I found a set of Airpods in Central Park....

[Gix1k]

They weren't in a case. It was just the two buds. I was in the area for a long time and no one came looking for them. I still have them. I later put them in my case and my phone said something like "these airpods are connected to *****m@Gmail.com and the owner will be able to see their location". How can I locate the owner? The message tells me nothing really.

 

[Night Spring]

Yeah, unfortunate how limited the options are for locating owners of lost devices. We actually found an iPhone in the park once, it was activation locked. Kept it charged hoping the owner will get in touch, but they never did. Tried to turn it into an Apple store, they wouldn't take it. So it's just sitting in a drawer.

It does occur to me that with AirPods, if you do connect them to your iPhone, Mac or other device, the owner will in fact be able to see their location if they look in FindMy. If you are comfortable with letting the owner know your location, you could do that, and see if they turn up at your door. But if you are in an apartment or office building, I don't know how precisely they can track the AirPods.

 

[Gix1k]

Yeah, unfortunate how limited the options are for locating owners of lost devices. We actually found an iPhone in the park once, it was activation locked. Kept it charged hoping the owner will get in touch, but they never did. Tried to turn it into an Apple store, they wouldn't take it. So it's just sitting in a drawer.

It does occur to me that with AirPods, if you do connect them to your iPhone, Mac or other device, the owner will in fact be able to see their location if they look in FindMy. If you are comfortable with letting the owner know your location, you could do that, and see if they turn up at your door. But if you are in an apartment or office building, I don't know how precisely they can track the AirPods.

I connected them last night to my phone and they appear in my Find My with my exact address. I am not in NY, so if they show up fine. They know they lost them and clearly I found them. Maybe an enhancement to Find My with a lost device is the ability to contact the owner without revealing their personal info. I dunno....oh well.

 

[Night Spring]

I connected them last night to my phone and they appear in my Find My with my exact address. I am not in NY, so if they show up fine. They know they lost them and clearly I found them. Maybe an enhancement to Find My with a lost device is the ability to contact the owner without revealing their personal info. I dunno....oh well.

With an iPhone, if you lose your iPhone, you can turn on lost mode, and type a message that will appear on your iPhone lock screen for whomever finds it. Was able to recover an iPhone that was accidentally left on public transport by using that feature.

Obviously, an AirPod doesn't have a screen to display messages, but it would be nice if a lost AirPod could display a message to nearby iPhone or Macs. I think Apple just implemented a mode for AirTags where 3rd parties can help track AirTags attached to lost items. Something similar for AirPods would be nice.

 

[BigBlur]

Maybe an enhancement to Find My with a lost device is the ability to contact the owner without revealing their personal info.

but it would be nice if a lost AirPod could display a message to nearby iPhone or Macs

That functionality already exists...at least for the newer models. It'll be up to the owner to put them in lost mode and set up a message with their contact information if they want to be contacted. I think you need to connect the AirPods to your phone to see if there is a message.

Mark AirPods as lost

If you misplace your AirPods, you can mark them as lost and create a message that provides your contact information.

support.apple.com

 

[Makanmata]

Funny, I just posted the reverse side of this scenario, but unfortunately these don't seem to be mine.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-contact-the-person-who-has-my-ipod-pro2-earbuds-without-case.2455060/

 

[Gix1k]

Funny, I just posted the reverse side of this scenario, but unfortunately these don't seem to be mine.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-contact-the-person-who-has-my-ipod-pro2-earbuds-without-case.2455060/

Glad you're ok!! That is crazy how yours went from New York to Spain!!!