If you’re with someone else and they have lost their iPhone, it can be a little hard to come up with ideas to find it. However, the iPhone has a built-in feature for locating other iPhones called Find My. But how do you use it to find someone else’s phone if they’re not on your account?
Apple’s Find My app has a built-in feature called Help a Friend. To use it, open the app and select the Me icon. Next, select Help a Friend and enter the email and password to the Apple ID the missing phone is tied to. This will show you a map with the lost phone’s location.
The Find My app also has a number of other features that you can use. Let’s get into this app in more detail to help you get the most out of your devices, and potentially help out a friend!
How to Use Find My iPhone to Locate Someone Else’s Phone
Helping someone else find their iPhone using your iPhone is relatively simple. Apple has a built-in feature precisely for this purpose. All you have to do is use the Help a Friend feature built into the Find My app.
To do this:
- Open the Find My app. In the bottom right corner of the screen, you should see a little icon that says Me.
- Selecting this option will bring up a menu, and in this menu, you should see another option that says Help a Friend. This should bring up a window asking your friend to log into their Apple ID.
- Once they’ve entered the email and password to the Apple ID their lost device belongs to, ensure the Keep Me Signed In box is unchecked and then select the arrow to move to the next step.
- This should bring you to a list of every device tied to your friend’s Apple ID. Select your friend’s lost iPhone, and you will be greeted with a map showing its current locations and three options. These options are Play Sound, Lost Mode, and Erase iPhone.
- Once your friend has found their lost iPhone, tap their name in the top right corner of the screen and select sign out in the menu that appears. This will log your phone out of their Apple ID and return it to your account.
The Different Options
Play Sound is the simplest to understand of the three options. Selecting Play Sound will cause the lost iPhone to ring at maximum volume, making it extremely easy to find.
Lost Mode is a good option if your friend’s lost iPhone is somewhere in public. This will cause the phone to lock, so it can only open using a 4-Digit PIN you set. Lost Mode will also let you set a contact number that will display on the screen of your lost iPhone that anyone who finds it can call.
Erase iPhone is the nuclear option. If your friend’s iPhone is lost and cannot be found, selecting Erase iPhone will erase all data on the phone to protect your information. Hopefully, this option will go unused.
How to Track Someone Else’s Phone Permanently Using Find My App
The nature of this question may make some people uneasy due to the stalking nature of it. However, one of the most popular reasons someone would want to permanently Track someone else’s device is to track their kid’s phone.
Thankfully, Apple has made this possible for that exact reason. All you have to do is add their device to your Find My app.
To do this:
- Open the Find My app on the phone that you would like to track.
- You then must select People in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- This will open your contacts list, where you should search for and select the person you want to share your location with. In this case, this would be your phone number.
- When you select your phone number, you can choose one of three options: Share For One Hour, Share Until End of Day, or Share Indefinitely. If you’re only trying to track your kids while they go out for one night, you may want to select Share Until End of Day. However, if you want to be able to track them forever, then you want to choose Share Indefinitely.
- Now return to your phone and accept their share request. This will make it so that you can see their phone’s location by opening the Find My app.
How to Use Find My to Track Someone Else’s Location
One of the more common ways people use the Find My app is to receive a notification when a friend arrives or leaves a location.
Again, this idea may also make some readers nervous for fear of stalking. However, just like the last section, this feature is commonly used by parents worried about the safety of their young children. It is also worth noting that this cannot be done without the consent of both devices.
To do this:
- Open the Find My app on the phone you’re trying to track and select the People tab in the bottom left-hand corner.
- Use your contacts list to select the person you would like to share this information with.
- Scroll down until you see Notifications, select Add, and then need to select Notify Me. This will bring up a menu where you can choose from several options.
- You first need to select what you would like to be notified of. You can choose from getting notified when they arrive, when they leave, and when they are not at that location.
- Under location, you have three options: their current location, your current location, or adding a new location entirely. If you select New Location, you can enter any address you desire.
- After this, you will need to select the frequency at which you would like to receive these notifications. Your options are either only once or every time.
- Once you have selected your frequency, you have successfully set up location-based notifications on your device.