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Apple: How to locate a device remotely? (Guide)

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Apple: How to locate a device remotely? (Guide)
Apple: How to locate a device remotely? (Guide)

Locate an Apple device remotely — Apple's Find My service allows you to find all your Apple devices, all your valuables and keep an eye on your loved ones. We explain how to make the best use of this service.

You travel with your Apple devices and with objects that are important to you, such as your keyring, your wallet, but also your electric bike, your luggage for the holidays or the van you have just restored. That all adds up to a lot of devices and items that you could misplace, lose, or worse, get stolen. Apple's Find My service tells you where all these devices are, which allows you to keep an eye on them, and find them quickly if you forget or lose them. You can even take action on your Apple devices remotely to ring, clear or block them.

Your loved ones also travel to go to school, to work or to meet friends. The Locate service notifies you when your youngest children have returned home safely. also allows your spouse to locate you on a map when you go out for a run or ride a bike. In addition to that, you can track and find Apple devices of your family members.

Locate an Apple device remotely - Locate all your devices on a geographical map and take action on these devices remotely in case of loss or theft.
locate an Apple device remotely – Locate all your devices on a geographical map and take action on these devices remotely in case of loss or theft.

What is Apple's Find My feature?

Functionality Locate Apple consists of a mobile application and an iCloud service. The Find My app is installed by default on iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. The service Locate iCloud is accessible with any computer, tablet or phone connected to the Internet. The iCloud app and service have pretty much the same functionality. You have three options when you have misplaced an Apple device or an item tagged with an AirTag: 

  • use the Locate application on your iPhone or iPad to locate your missing device,
  • use the iPhone or iPad of a member of your Family Share to locate your missing device,
  • Go to the Find My page on iCloud.com from any web browser.

When you locate an Apple device using one of the three methods discussed above, you can: 

  • display the geographical position of the device on a map,
  • emit a sound signal on the device, which will help you find it if it is close to you,
  • activate lost mode, which will secure and block the device,
  • wipe the device remotely, so that your personal and sensitive data does not fall into the wrong hands,
  • be notified as soon as the device is located,
  • be notified if you forget the device.

In addition, the Locate application and service inform you about the geographical position of your loved ones who have agreed to share their position with you. It's handy for quickly seeing where your kids are or getting a notification when your kids are back home.

How to Locate an Apple Device — The Find My app home screen displays a map centered on your location, along with the four tabs People, Devices, Things, and Me.
How to Locate an Apple Device — The Find My app home screen displays a map centered on your location, along with the four tabs People, Devices, Things, and Me.

How to configure location?

You need to set up Find My on your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook to locate your devices and loved ones. For it:

  1. Open the app Settings on your iPhone. 
  2. Tap your name at the top of the screen. 
  3. Select Locate.
  4. Select Localiser mon iPhone, then turn on Find My iPhone, which will allow you to find your phone and take action on your device remotely. Also enable the option Network locate et Send last position to locate your phone even when it is turned off.
  5. Turn on Share my location if you want your family sharing group and the friends you choose to be able to locate you.

Your other Apple devices (AirPods, Apple Watch, AirTag) paired with your iPhone are automatically set up with Find My.

Locate with the app 

The app Find My is the easiest way to locate your Apple devices, your items tagged with an AirTag or your loved ones who have agreed to share their location with you. You can use the Find My app on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac computer. 

For everything to work properly, the searched device and the device used with the Find My app must be signed in with the same Apple ID. You can also use an iPhone or iPad from a member of your Family Sharing group. The Find My app has four tabs:

  • People, to locate people who share their location with you.
  • Appareils, to locate your Apple devices and those of your loved ones.
  • Objects, to locate your items associated with AirTags, Me, to check and modify certain settings of the Find My app.

People 

The tab People provides access to the location of people who share their location with you. People are identified on a geographical map. They are also listed at the bottom of the screen.

When you select a person by touching their icon or name, the detailed map of the person's location is displayed. You can: 

  • See the exact address at which the person is located, 
  • contact the person, 
  • get a route to reach the person, 
  • Receive notifications based on the person's location.

The Notifications part is interesting. It allows you to be warned or to warn the person according to certain events. Touch Add displayed in the part Notifications to display a small menu with the options Notify me and Notify [person's name].

To read also >> Apple ProMotion display: Learn about the revolutionary technology and how it works

Locate with the app and notifications - The Notifications part allows you to be notified or to notify someone when a person arrives or leaves from a specific position.
Locate with the app and notifications – The Notifications part allows you to be notified or to notify someone when a person arrives or leaves from a specific location.

Appareils 

The tab Appareils locates your Apple devices and the Apple devices of your loved ones on a map. The list of devices is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Just touch a device on the map or in the list to view details:

  • the precise address at which the device is located, how long the device has been located at this address, 
  • the level of charge of the device's battery, 
  • the Play sound part which allows you to ring the device to help you find it, 
  • the Route part to get a route to the location of the device, 
  • the Notifications part to be notified when the device is located, and to be alerted if you forget this device somewhere, 
  • the Mark as lost part which activates the lost mode, which secures and blocks your device, 
  • Erase this device option that remotely erases all content from the misplaced device.

Objects 

This tab gives access to the same information, and almost the same functionalities, as the Devices tab. The only difference is that the tab Objects concerns all your objects that you track using an AirTag.

Myself

The tab Myself offers some parameters:

  • Share my location to share or stop sharing your location.
  • Allow friend requests to allow your friends to ask you to share your location, you must accept their requests so that they can locate you.
  • Rename location to name your location.
  • Customize notifications Locate,
  • Customize tracking notifications,
  • help a friend, this wording succinctly explains how other people can locate their lost devices with your iPhone by connecting your phone to iCloud.com.

Locate a device on iCloud.com

The iCloud.com website published by Apple includes a section Locate. This topic has the same Apple device location features as the Find My app we just reviewed. You use the website iCloud.com with the web browser of any device (computer, tablet, smartphone) connected to the internet. Just sign in to iCloud.com with the Apple ID used by the misplaced device. This allows, for example, to find your lost iPhone when you have no other Apple device. This also helps find an Apple device that a friend misplaced.

The Find My home page on the iCloud.com website shows the location of your Apple devices on a map. This homepage has 3 drop-down menus at the top of the screen:

  • Localiser mon iPhone provides access to all features of the iCloud.com site.
  • All my devices lists all your located devices. You see the name of your devices as well as the time of their last location. This menu also lists the devices of the people you share your location with.
  • [Your name] displayed at the top right provides access to your Apple account settings, iCloud Help, and signing out of the iCloud site.

When you click on a device located on the map or listed in the All my devices menu, the map zooms to the exact position of your device and a small frame appears in the upper left corner. This framework includes the following elements:

  • the name of the selected device with the time of its last location, 
  • the battery level of the device, 
  • an icon To ring which allows you to ring the device remotely, 
  • a Lost Mode icon that allows you to activate the lost mode on the device to secure it, 
  • an icon Delete device which allows you to erase the content of the device remotely.

To read : Quick Fix – iPhone stuck on black screen with spinning wheel & iCloud: The cloud service published by Apple to store and share files

Find everything with an AirTag

locate a device with AirTag - With Precise Locate, your iPhone guides you step-by-step to your misplaced AirTag. Convenient for quickly finding your keys or wallet.
locate a device with AirTag – With Precise Locate, your iPhone guides you step-by-step to your misplaced AirTag. Convenient for quickly finding your keys or wallet.

An AirTag is a small electronic badge created by Apple. Just attach an AirTag to an object you want to keep track of, a bunch of keys, a wallet, a travel bag, to find the object in all circumstances.

You can also be notified if you forget. The AirTag costs 35 euros, it can be purchased on the Apple site.

You locate your AirTags with the Objects tab of the Locate app. You can even ask Siri where your item is by saying, for example, "Hey Siri, where is my wallet?" Or “Hey Siri, where is my keyring?” » Once your AirTag is located, you can ring it to find it quickly. 

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If lost, you can switch the AirTag to lost mode. In this case, you will receive notifications indicating where your AirTag is.

[Total: 11 Mean: 4.9]

Written by marion v.

A French expatriate, loves traveling and enjoys visiting beautiful places in each country. Marion has been writing for over 15 years; writing articles, whitepapers, product write-ups and more for multiple online media sites, blogs, company websites and individuals.

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