AirPods Pro gone forever?!

[Feenix]

Hi everyone, I recently took a trip to the East Coast via airplane and packed my AirPods Pro. I did not use them once or even take them out of my carry-on bag. Upon looking for them today now that I am home I have found that I cannot locate them, and they are not even on my find my list. I can see my wife’s AirPods Pro and all my other devices just fine. my question is if they were lost at security checkpoint or stolen, would I still see them on my Find My even if I couldn’t locate them? Or is there a way for the finder of my AirPods to completely remove them from my ownership and account, so I wouldn’t see them in my devices list?

 

[Slartibart]

first you should activate lost mode in Find My… for your Air Pods Pro.

 

[Feenix]

They are not even listed. Can I do that without seeing them at all?

 

[Slartibart]

1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, open the Find My app.
2. Go to the Devices tab, and choose your AirPods.
3. Scroll down to Mark as Lost, and select Activate.
4. Follow the onscreen steps if you want your contact information to display for your missing AirPods.

activate to get notify when the come online again… and then you’ll have to wait sadly.

 

[Feenix]

It’s the “choose your AirPods” part I am having an issue with. They don’t exist on my devices list in a find My.

 

[Slartibart]

Are you using the Apple ID you registered them in Find My…? If not, you have to login with that Apple ID e.g. via icloud.com/find and activate lost mode.

 

[Feenix]

I am on the only Apple ID that I’ve ever had. So I doubt it’s a matter of being on a different one. I am, however, on the iOS 16 beta. However, I can see every other single device in my house, including my wife’s AirPods.

 

[Slartibart]

Check via the website.

EDIT: or any other device - sometimes Find My… seems to update differently on different devices.

 

[Feenix]

I did. I also checked via my wife’s Find My which sees every device I can as well… just not my AirPods. :/

I appreciate the troubleshooting tips. I went through most of them. My initial post was more about whether or not if a thief/finder could somehow wipe them in a way they would cease to exist with any trace on my Find My.

 

[Slartibart]

since iOS 15 AirPods and AirPods Pro can be tracked because they have a Pairing Lock, which is similar to the iPhone's Activation Lock. Even if one hard resets AirPods, they will still be trackable via Find My because of the Pairing Lock.

 

[Feenix]

I just noticed my Apple Watch is not on there either (I am holding it in my hands.) so weird. Don’t see it on phone, iCloud, or my wife’s Find My.

 

[Slartibart]

I just noticed my Apple Watch is not on there either (I am holding it in my hands.) so weird. Don’t see it on phone, iCloud, or my wife’s Find My.

This is strange… a quick search reveals that “Air Pods disappear from Find My…” seems to occur… time to call Apple Support.

 

[Feenix]

Just to put a cap in this and call it done…
1) I couldn’t see my AirPods, iPad Pro or Apple Watch. I flipped some setting about Find My on my iPhone and everything showed up.
2) using the sound/searching arrow proved fruitless in my house. Maybe they weee gone anyway.
3) oh it turns out my wife had mistaken them for hers a while back and packed them in one of her bags.

 

[JCCL]

3) oh it turns out my wife had mistaken them for hers a while back and packed them in one of her bags.

This happened to me once. I was looking for mine relentlessly and could only find hers, until she comes home that evening and said "oh I think I took yours"

 

[perezr10]

My wife kept grabbing my AirPods too😀 I ended up ordering a carbon fiber skin to put on my Airpods charging case so that she would never mistake them again. It worked!

I got a skin instead of a case because I hate the bulk that a case adds.