Your Apple Watch has a handy built-in tool to help you locate your misplaced iPhone with just a couple of taps, pinging your phone and making a noise when it goes missing, buried under that laundry, or down the back of your couch.
There's no sign of changes coming to watchOS 11 or Apple Watch X in this regard, and right now the best Apple Watch models both both unique precision finding tools to make locating your iPhone easier.
So whether you've got an older Apple Watch or the latest model, here's how to locate your iPhone quickly.
Note: Your phone needs to be turned on and have Bluetooth enabled for this to work, and it will only ping the iPhone your Apple Watch is paired with; you can't currently find other devices in this manner.
How to find iPhone with Apple Watch
- Press the Digital Crown button to return to the watch face
- Press the side button below the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch to reveal the Control Center. It should show your iPhone at the top as "Connected" in green
- Tap the Find iPhone button in the middle of the left-hand column, it's a rectangle with curved lines around it
If you have an Apple Watch Series 8 or earlier, doing this will activate an audible ping from your iPhone, hopefully helping you to find it. If it stops pinging before you get to it, simply repeat all of the steps to reinitiate the noise.
Pro-tip: Sometimes that submarine-style ping isn't enough to help you track down your device. If you tap and hold the Find iPhone button on your Apple Watch, it'll make your iPhone's LED light flash while you search too, which is very helpful at night.
How to use Precision Finding on Apple Watch Series 9 with an iPhone 15
If you have an Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 and you're using an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro, following these steps will bring up the Precision Finding screen. This uses the new Ultra wideband chip to show you how far away your iPhone is in feet and a rough general heading. You can then use the display to accurately locate your iPhone, the same way you'd use it to find an AirTag, just follow the screen! You can also play a sound from the phone by pressing the button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
Always know where your iPhone is
So there you have it, with a couple of quick taps you can ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch to quickly play a sound and find it when it's missing. If you've got a new iPhone 15 or an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2, Precision Finding brings a serious upgrade to an already very nifty feature.
