It happens to the best of us: you set your iPhone down somewhere in the house, it slips between the couch cushions or under a stack of mail, and you cannot find it. If your phone is on silent mode, calling it from another phone won’t help.
However, if you are wearing an Apple Watch, you have the ultimate recovery tool strapped to your wrist. Your Apple Watch can force your iPhone to emit a piercing sonar-like chime, completely overriding any silent or “Do Not Disturb” settings.
How to Ping Your iPhone
This feature requires your Apple Watch and iPhone to be connected via Bluetooth or on the same Wi-Fi network (meaning the phone must be somewhere nearby).
- Ensure your Apple Watch face is currently displaying the time.
- Swipe up from the very bottom edge of the watch screen to open the Control Centre. (Note: On watchOS 10 and newer, you must press the flat, oval Side Button to open the Control Centre instead of swiping).
- Look for the icon that looks like an iPhone with sound waves emitting from both sides.
- Tap the icon once.
Your iPhone will immediately play a loud, high-pitched chime, helping you zero in on its location.
How to Make Your iPhone Flash (For Dark Rooms)
If you lost your phone in a dark environment—like a cinema, outside at night, or under a car seat—the sound alone might not be enough to pinpoint it quickly. Apple built in a secondary, hidden feature for exactly this scenario.
- Open the Control Centre on your Apple Watch as described above.
- Locate the same “Ping iPhone” icon.
- Instead of tapping it, press and hold the icon for two seconds.
Your iPhone will not only play the loud chime, but its rear camera LED flash will strobe brilliantly multiple times, lighting up the dark area and making the phone instantly visible.