Over the past few years or so, Apple has been trying to expand its “Find My” network with the release of things like AirTags, along with making the Find My app more robust. On one hand, this is extremely handy, especially if you have a tendency of losing your AirPods or accidentally leave your phone behind. But more and more users have been reporting issues where a random Find My notification will appear telling you that AirPods Pro Detected.
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The message fully reads as such:
AirPods Pro Detected
An AirPods Pro has been moving with you for a while. The owner can see its location. You can play a sound to find it.
Even if you own AirPods Pro, or any other accessories Apple’s H1 chip, this notification can appear, and will potentially continue appearing for one reason or another.
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Prevent AirPods Pro Detected Notification
The reason why iPhone users are starting to see these “detected” notifications is because of the changes that were recently implemented into the Find My app. Ever since the AirTags were released, Apple has come under fire due to privacy concerns resulting in unsuspecting people being tracked by AirTags. These users never even knew that there was an AirTag on their person, which is problematic to say the least.
In an effort to combat these potential privacy problems, without pulling support for AirTags altogether, Apple has been working to make the Find My app more useful. Now, you can be notified if your iPhone (or iPad) detects an unrecognized device traveling with you, whether it’s in a bag, or if it’s something like your own AirPod.
If this ends up happening to you, it could be for a variety of reasons:
- Signing into a different Apple ID on your phone than the one that was linked to the AirPods or AirTags.
- Purchased second-hand AirPods or AirTags that were not correctly unlinked from the previous owners’ Apple ID.
- You are part of an iCloud family.
There are some other reasons why this might be happening, but luckily, you aren’t out of luck if you want to get things back in working order.
Forget And Reset Your AirPods Pro
The first step that you’ll want to take if you are getting the “AirPods Pro Detected” notification is to forget and reset your earbuds. Apple has made this easy enough, and we have the steps available for you down below:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap Bluetooth.
- Next to the name of your AirPods, tap the i button.
- At the bottom of the page, tap Forget This Device.
- Make sure that both AirPods are in the charging case.
- Open the charging case lid.
- Press and hold the setup button on the back of your AirPods case.
- Continue holding for between 10-20 seconds until the status LED changes to amber and begins flashing.
- Release the setup button.
- Close the charging case lid.
- Open the lid, and place your AirPods near your iPhone.
Now, you will want to go through the same setup process that you went through when you first purchased the AirPods. This should solve any potential problems that you have been experiencing.
Change ‘Find My’ Settings
Because the “AirPods Pro Detected” notification comes from the Find My app, the next step that you’ll want to take is to adjust the notification settings. This was previously not available in older versions of iOS, but thanks to the various updates that Apple has been implementing, we can finally adjust the settings and here’s how you can do it:
- Open the Find My app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the Devices tab in the bottom toolbar.
- Locate and select the name of your AirPods from the list of connected devices.
- Swipe up to reveal the entire Settings panel for your AirPods.
- Under Notifications, tap Notify When Left Behind.
- Tap the toggle to the Off position.
- In the top right corner, tap the Done button.
- If prompted, tap the Continue button.
- Tap the Done button in the top right corner again.
- Exit the Find My app.
While it’s definitely going to be a potential inconvenience, turning off the “left behind” notifications will remove those pesky pop-ups from appearing even if they should not be.
Andrew Myrick is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is having a never-ending supply of different keyboards and gaming handhelds that end up collecting more dust than the consoles that are being emulated.
Paul Kitson says
I do not own any AirPods or AirTags and nor does any user of an Apple device using the same Apple Account. I am continually notified about these devices so cannot reset the Airpods or airtags but want find my to operate for the iphones and ipad I do own. How do I stop these unknown airpods and airtags from causing notifications?