Losing an iPhone can be a very frustrating experience. However, Apple has aimed to help you with this by introducing the Find My iPhone feature. Using this, you can find the current location of your iPhone using any device logged into the same iCloud account as your phone; this even includes your computer!
To use Find My iPhone on your computer, go to iCloud.com/find and log into the same Apple ID your missing iPhone is logged into. Next, click on All Devices and then select the lost device from the list that appears. This will show the last known location of your device.
There are other features to be found on the computer version of Find My iPhone, including getting your lost device to ring at full volume and the ability for it to display your contact information on its screen. Let’s get into this topic in more detail to help you find your lost device.
How to Access Find My iPhone on iCloud.com
The primary way to use Find My iPhone from a computer is by using the official Apple website, iCloud.com. You can use this site to assist you in finding pretty much any apple device. This includes an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch.
To access the Find My iPhone page on iCloud.com, go to iCloud.com/find. Specifically, this is the URL for the page, so clicking that link will bring you directly to the Find My iPhone page.
How to Navigate and Use Find My iPhone on iCloud.com
Once you go to iCloud.com/find, if you haven’t already, you may be prompted to log in. Make sure to log in using the same Apple ID you used for your lost device, or it won’t be on your list of devices.
Once you’ve logged in, return to the Find My iPhone page and select All Devices.
Here, you should see a list of all devices tied to your Apple ID. Select the device you want to find, and you will see a map giving you its location.
If for whatever reason, Find My iPhone can’t locate your device, it will instead display the device’s last known location for up to 24 hours. In this scenario, select Notify Me When Found, and you will receive an email as soon as Find My iPhone detects your device again.
From here, you have a couple of options to help you find your device. Let’s go through these in a bit more detail.
How to Play a Sound on Your Lost Device
When you go to iCloud.com/find, click on All Devices, and then select your lost device, you will see an option that says Play Sound. Clicking this will cause your device to ring at max volume to help you locate it quickly.
This option is mainly for people who have lost their device somewhere nearby. It will help significantly if your lost device is somewhere in your home, for example. Just locate where the sound is coming from, and you’ll find your lost device.
How to Turn on Lost Mode
Again, go to iCloud.com/find, click on All Devices, and then select your lost device and right next to Play Sound, you should see an option that says Lost Mode. Clicking this will put your lost device into Lost Mode. As the name implies, this feature was designed to protect your device if lost.
If you enable Lost Mode using the website, your phone will be locked. To open the device, you must enter a four-digit PIN you set on the website.
After you set this PIN, you can enter a phone number that will be displayed on your lost phone’s lock screen. This will give whoever finds your phone a number to contact you once they find it.
You can also set a message to be displayed on your phone’s lock screen by turning on Lost Mode. Essentially, lost mode makes your phone unusable for anyone who finds it, but it also gives them the information necessary to return it to you.
How to Make Sure Find My iPhone is Enabled on Your Device
If the Find My iPhone page on iCloud.com is not working, it’s likely that it will not be enabled on your device. This is because Find My iPhone needs to be enabled in not one but two different places for the website version to find your device’s location.
First, you need to enable it in your phone’s iCloud settings. To do this, open the Settings app and select iCloud. Here you should see and select Find My iPhone.
In the Find My iPhone menu, you can see two different toggles: Find My iPhone and Send Last Location. Turning on the Find My iPhone toggle will allow you to find your iPhone using any device connected to your iCloud account. Turning on the Send Last Location toggle automatically sends the location of your device to your iCloud account once the battery runs low.
It is recommended that you turn on both of these toggles. However, you only need to turn on Find My iPhone to use the iCloud website to find your device.
You need to toggle on Find My iPhone in the location services settings. To do this:
- Open the Settings app, select Privacy, and then Location Services.
- This should bring up a list of every app on your phone as well as whether or not they have the ability to view your current location. Scroll through this list until you reach Find iPhone.
- Select this app and then set it to While Using the App.