Dumb iphone question re Find My app

Okay, I bought a couple air tags to attach to our dogs’ collars. Placed each tag near my iphone 11 and they registered just fine. And in doing so, I saw the screen with the map for finding an air tag – the screen with People/Devices/Items/Me at the bottom. I’m pretty clear on how to use that screen, should a dog ever get lost.

Except how the fuck do I get to that screen (other than by registering another air tag)?

I go to settings, select my name, Select Find My. I see three choices: Find My iPhone (on), My locations (this device) and Share My Location (on). I press all three, but the only one that takes me anywhere is Find My Phone.

I get three more choices: Find my iPhone, Find My network, and Send Last Location. All are on. None of these lead to any more choices.

Every Google help video starts explaining how to find a lost air tag by cheerfully saying go to that map screen and select “items”. Without ever saying or showing how to get there. And then chirps away about how wonderful the feature is.

So how does a person navigate to that screen?

Don’t you also have a standalone ‘Find My’ app, rather than navigating to general settings?

Would those help me find my remotes every time I lose them in the couch or bed?

That solved it. Thanks!

I still do not see an icon for it Three screens of icons, and I can’t find it, but I do a search for it, and it comes up. And there’s the necessary map screen.

To this aging mind, it seems an absurd system. But that’s what my parents said about PCs, and they always made perfect sense to me. :)

You’ll probably find it’s in a folder. If you drag one app onto another app on the home screen, it creates a ‘folder’ and puts both apps in it (thanks Android!). I seem to recall IOS has a folder or two as default for where some of the core Apple apps are located.

To further expand on how to find it (it could only be in the app library as well), from any screen do a swipe down to bring up the search option. Type Findmy and next to the icon for the app it will tell you its location if it’s in a folder or only in the app library. If the app is just out on one of your pages of apps, it won’t tell you anything.

I launch apps with the search/launcher 90% of the time at this point.

Even though I have now solved the problem of this particular app and placed its icon on the first page with the handful of apps I use often (the only apps I use frequently are related to birdwatching, so there aren’t many), I like this suggestion in general for finding apps I use occasionally. But when I swipe down, my phone brings up Notification Center instead. Some setting I need to change to get this to bring up a search/launcher?

I just got some Airtags for a trip we’re going on soon, so this is not from experience, but it seems you can have an AirTag play a sound, so yeah, if you attached an AirTag to your item and lost it, you could have it beep or boop or whatever so you can find it.

Also, if you’re an Android user or don’t want to play in Apple’s walled garden, I understand there is a similar device for those people called Tile. Have not used either of these so I can’t discuss pros and cons of one versus the other but I guarantee someone else has discussed this!

If you swipe down from the top of the screen you get the Notification manager. However, if you swipe down from the middle of the screen you will get the search screen.

The problem with Tile is that they are subscription based.

AirTags are too big for things like a remote, and there isn’t a great way to attach them anyway, that I know of. On the other hand, they are good for finding things around your home. I left my keys in a pocket and put the clothing back in a drawer. The next day I could not for the life of me find my keys. I could barely hear the sound the AirTag was making through the clothes in the drawer and still couldn’t locate it. The app did point right at the dresser though.

For luggage they are awesome. This YouTuber in Australia did a video after his bags got lost after a flight. The AirTags showed they were at the local airport, so he went there, found the room they were in, and then convinced an employee to let him search by following the app.

The Wirecutter recommends AirTags over Tiles as well because AirTags have the largest network (every modern enough Apple device adds to the size of the tracking network for AirTags, whereas only other active Tile users/devices are contributing to the Tile tracking capabilities) and that’s ultimately what makes these trackers useful.

But they get into the other pros and cons as well. For the AirTags, the main downsides are price (you almost definitely need a case of some kind because the AirTag itself is just a smooth rounded disc with no way to attach or secure it to anything), and Tile has more variety in tracker size and shape.

I got a single AirTag when they launched just to see what they were like; I’ve kept it on my key ring. It’s been occasionally useful, but “are my keys in the laundry somewhere?” wouldn’t justify the cost in my day-to-day life. I knew when I bought it that it was more about the novelty. The value of that use case will be different for different people. Where I live I’m almost never going anywhere without driving, so it would be almost impossible for me to truly lose my keys in the first place since I can’t leave wherever I am without them. That could be different for someone who doesn’t drive everywhere.

But coincidentally I’ve got a four-pack of AirTags arriving today because we’re going to use them in our luggage for an overseas trip next month.

Thank you!