New features in the Find My ‌app on iOS 15

Since the introduction of the unified Find My app, Apple has been working to improve the ‌Find My‌ experience. iOS 15 brings some major new features to ‌Find My‌, including features like live location and the ability to track an iPhone even if it's been erased or powered off.

This guide covers everything Apple has added to the ‌Find My‌ app in ‌iOS 15‌.

Live location

When you follow a friend or family member using the ‌Find My‌ app, it now shows continuous online updates of their location instead of a new location update every few minutes.

Apple says that the feature is designed to provide immediate information about speed, direction, and changes when you're viewing someone's location.

Locate Lost iPhone Powered Off

Find My‌ Network in ‌iOS 15‌ can still track turned off devices. If a device is running low on battery or has been powered off by a thief, you can still find it near another Apple device.

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Find My‌ Network is a feature Apple introduced with iOS 13, and it allows locating Apple devices even without a WiFi or cellular connection by taking advantage of other nearby iPhones, iPads, and Macs. .

In ‌iOS 15‌, Apple has extended Find My‌ Network to work with turned off devices as well. Apple hasn't shown how this works, but the U1, Bluetooth, or NFC chip continues to be powered even when your device is off or the battery is dead, although in the event of a low battery, tracking can be a problem. limited number of hours.

Apple has a similar feature for car keys that use NFC, and the feature lasts about 5 hours after the ‌iPhone‌'s battery runs out. In this case, it allows you to continue unlocking your car even though the ‌iPhone‌ has stopped working.

For this feature to work, the Find My‌ Network feature must be enabled. The feature is turned on by default, but you can check by going to your profile, tapping ‌Find My‌, selecting ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌, then making sure "‌Find My‌ network" is turned on.

Locate deleted lost device

If someone steals your ‌iPhone‌ and then deletes it, in ‌iOS 15‌ the device will still show up in the ‌Find My‌ app and be trackable even after it's been deleted.

This feature is linked to Activation Lock, which prevents someone from using an ‌iPhone‌ without an Apple ID and password. In iOS 14 and earlier iOS updates, erasing a device enabled Activation Lock so no one could use your ‌iPhone‌ without your password, but erasing the device prevented ‌Find My‌ from working.

Deleted ‌iPhone‌ won't show up in the ‌Find My‌ app, but for now, deleting ‌iPhone‌ no longer works that way. If Activation Lock is enabled (i.e. the key is not removed with the username and password to disable Activation Lock), it is associated with your account and can be located using ‌Find My‌.

Combined with off device tracking, the ‌Find My‌ app serves as a much stronger theft deterrent.

To prevent someone from being tricked into buying a device linked to your account, the Hello screen will clearly show that the device is locked, locateable with ‌Find My‌ and other people's assets.

Separation Alerts

With Separation Alerts, the ‌Find My‌ app can let you know if your ‌iPhone‌ or iPad has been left behind by notifying it on one of the other devices you carry.

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Separation Alerts work for AirTag and third-party accessories that integrate with the ‌Find My‌ network, so if you leave your wallet or MacBook at a coffee shop after going out with your ‌iPhone‌, the ‌iPhone‌ will give it to you. know.

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Separation Alerts can be enabled in the ‌Find My app and needs to be enabled for each individual device you own. You can also set exceptions, so if you intentionally leave something at home, you won't get a warning.

Find My for AirPods (Delayed until later this year)

For AirPods Max and AirPods Pro, ‌Find My‌ Network can provide an approximate location if these devices are lost.

AirPods are always visible in the ‌Find My‌ app, but so far, this functionality has been limited. In iOS 14 and earlier versions of iOS, ‌AirPods Pro‌ and Max show up in ‌Find My‌, but if they're outside of your device's Bluetooth range, you'll only see their most recent known location.

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With the ‌Find My‌ network, ‌AirPods Pro‌ and ‌AirPods Max‌ can communicate with other people's Apple devices, allowing you to track them even when they're out of range of your devices.

You can get an approximate location using this method, and Apple says it's designed to be able to activate the Play a Sound feature and track them within Bluetooth range. According to Apple, the feature will be available in an update to ‌iOS 15‌ released later this year.

Find My Widget‌

There's now a Find My ‌ widget that you can add to your home screen or Today View to quickly track items without having to open the ‌Find My app.

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Widgets come in two sizes, small and medium, which can be used to keep track of People or Items. The People feature tracks friends and family members with location sharing enabled, and the Items widget tracks AirTag items and third-party accessories using Find My Network.

Tapping either of the Find My widgets opens the full ‌Find My app.

Find My on iPad and Mac

The changes to this guide may apply to the ‌iPhone‌, but on the ‌iPad‌ there's also support for Separation Alerts, Find My‌ Widgets, and live location for family and friends.

Macs running macOS Monterey support the ‌Find My‌ widget, as well as live location for family and friends. Offline tracking and tracking of deleted devices are features restricted to ‌iPhone‌.

Above are the improvements that will appear in Find My on iOS 15. Which change do you appreciate the most?

Samuel Daniel

Update 09 October 2021