Apple's 'Find My' Update In iOS 18.2 Beta 2 Makes It Easier To Find Lost Property

Apple's "one app to find it all" — Find My— makes it simple to track your Apple devices when they are offline or in an unknown location. One can also locate items using AirTag or Find My technology, while Precision Finding can help you track a friend on a busy railway station.

Now, with the iOS 18.2 beta 2, Apple is making a significant update to the Find My app, which should make it even easier to find misplaced devices and belongings. 

The app reportedly now has a new Share Item Location option that, as the name suggests, allows you to email a link to anyone with the tracking information of an item you have misplaced.

Apple provides an example of how to locate misplaced luggage through sharing item location with an "airline or trusted person" by putting it in the description. Previously, Find My permitted you to share item locations with your contacts, but now you may send this information to anyone you trust, even if they are not in your address book.

So essentially, instead of you or your friends/family looking for a lost item, Apple is enabling a greater number of potential "finders" to look for it through the updated feature. 

When the Share Item Location option is used, a link is created, which when clicked enables a person to view the position of a misplaced item. The link can be viewed on both Apple and non-Apple devices.

To check about who has been searching for your misplaced belongings, you can see how many people have visited the link. The link stays active for a week until it expires (or until you designate the item as located).

Additionally, there is a useful Show Contact Info option. This option allows a person who has found your misplaced item to connect to that item and access additional details, such as phone number and email address, which they can use to get in touch with you and inform them that they’ve found your item. 

Since Find My is available across Apple devices, you can use it on any combination of iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch or AirPods.