Lost iPhone? How to Ping Your iPhone With Your Apple Watch

Jim Tanous Read more February 12, 2018

We’ve all temporarily lost or misplaced our iPhones. At this point it’s almost a rite of passage for smartphone owners to tap their pockets, realize their device isn’t there, and then frantically search the room.
Apple has long offered a tool to help users in such a situation: Find My iPhone. This lets users see the last location of their iPhone or iPad and, perhaps most helpfully, send a “ping” that will force the device to emit sound even when muted. The only disadvantage of Find My iPhone is that it requires another iDevice to use, or it requires you to log into your iCloud account via a Web browser.
For those with an Apple Watch, however, things are much easier. If you’re a regular Apple Watch user, there’s a good chance that, even if you’ve misplaced your iPhone, your Apple Watch will be securely attached to your wrist. If so, you can quickly ping your iPhone to help you find it without needing to log into the Find My iPhone app or the iCloud website.
To ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch, tap the Digital Crown to display your watch face. Next, swipe up from the bottom of the display to bring up the Apple Watch Control Center. Find the icon that looks like an iPhone with audio waves emanating from the sides (highlighted in blue in the screenshot below).

Tap this icon to ping your iPhone. Your iPhone will then play a pinging sound effect at full volume, even if the device is muted. The sound effect will only play once, but you can tap the icon on your Apple Watch again to send multiple pings. As long as your iPhone is within earshot, you should be able to quickly locate it.
The Find My iPhone app and iCloud website are still great tools for those without an Apple Watch, or for when your iPhone isn’t in the vicinity. But pinging your iPhone from your Apple Watch is a much faster and easier method when it’s available.