A locked Mac can’t be erased remotely (per the next item).

• Erase This Device: If your device has been stolen or is otherwise unrecoverable, you can tell iCloud to securely erase all its data—your email messages, address book, photos, apps, documents, and everything else—so that at least whoever has the device can’t access your personal information.

  To do this, click or tap Erase This Device, read the warning, and click Erase. If the device you’re erasing is a Mac, you must also enter and confirm a numeric passcode that can be used to unlock the device (although not to recover the erased data), and enter a message that will be displayed on the screen if the Mac is ever found. The data is wiped immediately if the device is online, or as soon as it comes back online if not. (Erasure is almost immediate on an iOS/iPadOS device, an Apple Watch, and any Mac with a T2 chip or with FileVault enabled. But Macs with neither a T2 chip nor FileVault enabled could take as long as a day to erase.)

  Once you’ve done this with an iOS/iPadOS device or Apple Watch, the Find My Device features are no longer available (because the device no longer contains your iCloud data—it’s essentially blank). Somewhat counterintuitively, if you wipe a Mac’s data remotely, you may be able to locate it later with Find My Device. Some components used by Find My Mac are kept on the hidden recovery volume that the macOS installer creates—and that’s not included in the data that’s wiped.

  Warning! According to Apple’s online help, if you remotely erase a Mac that had a firmware password set, you may not be able to unlock it yourself—even with the passcode—if and when you recover it. If you can’t, you must take it to an Apple Store or authorized repair center to be unlocked, and be able to demonstrate you were the legitimate and first purchaser with a dated sales receipt that shows its serial number.

• Remove This Device: If you no longer use the device, you can click or tap Remove This Device to stop Find My Device from displaying it in the future.

Always Use a Passcode or Password

A passcode protects the data on an iOS or iPadOS device from prying eyes and buys you time to use Find My Device, especially with a stolen device, where a thief might quickly try to disable its ability to send its location or be erased. It’s a must for anyone concerned about security. While you can set a passcode via Find My Device, that should be a last resort.

To set a passcode, tap Settings > Touch ID & Passcode (or Face ID & Passcode; or, on devices with neither Touch ID nor Face ID, Settings> Passcode). If your device does not have Touch ID or Face ID enabled, you can set the amount of time before the device automatically locks, and the shorter that time is, the less chance someone will have to disable that passcode. (With Touch ID or Face ID enabled, the only option is “Immediately.”) Also disable Control Center on the iOS/iPadOS lock screen (in Settings > Touch ID & Passcode), so a thief can’t swipe to turn on Airplane Mode or disable Wi-Fi and Cellular.

Similarly, you should have a password on all Mac user accounts that appear at the startup screen. (If you have FileVault enabled, only password-protected accounts allowed to start up the machine appear, anyway.) You can additionally set your Mac to require a password after a period of inactivity. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy, click the lock icon, and enter your credentials to unlock it. Click General, and if present, select the Require Password checkbox. Then choose a time (such as 5 Minutes) from the pop-up menu.

Find Your Device with Siri

On any recent Apple device, including a HomePod or an Apple TV with a Siri remote, you can activate Siri in any of the usual ways, and then say something like “Find my Mac” or “Where’s my iPad?” and the device in question plays a sound. If you want to do anything more than play a sound, however, you’ll have to use an app or the iCloud website.

Deactivate Find My (Device)

Like most iCloud features, you can turn off Find My Device by unchecking a box (Mac) or flipping a switch (iOS/iPadOS)—the same one you used to turn it on. You might do this if you want the device’s location to remain private; if you’re about to sell, give away, or recycle the device; or if you’re signing out of iCloud altogether. (In fact, it’s rather critical when selling: see Check Activation Lock.)

After you uncheck that box or flip that switch, you may see one or more prompts, which could include a request for your Apple ID password and confirmation that you want to disable offline finding. At the very least, your device will ask you to be extra sure this is something you want to do, because turning off this feature can increase your risk if the device is ever lost or stolen.

Find Your Friends

Just as Find My Device lets you find devices of your own, Find My Friends lets you find devices belonging to friends and family members who have given you permission to know their whereabouts. Devices that can be found are the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and cellular models of the Apple Watch. (This appears to be based on the theory that those are items most likely to be carried on one’s person and that also have sufficient network connectivity to advertise their locations.)

If you’re running Catalina or later or iOS 13/iPadOS 13 or later, you’ll use the built-in Find My app to find your friends. On any other device (including Macs running earlier versions of macOS), you can use The Find My Friends Web App on the iCloud website.

Because the Find My app—and specifically, the iOS/iPadOS version of the app—is the one you’ll most likely use to find friends while on the go, I’ll describe that here, but the other versions of the app are quite similar to each other (not to mention familiar if you’ve used their Find My Device features). Leaving aside minor interface differences, the functionality is basically the same.

To find a friend who has already given you access:

1. Open the Find My app.

2. Tap People to display a list of people whose location you’re tracking.

3. Tap a person’s name.

The app shows the person’s location on a map, along with a panel with controls to contact them, get directions to their location, and add notifications, which come in two flavors:

• To notify yourself of either a change in the other person’s location or the fact that the other person is not in a specified location when expected, tap Add under Notifications followed by Notify Me. Then:

  • To know when someone arrives or leaves: Tap When Name Arrives, and then select the location under Name’s Location; or When Name Leaves to be notified when the person leaves their current location. Tap Add again. Tap Create Notification to complete the process.

  • To be notified when your friend is not at a certain location at a given time: Tap Person Is Not At, enter From and To times, and select one or more days of the week. Tap Create Notification to complete the process. (This option is new to iOS 14/iPadOS 14 and Big Sur.)

  Note: Find My Friends may inform you that the other person will be notified that you created the notification.

• To notify your friend of a change in your location, tap Add under Notifications followed by Notify Friend’s Name. Then tap When I Arrive to notify your friend when you arrive at a location you then select under My Locations; or When I Leave to notify your friend when you leave your current location. Tap Add again. You can also tap Only Once or Every Time to specify the frequency of this notification.

Note: Notifications are unavailable in the Find My Friends web app.

To give a friend permission to know your whereabouts, go back to the People view in the Find My app and tap Share My Location. Enter an email address and tap Send. To change the permissions one of your friends has, tap their name and then tap Stop Sharing My Location (which allows you to continue to know your friend’s location, if they’ve authorized it) or Remove Name to remove that person altogether from both sides of the equation.

Note: The Find My Friends app no longer supports temporary authorization for other people to see your location, but Messages has a comparable capability. In Messages, tap a person’s name, followed by the Info icon and Share My Location. Then tap Share for One Hour, Share Until End of Day, or Share Indefinitely.

For more information, you may find it useful to read Apple’s Set Up and Use Find My Friends page.