Find AirPods (without case)

[mctskater]

I’ve found a pair of AirPods without their case. What’s the best way to get them to show up on Find My?
My first thought is to borrow a case to charge them, hoping that will allow them to send out a location. Will that work?
Next I’d, post on social media. I live in a small town and think that will work. But in the post what info should/shouldn’t post to ensure the real owner can only claim them. Or prove that they’re theirs?
I’ve read about others finding AirPods in a case, but where I found only the AirPods without a case I’m not sure what’s the best course of action. Thanks for your help.
Cheers.

 

[Crowbot]

I’ve found a pair of AirPods without their case. What’s the best way to get them to show up on Find My?
My first thought is to borrow a case to charge them, hoping that will allow them to send out a location. Will that work?
Next I’d, post on social media. I live in a small town and think that will work. But in the post what info should/shouldn’t post to ensure the real own can only claim them. Or prove that there theirs?
I’ve read about others finding AirPods in a case, but where I found only the AirPods without a case I’m not sure what’s the best course of action. Thanks for your help.
Cheers.

It's good of you to try to get them back to their owner. These things have serial numbers encoded into them. I would contact Apple and see if they can help. I think the AirPods and case are matched when they are first set up. I remember having to get one replaced and Apple had to go through some setup to match it to me.

 

[mctskater]

From what I’ve read in similar threads, apple won’t offer any help in locating the owner.

 

[Crowbot]

From what I’ve read in similar threads, apple won’t offer any help in locating the owner.

Not too surprising. No benefit to them and there could be legal issues.

As with many thing in life, sometimes there is no mechanism to do the right thing.

As for your original question, you could ask the "owner" to bring the case. If the Pods go in and say "Hi" then you found the owner. If they're not matched to the case I'm pretty sure it would say so. But it's a guess on my part.

 

[mctskater]

Your guess is better than nothing at all. Thanks for your help. Hopefully I’ll post a happy ending in a week or so. Cheers

 

[mctskater]

Update:
I tried charging the AirPods in my coworkers case but they don’t fit. Like they go in the case for don’t click in place 100% right. We compared the ones I found to my buddies and we believe I found fake AirPods. I did some reading online for Real vs. Fake AirPods and I think these are some top quality fakes. Their SN shows up on apples website as real, but the finer details that make apple products stand out are missing on the ones I found. The font is different font type and size. Plus the craftsmanship is lacking. There’s also one extra line of markings. See image below. So far all the genuine AirPods I’ve seen don’t have the third line of text, underlined in yellow. I blacked out the SN.
From here I’m going to post online and try to get them to back to the owner.

 

[Crowbot]

Update:
I tried charging the AirPods in my coworkers case but they don’t fit. Like they go in the case for don’t click in place 100% right. We compared the ones I found to my buddies and we believe I found fake AirPods. I did some reading online for Real vs. Fake AirPods and I think these are some top quality fakes. Their SN shows up on apples website as real, but the finer details that make apple products stand out are missing on the ones I found. The font is different font type and size. Plus the craftsmanship is lacking. There’s also one extra line of markings. See image below. So far all the genuine AirPods I’ve seen don’t have the third line of text, underlined in yellow. I blacked out the SN.
From here I’m going to post online and try to get them to back to the owner. View attachment 2239741

Yeah, that label is very suspicious. Good luck finding the owner. If these are fakes they probably didn't spend much on them.