Keep reading to explore the steps you should follow to find your lost Apple Watch using the Find My app. We’ll also explore how you can protect your watch and ensure no one can break into your data. If someone else finds your watch first and they try to access your phone, they will get the error “Too Many Passcode Attempts” and you will need to reset it once you find your watch. With that said, let’s get started.
How to Find a Lost Apple Watch
To find a lost Apple Watch using your iPhone or computer, use the Find My app by Apple. This app will use Wifi or cellular connection to determine your Apple Watch’s approximate location and track it.
1 How to Find a Lost Apple Watch2 How to Enable “Find My” on Your Apple Watch3 How to Find Your Lost Apple Watch4 Enable Lost Mode on Your Apple Watch5 What to Do If You Can’t Access Your Lost Apple Watch?5.1 Action 1: Change Your Apple ID Password5.2 Action 2: Inform Your Local Law Enforcement6 Wrapping It Up
Further, it packs many other features to help you find and protect your Apple Watch. But using this app to track your watch requires setting it up first. Of course, the Finy My app will only work if your Apple watch is on. Once the watch batteries are flat it will no longer transmit its location. To make sure your Apple watch batter lasts as long as possible, please read our article Why Does My Apple Watch Battery Die So Fast?
How to Enable “Find My” on Your Apple Watch
Locating your Apple Watch using the Find My app requires enabling it on your Apple Watch. But don’t worry, as you don’t need your Apple Watch to set it up. Instead, you’ll need to set up Find My on your iPhone, which will automatically be enabled on your Apple Watch if the two devices are paired. As you allow this feature, you can track your Apple devices and recover them if lost or misplaced. You can also use the Find My app on an iPad – we have an article which explains How to Connect Apple Watch to an iPad. To set up Find My on your Apple Watch: As you enable all these options, your Find My iPhone menu should look like this: Enabling the Find My feature will make finding your lost Apple Watch much more manageable. Conversely, if you use the Life360 app and you’d like to learn how to prevent your friends and family from finding you, you can read this article on how to leave a circle on Life360.
How to Find Your Lost Apple Watch
To find your lost Apple Watch, open the Find My app on your iPhone and go to the Devices tab. Here you’ll be able to track all the Apple devices connected to your Apple ID. Find your Apple Watch and tap on it to view its live location. Using this feature, you can track your Apple Watch’s location on the map in real-time. The shared location won’t be as accurate to tell you where your Apple Watch is in your room or office. But you can see if you brought it to the office, lost it on the way, or left it at home. If you’ve located your Apple Watch, consider tapping the Play Sound feature on the Find My app to ring your watch so you can find it. You can only view your Apple Watch’s live location if it supports LTE (cellular networking), But if not, you can’t track it unless it’s connected to your home’s or office’s Wifi network. That said, note that the Apple Watch Series 1 lacks LTE. If your Apple Watch can’t connect to a cellular or Wifi network or its battery has died, you can’t see its current location. But you can still view its last known location to help you get closer to it. You can also turn on the “Notify When Found” feature, so the app lets you know whenever your watch is located.
Enable Lost Mode on Your Apple Watch
Apple lets you put your smartwatch on the lost mode so no one else can use it. As you enable Lost Mode on your Apple Watch, here’s what happens:
You receive a notification whenever your watch’s live location is accessed. An activation lock is enabled on your watch to ensure no one else can use it. Your watch requires the exact passcode for unlocking. The payment cards and similar services are postponed for safety purposes. You can leave a phone number or message on your watch so whoever finds it can reach you.
With that said, follow these steps to turn on lost mode on your Apple Watch: That’s it – lost mode will be activated on your Apple Watch, and you’ll receive an email confirming it. Note: You can also put your Apple Watch to lock mode from your computer by signing into iCloud.com from your Apple ID.
What to Do If You Can’t Access Your Lost Apple Watch?
If you cannot view your lost watch’s location and are unable to put it into lock mode, here are two actions you should take:
Action 1: Change Your Apple ID Password
Losing your Apple Watch shouldn’t come at the cost of losing your Apple account and associated sensitive information. So, the first thing you should do if you can’t recover your watch is change your Apple ID password. To do that, navigate to Settings > your name > Password & Security on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. Select Change Password and enter your current password. Next, enter a new password, confirm it, and tap Change or Change Password. That’s it – your Apple ID is now secured.
Action 2: Inform Your Local Law Enforcement
Apple products are pretty expensive and valuable and are hard to attain frequently. If you can’t seem to find your lost Apple Watch in any way, it’s preferable to report the case to your local law enforcement. They might request your Apple Watch’s serial number to find it. You can open the watch app on your iPhone to find its serial number (aka IMEI) and share it with them. You should be able to safeguard your watch against accidental loss now. If you found this article useful, please continue with our guide on How to Change Ringtone on an Apple Watch. We also have an article on caring for your watch around water – Can I Wear My Apple Watch In The Pool or Shower?
Wrapping It Up
Losing an Apple Watch is indeed unfortunate but don’t lose hope, as you may be able to recover it. The best way to find a lost Apple Watch is by using Apple’s Find My app. If your watch is connected to a Wifi or cellular network, you can view its live location to help you find it. Otherwise, you may still be able to track its last known location and put the watch in lost mode to protect your data and privacy. Also, change your Apple ID’s password to ensure no one can break into your account through your Apple Watch!
