Find My

Find My is an asset tracking service made by Apple Inc. that enables users to track the location of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS devices, AirPods, AirTags and a number of supported third-party accessories through a connected iCloud account. Users can also share their GPS locations to others with Apple devices and view the location of others who choose to share their location. Find My was released alongside iOS 13 on September 19, 2019, merging the functions of the former Find My iPhone (known on Mac computers as Find My Mac) and Find My Friends into a single app. On watchOS, Find My is separated into three different applications: Find Devices, Find People and Find Items.
After being released on iOS, Find My was later released on iPadOS 13.1 on September 24, 2019 and macOS 10.15 on October 7, 2019.
Background
The original "Find My iPhone" app was announced on June 10, 2009 and released in June 2010 alongside iPhone OS 3. At the time, it required a paid subscription to Apple's MobileMe service. It was made free of charge with the iOS 4.2.1 update on November 22, 2010, but only for devices introduced in 2010. With the release of iCloud in October 2011, the service became free for all users. A Mac version called "Find My Mac" was added to OS X 10.7 Lion.
"Find My Friends" was announced on October 4, 2011, the day before Steve Jobs’ death, and released on October 12, 2011, several hours before the actual release of iOS 5. In October 2015, Find My Friends was added to iCloud.com to view the location of friends from a web browser.
In iOS 9, both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends became built-in apps, and thus could not be removed from devices. With the release of iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina, the functionality of both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends was combined into a single application, simply titled Find My.
Features
People
Find My allows users to share their GPS locations to contacts with an iOS, iPadOS, or macOS device for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. Once shared, others are able to see the exact location of a person's device on a map and can receive directions to the person's location. Notifications can be set, alerting a user when someone leaves or arrives at a set location.
Devices
Users can find the location of their Apple devices and play a sound on the device at maximum volume, a useful feature if the device has been mislaid. A device can also be marked as lost, locking the device with a password and suspending sensitive features such as Apple Pay. Lost mode also allows a user to leave a message and contact information on the lock screen of the device.
A user can also choose to erase a device, deleting all content and settings, which is useful if the device contains sensitive information, however the device can no longer be located after this action is performed. After the erase is complete, the message can still be displayed and the device will be activation locked. This makes it hard for someone to use or sell the device. An Apple ID password is required to turn off Find My, sign out of iCloud, erase the device, or reactivate a device after an activation lock.
Since iOS 15, users can locate their iPhone 11 or later for up to 5 hours after the phone battery was drained, or 24 if it was turned off by the user manually (SE 2nd and 3rd generation excluded), thanks to the power reserve. Meanwhile the iPhone Xr and Xs support the power reserve as well, those can’t be located when turned off. Apple hasn’t communicated on how the feature works and why it is exclusive to these models but it’s likely that the feature uses the iPhone U1 chip exclusive to the iPhone 11 and later but for the iPhone Xr, Xs and later Power reserve works on Apple Pay for Express Travel cards by allowing users to use cards to authenticate payments or other functions for five hours after the users iPhone has shut down if the card is selected as Express Travel cards.
To be eligible to claim on a stolen or lost iPhone when covered with AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss, Find My must be active on the user's device.
Items
With the release of iOS 14.3, third-party Bluetooth items and accessories with support for the Find My network accessory program can also be tracked, under a separate "Items" tab. If something is lost but out of Bluetooth range, the app will display the last known location until another iOS, iPadOS, or macOS device is nearby. Similar to Apple's own devices, third-party items can be placed into a "lost mode" which prevents others from pairing to the device. Lost items can be identified from within the Find My app, allowing a user to see a message or contact information from the owner of the lost item.
AirTags also use ultra-wideband technology to find lost items (if the Apple device used for searching supports it).
Privacy concerns
Find My, as well as its predecessor Find My Friends, has raised potential privacy issues arising from the tracking of a user's exact location, without users being notified that they are being tracked. Several safety features allowed a user to share their location only with people they choose and turn off the permission at any time. "Friends" could only track users who had accepted their access request. The user could remove them from access at any time or only make the tracking temporary.
The introduction of item tracking has further prompted concern from some, with fears that the device could be used to potentially track someone's location without their knowledge by placing an AirTag amongst their belongings. Apple has since introduced notifications which alert a user if they are being followed by an unknown device in an attempt to prevent using the device for stalking.
See also
Find My Device
Life360
iBeacon
References
External links
Overview of the Find My network architecture
How To Enable Find My Device Feature On Android Phones
2019 software
Apple Inc. services
IOS-based software made by Apple Inc.
iOS software
iOS
Internet geolocation