Memo to app makers, steer clear of Apple's turf.
Just two weeks after not-so-quietly removing the Finder for AirPods app, which helped nervous AirPod owners locate their misplaced Bluetooth audio devices, Apple announced its own official Find My AirPods utility inside the already familiar Find My iPhone app.
The fact that Apple is making this app is significant, because it's the first time Apple's willing to freely admit that someone might actually misplace one of the just-released $159 wireless earbuds.
Delivered as part of OS 10.3 beta that started rolling out to developers on Tuesday, Find My AirPods, works similarly to the dearly departed third-party app. It relies on Bluetooth signals to help find your AirPods. However, since Apple can access the custom W11 Bluetooth chip it built, its solution goes further.
The app uses the AirPod's native ability to automatically connect to all devices using the same iCloud account to locate your AirPod even if it isn't near you. It just has to be within Bluetooth range (3-to-5 meters) of your iCloud-connected iPad, iPhone or Mac and Find My AirPod can locate it. The utility will then, through the Find My iPhone app, show you the location of that other device.
AirPods that are near a device but still out of view, perhaps one slipped between your couch cushions, can still be found. Apple figured out how to make the AirPods produce an audible chirp. I really wish they cried out "Help me!" instead.
Inside the app, you tap "Play Sound" and then just follow the audible chirp until you find the missing AirPod(s). If you have one, but not the other, you can mute the chirp on the one you still have in your possession.
If someone like your child, brother, partner or roommate is wearing your AirPods, the app will warn users before starting to chirp (AirPods, know when they are in your ear), and even if the AirPod does start chirping, the sound is ramped up slowly so the wearer will have time to remove them from his or her ears.
If the AirPods and the case (which holds roughly 19 hours of charge) are all dead, Find My iPhone can display the last time and place it could still detect the AirPods. If you're lucky, they're still where you left them.
The iOS 10.3 developers beta will also include a few other noteworthy updates, including 3D touch on the weather icon (quick access to forecasts). HomeKit can also now work with programmable switch accessories and Siri will gain access to cricket scores from the Indian Premier League and International Cricket Council.
Apple should release the public beta for iOS 10.3 soon.
UPDATE: March 27, 2017, 4:58 p.m. EDT Find My AirPods is officially available today with iOS 10.3. Update your device's software to use the feature.
