How to Locate Your Apple Watch with Find My
In an unfortunate situation where you lose your Apple Watch, you can use the Find My app to find it. And if the worst happens, you can remotely wipe it to save your personal data.
Just like your phone and other tech devices, you might be in a situation where you lose your Apple Watch. Sometimes it’s in the couch cushions or behind the nightstand. Maybe you leave it at work or your friend’s house. Or, if the worst happens, it’s stolen or gone and not retrievable. Luckily, if you lose your Apple Watch, you’re not completely out of luck. Whatever the case, Apple includes your Apple Watch in the “Find My” app. This provides options to find your wearable. If you’ve ever wondered, “how do I ping my Apple Watch?” or how to get driving directions to where you left the device, read on.
Also, keep in mind that finding your watch will be limited to the hardware you have. For example, all Apple Watches within the Bluetooth range of the iPhone can be found. This is perfect if you’ve just misplaced your watch somewhere in your home or office. But you’ll have more of an advantage with an Apple Watch Series 2 or later with built-in Wi-Fi or GPS and cellular.
How to Locate Your Lost Apple Watch with Find My
Whether you’ve lost your Apple Watch in your home or somewhere else, the Find My app offers the means to try to locate it. You can even make your Apple Watch make a noise to help you find it.
- On your iPhone, launch the Find My app and tap on Devices.
- Next, locate and tap on your Apple Watch in the list of devices.
- Your Apple Watch should appear on the map. If it’s near your location, tap Play Sound to help locate the device.
- If the Watch isn’t nearby, you can tap Directions to help you navigate to where it was last located.
Using Lost Mode When You Cannot Locate Your Apple Watch
Other options you have are more drastic, but you may need to turn to them depending on your situation. If you can’t find it by playing a sound or using directions, you can use the “Lost Mode” option to mark your Apple Watch lost.
- Scroll to Mark As Lost and tap Activate.
- Review the details about what Lost Mode does, then tap Continue.
- You can enter a phone number and message for someone to call you if they locate your Apple Watch. Tap Next for each dialog.
- Finally, tap Activate in the top right corner if everything looks right.
After finishing, if anyone picks up your watch, the message will display on the watch’s screen. Your watch can only be unlocked using your current password. You can also change the message and contact number that displays on the watch at any time. Just open Lost Mode and change the data you want to be displayed.
Once you find your Apple Watch, you can deactivate Lost Mode.
- In the Find My app, navigate back to your Apple Watch and tap Activated under Mark As Lost.
- On the next page, tap Turn Off Lost Mode.
- Tap Turn Off in the confirmation dialog.
Last Resort: Wipe Your Watch
What if you see that your watch is in an unknown faraway location on the map, and you know you won’t be able to get it? Perhaps it’s lost in a Uber or on a plane, and there’s no way you can get it. At that point, it might be time to consider the nuclear option – wipe the device.
Below the Mark As Lost section, tap Erase This Device and follow the onscreen instructions. This option will remotely wipe your watch and remove all personal data.
It’s also worth noting that you can use the web if you lose your watch and don’t have your iPhone on hand. Open a browser and head to https://www.icloud.com/#find and log in with your Apple ID to find your watch and other devices.
