If you’ve ever lost your iPhone or iPad, you probably know how incredibly useful the native Find My app (previously called Find My iPhone) can be.
You can “ping” your device if it’s simply misplaced around the house. But the app has other features that come in handy if you actually lose your device when out-and-about — including accurate location tracking, a “Lost Mode,” and a remote data wipe feature.
But, of course, Find My is only useful if you have it enabled and it’s working properly.
Verify that you signed in with your correct Apple ID on your device
Check that your device has a cellular or Wi-Fi network connection
Make sure you turned on location services for each device
Turn Airplane Mode on and back off
Restart your device and check again
Check that Set Automatically is on in Settings > General > Date & Time
With the same Apple ID, Apple allows you to register up to 100 devices in Find My. Once you register 100 devices, you must first remove a device to add another.
What’s the difference between the Find My and Find My iPhone app
Apple introduced the Find My app with iPadOS and iOS 13 and macOS Catalina. Find my includes both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends–in one combined app.
In earlier iOS versions (12 and below) Apple offered two different apps for finding devices and finding friends.
Both Find My apps use Bluetooth from nearby Apple devices to locate missing or lost devices.
What If You Don’t Have The Device?
Unfortunately, none of the steps below work if you don’t have physical access to your device.
If your device is lost or stolen and not showing up on Find My, its battery may be dead or it may have been intentionally powered off. Alternatively, Find My iPhone could be disabled.
Locate and tap your missing device in the Find My or Find My iPhone App, even if it shows as offline
The best you can hope for is to activate Lost Mode.
If the device reconnects to the internet, it displays a Lost iPhone message which you can tailor with a contact number or other information.
Turn on Lost Mode when you cannot locate your device
If you’re particularly concerned, you can also remotely wipe your data. But, again, the device will need to be connected to the internet for that to work.
But, truthfully, there aren’t really many options left.
You should file a report with your local authorities, spread the word around social media, and hope for the best. (Police may ask for the serial number of your device — find out how to find it here.)
Because of this, it’s strongly recommended that you get Find My device’s list fixed as soon as you notice a problem with the feature on a device.
My iPhone, iPad or iPod Isn’t Showing Up on Find My or Find My iPhone
With the bad news out of the way, if you do have access to your iPhone and you notice that it isn’t showing up in the Find My or Find My iPhone app, you can take steps to fix it.
Sign Into iCloud
First off, if you have access to the lost smartphone, check to see if it’s logged into the proper iCloud account.
Tap Settings and then your Apple ID card. Check to see if the email is the same as the one you’re attempting to use in Find My.
If you tap Settings and see a pop-up that asks you to sign in to your device, enter your Apple ID and password. (If you weren’t signed in, this was the problem.)
Check to See If Find My iPhone is Enabled
Next, you should check to see if Find My is even enabled. You may have skipped configuring Find My during your device’s setup, or it may have been turned off for some reason.
Go to Settings
Tap your Apple ID card (it should say your name)
Choose Find My
Then, tap Find My iPhone and toggle it on
Also, toggle on Enable Offline Finding and Send Last Location
For iOS 12 and below, find and tap iCloud
Tap Find My iPhone
Hopefully, you turned on Find My iPhone in your iCloud Settings before you lost your device!
Here, Find My iPhone should be on. If it isn’t, tap it and switch it on
Verify you turned on location services
Turn on location services on iPhone, iPad, or iPod
Open the Settings > Privacy > Location Services
Turn on Location Services
Turn on location services on Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy tab
If the padlock in the lower left is locked, click it, then enter the name and password of the administrator
Select Location Services
Select the Enable Location Services checkbox
Tick the box next to Find My
Check the box to turn on Find My Mac.
Restart your device
Slide to power off and restart your iPhone.
For iPhone X and higher and iPads without a home button, press and hold either volume button and the side or top power button until the power off slider appears. Slide off. Then power back on.
For iPhone 8 and below, iPods, and iPads with a home button, press and hold the side or top power button until the power off slider appears. Slide off. Then power back on.
Toggle Airplane mode on and off
Open Settings
Toggle Airplane Mode on
Wait 20-30 seconds
Toggle Airplane Mode off
You can also toggle Airplane mode on and off via Control Center by tapping the Airplane mode icon.
Check your device’s date and time settings
For Find My to work correctly, it’s best to set your device to Apple’s Set Automatically feature.
On iPhones, iPads, and iPods, go to Settings > General > Date & Time and choose Set Automatically.
Turn on ‘Set Automatically’ and select your Time Zone.
On Macs, go to System Preferences > Date & Time > and tick the box of Set date and time automatically.
Device Shows Up, But is Offline
In other cases, your device may actually be listed in Find My iPhone — but the platform will say that it’s “offline.”
If you have the device with it and it’s clearly powered on and connected to the internet, it’s probably a cellular settings issue.
Make sure your device can access the internet
If your device is “offline,” you should first check to see if your device has an internet connection.
Macs, Apple Watches and certain iPads only show up on Find My if they are currently connected to a Wi-Fi network.
On the other hand, iPhones and cellular-enabled iPads should show up in Find My iPhone if you enabled it.
If you have access to the device, check to see if there are any signal bars or dots in the upper-left hand corner. If it says “No Service,” then go to Settings > Cellular and make sure that Cellular Data is on.
Make sure cellular is enabled for Find My iPhone
In a recent case that the writer of this article experienced, Cellular Data was somehow disabled for Find My iPhone. It may have been inadvertent or some sort of software bug. But, thankfully, this is easily fixable.
Open Settings
Tap Cellular
Scroll down and locate Find My (or Find My iPhone)
The toggle should be green. If not, tap on it to enable it
Toggle location services off and on
Disable location services on the device that doesn’t show up
Toggle off Find My in Settings > Apple ID > Find My
Confirm with your Apple ID
Wait 20-30 seconds
Turn location services back on then toggle Find My back on
If that doesn’t fix it, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Find My iPhone says a device is “offline” when it’s been 24 hours since a location was sent, the battery has run out, or if cellular data or the device itself is actually powered off.
Additionally, Apple advises that Find My iPhone is not available in some countries — due to local regulations or technical limitations.
What If None of This Works?
If you have your device and none of the above steps remedy any Find My iPhone problems, then there might be a deeper issue.
There could be damage to the device’s antenna array, GPS chip or other components, for example. Presumably, a severely degraded battery could also cause issues.
In any case, it might be worth setting up an appointment at a Genius Bar or with an Apple-authorized service provider. If it’s a hardware issue, they should be able to repair your phone for you.
Mike is a freelance journalist from San Diego, California.
While he primarily covers Apple and consumer technology, he has past experience writing about public safety, local government, and education for a variety of publications.
He’s worn quite a few hats in the journalism field, including writer, editor, and news designer.
My question has to do with AirPods. I think someone stole my AirPods about a month ago. When I first couldn’t find them, by the time I realized it, they were not showing up on Find my Device at all. Since that time, they have shown up twice. Once a couple of weeks ago for a 24 hour period but said no location found. Then they showed up again this weekend along with someone else’s AirPods on Find My Device. Both AirPods say no location found. I’m so confused. What do I do? I check Find my Device regularly but no change to either set of AirPods.
I haven’t physically had contact with my phone and I don’t know where it is. I used the find my iPhone app but
my phone wont show up. I put it on lost mode. I pressed the play sound. but no sound at all. did I read the instructions wrong? i know my phone is in the house somewhere but, what should i do?
I lost my iPhone 8 plus yesterday, infact it was stolen from my room! The thing now is, I got the phone a month ago and don’t remember if I turned on the find my iPhone feature but when I coonected to my MacBook I could view my phone on icloud through the find my iPhone features but it keeps telling me that my iPhone is offline. Does it mean that I enabled the feature and I didn’t remember?
Without Find My on, there is no other way to track a missing iPad. You cannot turn it on remotely.
There are not many options here, other than contacting the police and supplying them with the iPads serial number available on the box or listed in the proof of purchase.
I’m so sorry to hear that your iPhone was lost–that stinks!
When you log into your iCloud using another device or a computer, is it not finding your account at all?
Try looking up your Apple ID by entering the full name and email address associated with your Apple ID using this site.
With your device now missing, you cannot link it to a new Apple ID or account. So we need to do our best to get access to your current Apple ID and iCloud account and then use the Find My service to locate it.
U should change the name to
Can’t find my iPhone.
Quick note: lost my iPhone in the gym, someone took it and turned it off…can’t find it till they turn it on…
What’s the point of promoting something that only works when turned on.
I updated LOST MODE and indicated a number to call in case it is found.
After some hours I got a text message from Microsoft saying, Dear Customer, Your iPhone 8 Plus silver was found, View current location (link provided) when I clicked on that link it directed me to find my phone then suddenly it froze when I tried to log in again I kept getting an error No Devices Registered.
We are so sorry that your iPhone 8 was stolen–that’s terrible!
We’re not sure why you received a text from Microsoft instead of Apple–so it’s possible that text is a scam.
To check legitimately, go to Apple’s iCloud website using a computer (it can be any computer or even Android tablets) or use the Find My iPhone app on another iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Enter your Apple ID and password and look for the missing device’s status there.
If your iPhone 8 drained its battery, no longer has a WiFi or Cellular connection or is turned off, you should see the last known location for 24 hours. Once that 24 hours expires, it won’t update its location until the iPhone is turned on again and connects to a network.
When your iPhone is on and has an active connection, the location updates regularly in the Find My app and iCloud.
Since your phone was stolen, you should contact the police in the location where you believe your phone was stolen AND you should immediately contact your carrier.
With Lost Mode on, no one can really use your iPhone so your data remains secure and private. Someone who has your iPhone can only call you, turn it off, make an emergency phone call, or erase it via iTunes.
Even if they try to erase it, they still cannot activate it since you have iCloud activation lock on it. However, if they do erase your iPhone, iCloud and Find My app can no longer see or update its location.
We hope you recover your iPhone 8 and don’t have to go through the pain and expense of getting another device!
My question has to do with AirPods. I think someone stole my AirPods about a month ago. When I first couldn’t find them, by the time I realized it, they were not showing up on Find my Device at all. Since that time, they have shown up twice. Once a couple of weeks ago for a 24 hour period but said no location found. Then they showed up again this weekend along with someone else’s AirPods on Find My Device. Both AirPods say no location found. I’m so confused. What do I do? I check Find my Device regularly but no change to either set of AirPods.
I haven’t physically had contact with my phone and I don’t know where it is. I used the find my iPhone app but
my phone wont show up. I put it on lost mode. I pressed the play sound. but no sound at all. did I read the instructions wrong? i know my phone is in the house somewhere but, what should i do?
I lost my iPhone 8 plus yesterday, infact it was stolen from my room! The thing now is, I got the phone a month ago and don’t remember if I turned on the find my iPhone feature but when I coonected to my MacBook I could view my phone on icloud through the find my iPhone features but it keeps telling me that my iPhone is offline. Does it mean that I enabled the feature and I didn’t remember?
Hi, my son lost his iPad and had find my iPhone turned off. How can we locate it?
Hi Rebecca,
Without Find My on, there is no other way to track a missing iPad. You cannot turn it on remotely.
There are not many options here, other than contacting the police and supplying them with the iPads serial number available on the box or listed in the proof of purchase.
I lost my iphone last week Tuesday but now when I track it it says no iCloud found I should create another account what can be the problem?
Hi Siphosihle,
I’m so sorry to hear that your iPhone was lost–that stinks!
When you log into your iCloud using another device or a computer, is it not finding your account at all?
Try looking up your Apple ID by entering the full name and email address associated with your Apple ID using this site.
With your device now missing, you cannot link it to a new Apple ID or account. So we need to do our best to get access to your current Apple ID and iCloud account and then use the Find My service to locate it.
Liz
U should change the name to
Can’t find my iPhone.
Quick note: lost my iPhone in the gym, someone took it and turned it off…can’t find it till they turn it on…
What’s the point of promoting something that only works when turned on.
Hello!!
My iPhone 8 plus is stolen.
I updated LOST MODE and indicated a number to call in case it is found.
After some hours I got a text message from Microsoft saying, Dear Customer, Your iPhone 8 Plus silver was found, View current location (link provided) when I clicked on that link it directed me to find my phone then suddenly it froze when I tried to log in again I kept getting an error No Devices Registered.
Please help to advise why this has happened.
I used the correct iCloud.
Thanks
Hi Sarah,
We are so sorry that your iPhone 8 was stolen–that’s terrible!
We’re not sure why you received a text from Microsoft instead of Apple–so it’s possible that text is a scam.
To check legitimately, go to Apple’s iCloud website using a computer (it can be any computer or even Android tablets) or use the Find My iPhone app on another iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Enter your Apple ID and password and look for the missing device’s status there.
If your iPhone 8 drained its battery, no longer has a WiFi or Cellular connection or is turned off, you should see the last known location for 24 hours. Once that 24 hours expires, it won’t update its location until the iPhone is turned on again and connects to a network.
When your iPhone is on and has an active connection, the location updates regularly in the Find My app and iCloud.
Since your phone was stolen, you should contact the police in the location where you believe your phone was stolen AND you should immediately contact your carrier.
With Lost Mode on, no one can really use your iPhone so your data remains secure and private. Someone who has your iPhone can only call you, turn it off, make an emergency phone call, or erase it via iTunes.
Even if they try to erase it, they still cannot activate it since you have iCloud activation lock on it. However, if they do erase your iPhone, iCloud and Find My app can no longer see or update its location.
We hope you recover your iPhone 8 and don’t have to go through the pain and expense of getting another device!
Liz