Apple keeps improving its Find My app with every new iOS release. With iOS 15, the company is again making some major improvements to its Find My service and adding useful new features to it. You can read about everything new with the Find My app in iOS 15 below.
Apple is basically trying to ensure that if you ever lose your iPhone, you can still track and recover it even if it is powered off. It is also expanding its Find My network to include AirPods since people tend to lose them pretty easily. Below is everything new with the Find My app in iOS 15.
Live Location
The Find My app will show your friends and family members’ live location who are sharing their location with you in iOS 15. In iOS 14, the Find My app updates the location of people sharing their location with you every few minutes. This way, you will get a better idea of the speed at which the person is moving.
Find My Widget
Apple is introducing a new Find My widget in iOS 15. The widget is available in two sizes, small and medium. It can be used to track People or Items tagged using AirTag or compatible with Apple’s Find My network depending on your preference. The widget will update the information it displays periodically, but it’s not interactive. Tapping on it will open the Find My app, though.
Find iPhone Even If Powered Off or Wiped Clean
Apple is supercharging the Find My feature in iOS 15 by allowing one to locate their iPhone even if it’s powered off or wiped clean.
There’s not much detail from Apple on how this feature works, but presumably, it uses the U1 chip or Bluetooth LE to send location data to other devices on the Find My network. It is likely that your iPhone will only be able to relay its signal for a few hours after it shuts itself off due to low battery.
The improvement, however, will make it much easier to find your lost or stolen iPhone since it can be tracked even after it is erased. Right now, erasing an iPhone on iOS 14 will disable Find My location tracking, though Activation Lock remains active. An iPhone that has been wiped clean without disabling Activation Lock first will show the device status as locked on the setup screen.
Separation Alerts
Find My in iOS 15 can automatically notify you if you leave your MacBook, iPad, or any other AirTag’d accessory behind. You can set Separation Alerts to not trigger when you are at Home, Office, or any other location. In other places, Separation Alert in Find My will automatically show a notification when you walk out of range of your MacBook or AirTags.
AirPods Gain Find My Network Support
Apple is making it easier to find your lost or stolen AirPods with iOS 15. Post the update, your AirPods Pro and AirPods Max will also become a part of the Find My network. This means the earbuds will be able to relay their approximate location even when you are not in Bluetooth range by tapping into Apple’s Find My network. Additionally, when in Bluetooth range, you can use the Precision Finding feature to find the exact location of your AirPods.
Additionally, your AirPods will also be linked to your Apple ID to ensure they can be found even if they are stolen. However, there’s no Activation Lock, so the AirPods can be manually reset to unlink them from the linked Apple ID.
These new features will only be available on the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.
iOS 15 will bring plenty of new features to your iPhone, so make sure to go through the entire list.
What do you think about the improvements coming to the Find My app with iOS 15? Drop a comment and let us know!
