Is it under the sofa? Has it been stolen? Here’s how to find your lost Apple Watch.
The problem with small devices such as your Apple Watch is that they’re easily lost. But Apple’s thought of that, and it can find your Apple Watch whether it’s down the side of the sofa, left at work or stolen. If you think it’s somewhere nearby, you can play a sound to locate your watch; if that doesn’t work, you can use GPS to find its location on a map, put it in Lost Mode so strangers can contact you, or remotely erase its data. They’re the same tools that Apple uses to locate its Apple AirTags. Unfortunately, many of these tools only work if you have Find My iPhone set up before losing your Apple Watch. So our ability to help you will vary based on that prerequisite. In this tutorial, we’ll show how to locate your Apple Watch using your iPhone or iCloud.com, how to find it when it’s lost or stolen, and how to check if you have Find My Watch activated. The key to tracking down your Apple Watch lies in the new Find My app, so open that up. If you’re not sure where to find the app itself, check the App Library by swiping left through your home screens, or swipe down in the middle of the home screen to pull up an app search bar. In the app, select the Devices tab, where you should see your paired Apple Watch. Select it, and you should instantly see a map showing the watch’s current or last known location. If you’re nearby, you should also see an icon of your iPhone on the map. Underneath the map, you’ll see a series of Find My controls. For this section, we’re assuming your Apple Watch is close enough to be heard. Tap Play Sound to make your Apple Watch emit an increasingly loud chime. It will blare out this noise for two minutes, even if your watch is in silent mode; if that isn’t enough time, you can tap Play Sound again and keep searching. Your ability to see an accurate, current location of your missing Apple Watch will vary based on whether your Apple Watch model has GPS and/or cellular, if the Watch still has power, and which Find My settings you have enabled or disabled. Without cellular data, your Apple Watch won’t be able to transmit its location unless it happens to be connected to a Wi-Fi network.
