Can't locate Airpods if case is closed?

[eclipse01]

Last night I "lost" my airpods (gen 3) and tried to locate them via findmy. It they were last seen at a place i was at a few days ago....was worried i left them there as the play sound didn't work. After mentally retracing my steps I found them in my house.

was I doing something wrong? I did see my case battery was very low..

So my question, at what point does the locator function actually work?

 

[eclipse01]

Nevermind, I found my answer on the Apple site, looks like Gen 2 of Airpods Pro finally gain this ability so that is good news.