If you misplaced your pair of AirPods, you can quickly find them using the Find My app on your iPhone or iPad. Imagine opening the Find My app, only to discover that every single one of your Apple devices is listed, apart from your valuable AirPods.
It has happened to me, and if you’re reading this article, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re experiencing that as well. For this issue, I don’t need to highlight the possible reasons you should be worried that your AirPods not showing up on Find My app.
In this article, you’ll learn why your AirPods aren’t showing up on Find My. Also, I’ll show you how to use the app to find lost AirPods, and some fixes you can try to fix the AirPods not showing up on Find My problem. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
How to Find Lost AirPods Using Find My
If you’re wondering why you should care about your AirPods not showing on Find My, I have more than enough reasons. The most important one is what you can do using a combination of your AirPods and find my: finding your lost AirPods.
You can prevent yourself from ever losing your pair of AirPods if you have an iPhone 12 or later and the AirPods Pro, 3rd Generation AirPods, or the AirPods Max. By setting up separation alerts, you’ll get notified whenever you’re leaving a place without your AirPods.
If you don’t have one of the most expensive (or new) iPhones or AirPods, you can still do a lot by having your AirPods play a sound if they’re near any of your Apple devices. For this feature to work, you need to have your AirPods show up on the Find My app.
Simple head over to the app (Find My) and navigate to the Devices tab. From there, select your AirPods and tap “Play Sound” to have the pair of earbuds play a sound that gets gradually louder until you can find your lost AirPods.
If your AirPods aren’t near any of your Apple devices, you can turn on Lost Mode for the AirPods to make it easier for whoever finds them to return them to you. When they find the AirPods, their phone will display your contact information, provided they use an iPhone.
Why is AirPods Not Showing Up on Find My?
Given how important it is to get your AirPods to show up on the Find My app, you may think: why are my AirPods not showing up on Find My? Well, there are several answers to this question, and the correct one for you is specific to your case.
For one, it could be a simple glitch that you can fix by closing the app and reopening it. Sometimes, reconnecting the AirPods fixed the problem, which sounds a bit too good to be true for a problem that sounds like such a big deal.
Another thing you should know is that the device won’t show up on Find My as soon as you purchase it; you still need to connect it to your iPhone first. If you haven’t connected your AirPods to your iPhone, go ahead, make the connection, and recheck if the device finally shows up.
The device not showing up on Find My might also be a simple caching problem. If the app hasn’t purged its cache in a bit, it will probably show outdated information, which is likely the reason you’re not seeing your AirPods. Consider checking your Apple devices on iCloud.com to see if it’s listed there.
If you can’t get the AirPods to show up on the Find My page anyhow, it may be time to try getting a fix. The following section will show you how to get your AirPods to show up on the Find My app for your iPhone.
How to Fix AirPods Not Showing Up on Find My
When you can’t get your AirPods to show up on the Find My app on your iPhone, you should consider trying out some fixes. Here are some solutions to try when you have the issue of AirPods not showing up on Find My.
- Use iCloud.com
As explained earlier, the problem with your AirPods not showing up on Find My might be a simple cache problem. In that case, you may be unable to see the device on the app available from your iPhone until it purges its cache, which usually happens automatically.
Until that happens, you can always see your AirPods on the iCloud.com website from your browser. Head over to the Devices section on the website and you should see a list of your devices, including the AirPods in question.
- Forget and reconnect the AirPods
If your phone doesn’t want to recognize the AirPods as yours, you should consider forgetting it completely and pairing it once again. You can forget your AirPods by tapping on the (i) button in the Bluetooth options next to AirPods and selecting “Forget This Device,” while you have both ears in the charging case.
- Ensure you don’t have a managed Apple ID
If you use an Apple ID assigned to you by your school or work, you may not use the Find My app. Those accounts are referred to as managed accounts, and there are specific features not available to them. Unfortunately, the Find My app for iPhones, iPads, and Macs is part of those unavailable features.
READ MORE: How To Add AirPods To Find My iPhone
Conclusion
The AirPods is one of Apple’s most successful product lines, and one reason for that is how well it integrates into the Apple lineup. You can connect it to your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, while finding it using the Find My app if you misplace it.
Imagine not being able to access your AirPods from Find My for a reason you can’t decipher. That shouldn’t happen, and with this article, you shouldn’t ever have to deal with that again.