How to Find Your Lost AirPods

The popular Apple AirPods are a great way to listen to podcasts, music, and videos while you're on the go. But they are easy to lose, just like your other small wireless devices. You can find your lost Airpods using the Find My Airpods app on your iPhone or via iCloud on a computer. Here's how to find your AirPods whether they are online or offline and whether you have your iPhone with you or not. 

How to find your AirPods with the Find My app

1. Open the Settings app on your Apple device and make sure Find My is turned on.

2. Click on your name at the top of the page to get to your Apple ID settings.

3. From the Apple ID menu, choose "Find My."

4. Check that "Find My iPhone" is turned on, or slide the button to the green position to turn it on.

5. Open the Find My app.

6. Tap your AirPods in the list of devices.

7. On a map, you can see where your AirPods are or where they were last seen when they were connected to your device.

Tap Play Sound if your AirPods are nearby. Then, in the pop-up window, tap Play Sound again. Your two AirPods will start to beep, but the sound is not very loud.

How to find your AirPods using Find My on iCloud.com

1. Open a web browser and go to iCloud.com then sign into your account.

2. If "Find iPhone" is an option, click it. You may be asked to enter a 6-digit number that was sent to another Apple device first. If that's the case, enter the number and click "Find iPhone."

3. At the top of the Find My map, you'll see "All Devices." Click to bring up a drop-down menu.

4. Choose your AirPods to see where they are or where they were last seen.

How to Enable the ‘Find My’ App on Your iPhone

You must first turn on Find My on your iPhone before you can use it to find your AirPods.

1. Open the  Settings app.

2. Tap on your name then select Find My.

3. Tap Find My [device], then turn on Find My [device].

If you want to see your device even when it's offline, turn on Find My network.*

Then, the next time you connect your AirPods to your iPhone, the Find My app will automatically add them. If Find My was turned off before you lost your AirPods, you can't use the app to find them. Find My is the only app that can help you find your AirPods if you lose them.

How to Enable Lost Mode on Your AirPods

Open the Find My app on your iPhone and tap Devices. This will turn on Lost Mode on your AirPods. Then, choose your AirPods, scroll up, and tap Activate under Mark as Lost. Then, click "Continue" and type in your phone number. The last step is to turn on "Notify When Found" and tap "Activate."

1. Open the  Settings app.

2. Tap on your name then select Find My.

3. Tap Devices.

4. Choose your AirPods.

5. Scroll up from the bottom of your screen and click Activate. This is what you will see under "Mark as Lost."

6. Tap Continue to move on.

7. Enter your phone number and click Next. This will let other people who find your AirPods call or text you. You can also tap Instead, use an email address.

The last step is to tap the slider next to "Notify When Found" and then tap "Activate." If the slider is green, you know it is on. Remember to turn off Lost Mode in the Find My app when you find your AirPods. To do this, go to Devices, choose your AirPods, and tap Activated under Mark as Lost. Then tap Turn Off Lost Mode and choose Turn Off in the window that comes up.

You can also use a computer, an Android phone, or any other device with a web browser if you don't have an iPhone. This is how:

How to find one AirPod if the pair becomes separated

Find My app and the iCloud website will only show the location of one AirPods earbud at a time on their maps. If you only need to find one earbud and not the other, find the AirPod you have on the map and put it inside the case. If you refresh the map, it will now tell you about the lost earbud.

How to find an AirPods case

The Find My app only keeps track of where your AirPod earbuds are, not where the case is. So, the case won't be able to make a sound to track your location, since that feature is tied to the earbuds and the case doesn't have speakers

As an extra safety measure, you can attach a tracking device like an AirTag or Tile to the case of your AirPods to find it even if you lose the earbuds.

If Find My says it can't find your AirPods, this is what it means:

If your AirPods are too far away to find or have run out of power, the Find My app will likely show you one of two things: the last known location of the AirPods or a message that says "No location found" or "Offline."

If and when they are able to get back online, the Find My app will let you know.

RELATED: How to reset Airpods.

How to never lose your AirPods again

It's great that your phone can help you find your AirPods if you lose them. But it would be even better if they never got lost again. You can do this by turning on the Notify When Left Behind option in Find My. This does exactly what you might think it does: it sends a message to your iPhone when your iPhone and a connected pair of AirPods get too far apart. Again, you can do this with AirTags if you need to.

Get an alert if you leave your AirPods behind:

If you have an iPhone 12 or later, you can set up separation alerts to make sure you don't leave your AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max somewhere you don't know:

1. Start the Find My app.

2. Select your AirPods from the Devices tab.

4. Tap "Notify When Left Behind" under "Notifications."

4. Set "Notify When Left Behind" to "On."