With AirPods Pro 2, Apple has improved the Charging Case by adding a U1 chip for Precision Finding with Find My. This article explains how to use Precision Finding to locate your AirPods Pro if you’ve misplaced or lost them.
Find My uses Bluetooth signals from lost AirPods to relay their location back to you. Apart from Bluetooth, however, the second-generation AirPods Pro Charging Case is also equipped with a U1 Ultra Wideband chip, and on iPhones that also have U1 chips, there’s a Precision Finding feature that enables you to more accurately determine the distance and direction of your AirPods when they’re in range, when compared to Bluetooth alone.
If you want to find lost AirPods Pro 2 and you have an iPhone 11 or later model, Precision Finding will direct you to the exact location of your AirPods using input from the camera, accelerometer, and gyroscope, with guidance provided through sound, haptics, and visual feedback. Here’s how to use it.
- If your AirPods are connected, open Settings and tap the AirPods tab just below your Apple ID, scroll down, then tap Show in Find My. If you’ve misplaced your AirPods earbuds along with the case, launch the Find My app and select your AirPods in the “Devices” list.
- Tap Find. It should say “Nearby” underneath if the Precision Finding feature is available.
- Now start moving around to locate your AirPods and follow the onscreen instructions. You should see an arrow pointing in the direction of the AirPods, an approximate distance telling you how far away they are, and a note if they’re located on a different floor.
As you approach the AirPods, you’ll feel haptic feedback from your phone and there will be audio cues to let you know that you’re approaching an item. The AirPods graphic on the iPhone will also shift as you get nearer to it. Precision Finding exits when you’ve successfully located your AirPods and your iPhone is in very close proximity.
Note that Ultra Wideband isn’t universally supported worldwide, therefore Precision Finding won’t work in some countries. But bear in mind that the AirPods Pro 2 Charging Case comes with a built-in speaker, so you can also make it play a sound using Find My to more easily locate it.
