Yes, you can track your AirPods if you’ve lost them. Here’s how…

Wondering do AirPods have trackers? Hopefully, that means you haven’t lost yours. But regardless, here’s what to know about the tracking capabilities of Apple’s AirPods. And keep in mind this goes for the second- and third-generation AirPods as well as the AirPods Pro.

AirPods Don’t Have GPS

When people think of tracking, a lot of time they relate that to GPS – the feature in your phone that shows you your exact location on the map. GPS is an incredibly useful tool, but it is limited to your iPhone.

The AirPods and the AirPods case does not have built-in GPS. The AirPods are too tiny for a GPS chip, don’t have the battery capacity to support it, and don’t really need it anyway. That’s because of Apple’s Find My network.

Apple’s Find My Network

But just because your AirPods don’t have GPS doesn’t mean you can’t find them if lost. This is where Apple’s Find My network comes in.

Apple’s Find My network lets you track people and devices. Where people are concerned, Find My lets you track your friends and family (always with their permission – no one can stalk you.

As for devices, Find My lets you track your Macs, iPhones, iPods, and AirTags – and with the exception of the iPhone, Find My does all this without using GPS.

Instead, the Find My network uses the wireless signals from your devices to track their last known location. And this doesn’t require them to be connected to the internet. Instead, the wireless and Bluetooth signals your devices put out will ping to other internet-connected devices – like a stranger’s iPhone – which will then relay your device’s information to the Find My network, which lets you locate it.

And nope, a stranger never knows their device was pinged by your missing one or that their device relates your device’s location to Find My. Yours and their’s privacy is completely protected.

How To Use Find My To Find Your AirPods On A Map

Find My also works with AirPods. Here’s how to use the Find My app to find your missing AirPods:

Open the Find My app on your iPhone (or any other Apple device – but we’ll use the iPhone for demonstration purposes).
Tap the Devices tab at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll through your list of devices until you see your missing AirPods and tap on them.

Your AirPods will now appear on the map along with a pop-up menu that has several options. The map will show you the last known location of your AirPods.

How To Use Find My To Track Your AirPods

Find My is great, but let’s be real: the AirPods are tiny, and just by showing up on a map doesn’t mean you can find them. What if they are lost in the grass or behind a pillow? That’s where the other features of Find My come in.

First, you can have your AirPods play a sound, so if you are near them, they can emit a loud audio signal that will help you locate them:

Open the Find My app on your iPhone (or any other Apple device – but we’ll use the iPhone for demonstration purposes).
Tap the Devices tab at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll through your list of devices until you see your missing AirPods and tap on them.
Your AirPods will now appear on the map along with a pop-up menu that has several options. Tap on the “Play Sound” option.

Your AirPods will now play a loud sound so you can find them.

Alternately, if you have a compatible iPhone, you can use it to hone in on their exact location, kind of like a metal detector to a coin. Here’s how:

Open the Find My app on your iPhone (or any other Apple device – but we’ll use the iPhone for demonstration purposes).
Tap the Devices tab at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll through your list of devices until you see your missing AirPods and tap on them.
Your AirPods will now appear on the map along with a pop-up menu that has several options. Tap on the “Find” option.
Move your iPhone around according to the on-screen instructions. The display will show you when you are moving nearer to your AirPods, which will lead you to them.

Pretty cool, huh?

Do AirPods Have Trackers?

AirPods don’t have built-in GPS tracking, but you can use the Find My app to track down and find your lost AirPods.

And check out Do AirTags Have GPS? And What Headphones Does Apple Make?

Michael Grothaus

Apple expert and novelist, Michael Grothaus has been covering tech on KnowYourMobile for the best part of 10 years. Prior to this, he worked at Apple. And before that, he was a film journalist. Michael is a published author; his book Epiphany Jones was voted as one of the best novels about Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly. Michael is also a writer at other publications including VICE and Fast Company.

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