Did you lose your AirPods?

by RockRobotRock • 2 years ago

1115 382 2 years ago

uberman2• 2 years ago

My kids loose theirs all the time and I say use find my but apparently that does not work if they are in the case at least according to my kids.

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

I was surprised they didn't have any idea how to use Find My. That and their iCloud account was all kinds of messed up.

I think we take for granted how easily these things come to us as tech people.

disillusioned• 2 years ago

I'm more surprised that there's not a way to message the owner (or whomever has Find My registered for the airpods) without revealing their full information, but I guess that's a bridge too far, and they figure that Find My is good enough.

exikyut• 2 years ago

How was their iCloud account all kinds of messed up?

latchkey3• 2 years ago

This is also someone who loses stuff...

firesteelrain• 2 years ago

They aren’t completely wrong. You just can’t use the speaker feature to play a sound. But Find My will still work

rconti• 2 years ago

If I remember correctly, my airpods pro (an older model) only show the last location my phone saw them, which I think means, last time they were actually paired.

I believe newer ones can be found 'anywhere' like an airtag.

deaddodo• 2 years ago

Newer models, the case will make a ping sound when you tap on it.

temp_account_32• 2 years ago

That's weird, I use Find My for my AirPods case a lot and it does the "X feet away" thing as I get closer

charrondev• 2 years ago

It’s better with the newer AirPod models. The older ones are bad enough that I have an AirTag attached to my AirPods case.

tpmoney• 2 years ago

Only recent generation AirPods have an AirTag embedded in the case. Older models were limited to trying to play a loud sound from the bud if they were out of the case, and IIRC nothing useful for the case itself.

mensetmanusman• 2 years ago

Find nearby is a godsend.

lxgr5• 2 years ago

That was true for the initial model(s), but at least the ones I have now can be found (and audibly pinged!) in the case as well.

It even works for the case without the AirPods in it. That part is definitely new, since the original cases didn't have any wireless hardware in them (and depended on at least one AirPod being in it to report their battery level, for example); the new ones have their own Bluetooth/UWB chain.

kernelsanderz• 2 years ago

Some heroes don’t wear capes. They wield scripts, API calls, and a bit of luck.

the_arun• 2 years ago

100%

ivanjermakov• 2 years ago

I feel like you should've been more careful with your question, unlawful people might answer that they lost AirPods although they didn't.

Unless you have a way to verify they're truthful owners, I would ask something like "I have something that might belong to you, did you lose anything in the past few days?"

EDIT: I missed the part about verification, my bad.

groby_b• 2 years ago

I mean, he said right in the article that they verified they paired.

Also, despite all the press hysteria, "unlawful people" aren't so common that a bunch of 80 messages will automatically bring them out of the woodwork. Most people are decent.

noahchen• 2 years ago

I disagree. The suggested message is so generic, that it looks like spam, even to the person who lost the airpod. Also, the author said they verified that the airpods could pair with the owner's device

chrisfosterelli• 2 years ago

"We confirmed that the AirPods paired, which wouldn't be possible if they didn't belong to them."

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

Totally good point. I wanted the question to be direct without coming off mysterious or creepy. I knew people might lie, but I took a chance and figured the amount of liars would be manageable.

If I hadn’t gotten lucky in finding them in <10 texts, I may have abandoned the idea. Only one other person tried to claim they were the owner.

laborcontract• 2 years ago

This framing of the question sounds like an implicit threat, and would scare the hell out of me if i received it from an unknown number.

I’m definitely not replying to it.

bhelkey• 2 years ago

It looks like this was done through pairing. I think the AirPods need the case to pair so it seems like a reasonable test.

We confirmed that the AirPods paired, which wouldn't be possible if they didn't belong to them.

irjustin• 2 years ago

I feel like you should've been more careful with your question, unlawful people might answer that they lost AirPods although they didn't.

All it helps is remove a bit of spam. As the author writes, they checked pairing, but before that you can simply ask "Where do you think you lost them?"

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

That's exactly what I asked the one other person who said yes and they stopped responding immediately after that

lagniappe• 2 years ago

Found them in under 10 attempts? That's wild. Great story!

adventurer• 2 years ago

Sort of find it interesting no one here questions whether or not he found the actual owner.

sethammons2• 2 years ago

The article explicitly states that they verified the owner and how

sgerenser3• 2 years ago

Blog post said he verified they belonged to the guy when his phone paired with them, which wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t the actual owner.

383• 2 years ago

and this folks is why I will never buy airpods. for $249, I can get 8 pairs of these:

https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/in-ear/p/mdrex...

have purchased 4 already, happy with my decision

kaashif• 2 years ago

Why...why did you purchase 4 pairs of those?

slater• 2 years ago

Kept losing them, obvs /s

383• 2 years ago

thats over the course of like 5 years. maybe they get lost, or when I am jogging I am pouring sweat into them, so eventually they give out. they are cheap enough that I can stock up and then I dont have to go hunting for ones I like if I lose one

adamomada2• 2 years ago

And this is why I will never buy a pomegranate. I can get eight oranges instead

tourmalinetaco2• 2 years ago

Lucky for me I love oranges.

383• 2 years ago

more like an orange versus a slightly better orange

userbinator2• 2 years ago

For $249, I can get more than 10 pairs of Chi-Fi TWS.

seabass-labrax3• 2 years ago

Ha, I can one-up you again! For $249, I can get over fifty pairs of the Xiaomi J18 bluetooth earphones. Quite apart from the mind-boggling economies of scale with modern electronics, I can genuinely recommend these. They haven't particularly good audio quality compared to over-ear headphones, but they are still remarkably good for in-ear headphones.

userbinator2• 2 years ago

I just looked these up, and for sub-$5 you get two earphones containing a driver, wireless IC, battery, and a charging case with its own circuitry and battery. And presumably they're still making a profit on that. I don't expect they'll be tuned to sound better than the wired equivalents which are closer to $1, but the fact that they can even make a working product of that complexity at that price point is mind-boggling indeed.

tzm• 2 years ago

Had no idea iMessage API exists

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

When you enter a number into the messages app, your phone needs to know whether to send an iMessage or SMS. They must have reverse-engineered that call and turned it into a paid service. I don't think it's something Apple provides.

tdeck2• 2 years ago

I'm a little surprised you got lucky with the erroe code. For most people my age our area code seems to be tied to where we lived in about 2006, which is often not where we live now.

tdeck2• 2 years ago

Weirdest typo ever. I really wish we could edit comments for dumb things like this.

LoganVS• 2 years ago

you are awesome

refibrillator• 2 years ago

I found some AirPods on a remote trail awhile back, case and all. Batteries were completely dead. Once charged they paired to my iphone with no indication of a previous owner, besides the device name of John’s AirPods or whatever.

I tried briefly (not as hard as the author) to figure out who they belonged to but had no luck.

I called Apple support and gave the serial number, but they told me there wasn’t anything they could do if the owner did not mark them as lost via the Bluetooth settings page. Even though at that point Apple presumably had all the information necessary to contact the original owner…

So I cleaned the AirPods and have been using them since. Is there any way for me to find the owner if I have no info about the owners area code like the author did?

bombcar2• 2 years ago

AirPods are a bit pricey but cheap enough that I wouldn’t even bother reporting them lost to the local park authority. I doubt there’s much you can do besides a sign at the trailheads.

fsckboy• 2 years ago

they're airtags essentially, aren't they? the person who lost them would report it to apple, not park officials, then they'd be found

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

Aren’t they like $160? That’s not cheap.

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

I think they may not have used activation lock until later generations cannot confirm though

ilt2• 2 years ago

I guess Apple didn’t bother to connect with the original owner since lot many people do not buy for themselves and as gifts or for parents. So unless AirPods were paired with a device, Apple wouldn’t like to get involved much.

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

They don’t get involved even if you find an iphone that has John doe still logged on. No clue why they wouldn’t at least send an email to the account owner. I tried to surrender the iphone at the store but they wouldn’t take it.

ascorbic2• 2 years ago

They're also impossible to register without an iOS device. I have a pair that I won, but have no iPhone or iPad. They work great with my Macs, and pretty well with Android, but there is no way for me to register them with Find My, which is pretty annoying. There's no logical reason they couldn't do this on a Mac.

kaba0• 2 years ago

I mean, even if Apple knows the address of the people who bought it, it might have been re-sold since then - so it makes sense they don’t give out any info.

ww520• 2 years ago

Speaking of AirPods, do people have bad experience with their quality? I have an AirPods Pro 1st Gen for about 3 years and the noise cancellation function has degraded to the point of unusable. The Apple store technician said the audio hardware has failed diagnostic and it couldn't be repaired. For a $250 equipment failed after 3 years of moderate usage is pretty disappointing.

taspeotis• 2 years ago

opdahl• 2 years ago

I had this issue and I «solved» it by cleaning the tiny microphone at the bottom with a toothprush. It’s a small slit that can get stuffed with dust etc and it impacts how well it can do noise cancellations.

minimaxir• 2 years ago

That was a known issue with the 1st-gen AirPods Pro (Apple had a 3 year replacement program for them) but I've heard fewer issues with the 2nd-gen.

tourmalinetaco2• 2 years ago

One of my AirPods is weirdly quiet. I know it still has the potential to be loud, as I’ve gotten it to be at the same level of noise as the other, but it’s hardly consistent. I’ve tried cleaning it and it didn’t seem to help, but I may just try again. Definitely a shame, but I got them for free so I won’t complain too much though. (If they were fully repairable this wouldn’t be a problem though.)

MengerSponge• 2 years ago

I had an AirPod pro (2nd gen) become weirdly quiet. Still under warranty, Apple replaced it. It's some weird device failure.

I spent a few days wondering if I had just lost hearing in that ear, but no.

krisoft• 2 years ago

Similar thing happened with my airpods too. To compensate for the obviously diminished volume I was cranking the volume up. And even with that podcasts were barely audible when in anything but absolute silence. To add insult to injury the os was constantly “warning” me that I was “damaging” my hearing by listening things too loud. Of course in reality no such thing was happening.

After that terrible experience i couldn’t justify the expense of buying an other apple airpod.

nimih• 2 years ago

I own a pair of AirPods and AirPod Pros; I bought the former in 2019, and was gifted the latter in 2020. The microphone on the AirPods died after about 18 months of use, but they otherwise still work perfectly (perhaps with slightly degraded, but still quite serviceable, battery life), and have survived a wide range of abuse (multiple trips through the washing machine, repeated drops onto pavement, in some cases from a bicycle moving at decent speed, etc).

The Pros, on the other hand, in spite of me generally being quite careful with them (in contrast to the basic AirPods) had their noise canceling crap out at about the 2 year mark, and currently are slightly louder in one ear than the other (but the microphone still works, so they remain in service).

So, overall, I think I’ve had a similar experience to you with the Pros, but have been quite impressed with the non-Pro model.

mackmgg• 2 years ago

I had the same thing happen to my Pros, with one being much louder than the other and the noise cancelling barely working, and it turns out they just needed cleaning. A couple years of gunk and dust getting in the vents and speaker grill and one of them was noticeably worse than the other. After cleaning it turns out both were quite degraded and are now much better with fully functioning noise cancellation. Worth a try if they're otherwise good and you want to keep using them.

hsbauauvhabzb• 2 years ago

Fwiw, the batteries will degrade in that period. I’m not saying that’s okay, but you should prepare for airpods to have a 3 year lifecycle regardless.

adamomada2• 2 years ago

Same AirPods, after a couple years the left one’s speaker sounds like it’s blown: any louder sounds played have a crackle and if I turn on the NC just brushing it with a finger makes it crackle like crazy.

1propionyl• 2 years ago

Not relevant to parent's case but for anyone else who stumbles on this:

Use some blue tack to gently clean out the microphone grate(s) periodically. As it becomes obstructed noise cancellation suffers.

omwow• 2 years ago

My AidPods Pro became unusable after ~2 years. NC had some overcorrection issue I guess, created this loud crackling sound when it tried to cancel out a noise.

jrmg• 2 years ago

There was a recall for symptoms like this: https://support.apple.com/airpods-pro-service-program-sound-...

allenu• 2 years ago

Yes, same thing happened to me. The hardware failed over time and now the noise-cancellation feature causes audio to be very scratchy, making them awful for listening to music. I think mine lasted a little over a year of occasional use.

I went to an Apple store to see if I could get them replaced since I knew there was a recall on one version. They refused since mine was the version that came out after the recalled version.

That soured me on AirPods. Luckily it was a work-issued pair, so they were free.

t0mas883• 2 years ago

A little over a year is exactly how long my previous 3 pairs lasted. It's almost like Apple designs them to only outlast the warranty...

dvzk• 2 years ago

I wore mine while riding a hardtail XC mountain bike (on safeish trail segments) and the transparency mode failed after 7 months. After that, the non-ANCed speaker and microphone worked fine. Weirdly durable for nonathletic purposed hardware.

hilux3• 2 years ago

Even new, they had nowhere near the noise cancellation of my old Bose QC20i.

AirPods are disappointing, but convenient. I guess that's why we buy them.

benjaminwootton2• 2 years ago

I’ve had some old Bose noise cancelling headphones for approaching 20 years which are still going well!

latchkey3• 2 years ago

In Vietnam, you can find people to do repairs like this super cheap and easy. Just had the back glass on my iPhone 13 promax replaced cause I dropped it and it cracked, $40. In the US, it is $200+.

maronato2• 2 years ago

I’d be very surprised if repairs on AirPods circuitry were possible or cost effective. Just swapping the battery requires basically soldering iron surgery and permanent damage/removal of all adhesive that keeps it together.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/AirPods+Pro+Battery+Replacement...

waldothedog• 2 years ago

Some crazy stuff in these replies. I am coming up on 5 years and while I do get a slight crackle in one from wind sometimes running, they’re still going strong. Guess I finally ended up on the up side of a distribution

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

Embarrassing really when you consider the wider market. I have a 10 year old set of mdr v6. Still reference quality sound today albeit with a few ear foam replacements in the years since. I think they cost $70 at the time.

hummusFiend• 2 years ago

I remember some theories around 2021-2022 that Apple had modified the ANC in AirPods Pro/Max via a firmware update. If I recall, the thought was this was in response to some patent infringement.

Anecdotally, I think I noticed a difference, but I also chalked it up to prematurely-degrading hardware...

benjaminwootton2• 2 years ago

I’ve ended up with a few pairs and found them quite unreliable after the first year.

I have one pair where the left bud doesn’t connect until I put it back in and take it out of the case a few times.

One where one bud doesn’t charge properly.

And one with declining noise cancellation.

They are great when they work properly, but I do think quality is slightly lacking for a relatively expensive product.

refurb• 2 years ago

This, combined with how easier they are to lose, is why I didn't buy Airpods, but rather the $20 Chinese bluetooth earpods on Amazon.

I was surprised at the quality, and they've lasted a couple years already at almost daily use.

The nice part is, if I lose them, no big deal. I bought a 2nd pair as a backup.

paxys• 2 years ago

Same. I bought mine in 2021 and now have to use it with noise cancellation off because otherwise there's a very persistent crackling noise. Meanwhile my Bose QCs are still operating like new after like 11-12 years of regular use.

csomar2• 2 years ago

I have the Airpods Pro 2nd Gen, and after 2 years they are as good as useless. Both Noise control and Spatial sound are dead. There is a buzzing there. The battery is surprisingly good, though. They could still last 2/2.5 hours on a charge. But I don't think I'll be buying Apple pods again (even though when they functioned, they were actually pretty decent).

t0mas883• 2 years ago

Yes, Airpods aren't very durable. I'm on my 4th pair of Airpod Pros. One pair I got replaced by Apple due to a known problem in the Pro 1st gen, the other two both failed right outside warranty.

The noise cancellation is the weak part. The microphone or related hardware breaks and then you get all kinds of plops and squeals unless you turn noise cancellation off. Somehow they tend to do that about 3 to 6 months after warranty...

ThrowawayTestr• 2 years ago

You did a good deed. You should feel proud of yourself.

radicality5• 2 years ago

So you scripted sending the message to 84 different numbers, was that from your own personal iMessage account?

I would be terrified of doing something like that, I imagine the account could get flagged for spam, and hearing the various tech horror stories, I wouldn’t be surprised if it could end up suspending your iCloud account with everything on it, blacklisting hardware devices linked to it, and who knows what else.

72736379• 2 years ago

I'm not the author but my guess is that the API returns whether the number is registered with iMessage or not- like if you type in a number in a new text message it shows whether the message you're sending will be an iMessage or a text message. Don't think the author was spamming random numbers.

radeeyate• 2 years ago

The author said that they scripted sending the messages to those numbers on their Mac rather than using something like Twilio.

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

Yeah, I definitely should’ve thought it through more. I was just a little too caffeinated and excited.

thorum• 2 years ago

Is 84 so high? I imagine there are people sending party invites and “lost my phone, new number” messages to more than that.

ilt2• 2 years ago

I think more than sending 84 messages, getting reported on handful of them can be more concerning. While you’ll rarely get reported for a party invite.

toast0• 2 years ago

It's been a long while, but I scripted iMessage a bit, and Apple has a pretty casual slide into unworking.

They don't just block your account in one fell swoop, first indicators and messaging will stop working for a few hours. And you can hit that at least a few times without a ban. After a few times of that it was clear it wouldn't be worth running what I had, so I stopped before any sort of permanent banning.

lxgr5• 2 years ago

This once happened to somebody I know! Their Apple ID somehow got banned from specifically, and only, iMessage and FaceTime; all other services like iCloud and the app store were working as usual.

No idea why it happened, but Apple support was able to reset it on a phone call.

My theory is that they'd kept a non-active SIM in their phone for a long time, and the phone had tried to repeatedly verify/link that phone number to their Apple ID (via challenge SMS, I believe), thereby exceeding some rate limit.

Gotta love that such rate limits exist and do occasionally hit legitimate users, but at the same time, there are paid lookup-as-a-service APIs out there as mentioned in TFA...

golergka• 2 years ago

specifically, and only, iMessage and FaceTime; all other services like iCloud and the app store were working as usual

Google should take note.

MatthiasPortzel• 2 years ago

iMessage has an AppleScript API that makes it easy. I ran a game in school with something like 50 teams and I had a script to generate different objectives for each team and send them out by text automatically.

sneak2• 2 years ago

So much for end to end encryption that is unreadable by Apple.

throwaway290• 2 years ago

In other apps like whatsapp reporting a message usually sends contents/history to mods explicitly. No need to break e2ee for that

radicality5• 2 years ago

I do believe apple’s e2e encryption promises on iMessage content, and don’t think it should interfere with their ability to control for spam / bad actors.

But I also expect them to know the sender/receiver, and I imagine if I click “Delete and Report Junk” button, that I would probably submit the unencrypted contents of that whole conversation to Apple. And they should have also have metrics of total sends vs reported sends.

modeless• 2 years ago

If you text 84 random iMessage numbers what are the chances that one of them lost their AirPods? Pretty high I bet.

adastra22• 2 years ago

They verified by checking that the AirPods paired with the owners phone.

ks20482• 2 years ago

I wonder if the non-matches replied and how.

ks20482• 2 years ago

Wouldn’t it make sense for Apple to have a “send anonymous message to the owner” option on that info page?

peddling-brink• 2 years ago

There may be liability for Apple when that is inevitably abused.

lokar• 2 years ago

I wonder what they would do if you “lost” them in an Apple Store?

hunter2_• 2 years ago

At some point, during a meetup the person offering the item would demand a ransom leading to violence. Creators of this tech would much rather you use it only by yourself or with police, not to interact with strangers.

helipad• 2 years ago

I left my AirPods Pro at a school sports field an hour away, and I didn't realize until the next morning after it been raining heavily. I gave them up for lost and needed headphones for work – so ordered some from Apple with same day delivery.

A week later, I got a Find My notification that they had been spotted – at the same sports field. I figured what the hell, put on a podcast and drove the hour to see if I could find them. Worst case scenario, a couple of hours of driving.

Using Find My and the directional feature points you in the right direction to within feet, I found them in the tall grass.

The case had been perfectly watertight, and they'd barely lost a percent of power in a week. Remarkable really all round.

hilux3• 2 years ago

Mine lose 20-30% sitting in their case overnight. It's very annoying. You ARE lucky!

mckn1ght2• 2 years ago

Something is wrong with them. I can use mine repeatedly over several days before finally needing to plug them in again. You should reach out to support.

gandalfgreybeer• 2 years ago

That definitely isn’t normal. My guess is you need to clean the contacts in the AirPods. They might be in the case but it’s still pairing or trying to pair. Shouldn’t drain that much, especially overnight.

maronato2• 2 years ago

That is a lot, but I wonder if GP’s only decreased by 1% because their phone wasn’t close by. AirPods and their iPhones probably keep pinging each other to maintain the Bluetooth connection, which must have an effect on the battery.

inopinatus• 2 years ago

Try leaving them on the bedpost, c.f. Donegan, L (1959)

okdood64• 2 years ago

Yours are broken somehow. That's insane.

dyauspitr2• 2 years ago

I find it funny that you consider a drastic difference like that a matter of luck. Clearly something isn’t right with your pods.

stingraycharles2• 2 years ago

Not normal. Case takes months to deplete without usage for me.

jb1991• 2 years ago

That is very strange and defective.

gcanyon3• 2 years ago

Mine sometimes don't charge in the case, and can either end up with the case fully charged and the airpods fully drained, or if they charge/discharge through the night with the airpods at a random charge and the case somewhat drained.

I seem to be the only person this happens to, but the won't-charge-in-the-case problem was so bad with my original airpods pro that Apple ended up replacing the case, then the airpods pro and the case, over a very frustrating several months of back and forth. My new airpods pro were fine for maybe eight months, but the problem has started again. So far it's only once every few weeks, which I can live with.

foundddit4• 2 years ago

Just chiming in to say I had the same problem and found a solution.

For some reason, my AirPods silently connect to my iPhone while they're in their case and both devices are asleep. Why they do this, I have no clue. Just quality 2020s Apple programming.

Anyways, there's an easy solution: go into the settings app (not the drop down menu) and turn off Bluetooth on your phone/ipad when you don't need it. Your AirPods will no longer randomly drain at night. Neither will your Apple Pencil, if you have one of those.

You'll find a lot of comments on Apple support forums/reddit/etc saying it's impossible for it to be Bluetooth and that you should never turn it off for any reason because it's crazy. People for some reason are very assertive about that. But they're wrong. I now make a habit of only turning Bluetooth on precisely when I need it and immediately turn it off afterwards and now nothing gets drained needlessly.

Now the only AirPods bug that drives me insane is the volume randomly shooting up halfway to max randomly sometimes when I connect to my computer, but I made a script to somewhat fix it.

scellus• 2 years ago

Same here, occasionally I find both the case and the ear pieces with empty batteries while they haven’t been nowhere near empty when I left them, usually previous day or evening.

iaabtpbtpnn• 2 years ago

My AirPods went thru the washer and dryer in their case. No damage whatsoever!

mrbungie• 2 years ago

My airpods pro were totally destroyed in the washer/dryer, no idea why.

Maybe it was because it was quite a lengthy washing cycle?

ravenstine2• 2 years ago

I sometimes wear my airpods in the shower. Have gotten water in them often, but this never caused them to fail or be permanently damaged.

cqqxo4zV46cp• 2 years ago

Heh. I wasn’t so lucky, and it was the morning of a flight. Never had more of a reason to pull the forget on the $15 2-hour delivery Apple offers in my area.

eek21212• 2 years ago

My first gen pros didn’t survive. They still work, but have a high pitched wine. They were already out of warranty so I had to buy a new pair.

I did not and will not complain. I have owned over a hundred pairs of headphones/earbuds in my lifetime and these things are the best, by FAR.

However, don’t wash them.

mshroyer• 2 years ago

Same here. They sounded "off" for a while, but returned to normal after a day of drying outside of the case. (I'm guessing that perhaps some water was blocking the microphones used for noise cancellation.)

wodenokoto• 2 years ago

Mine too. I tried them on and they played a loud, high pitch noise and haven’t dared touch them since.

agumonkey2• 2 years ago

What would happen if you lost only one?

wafflemaker• 2 years ago

Slight chance of finding it if you notice it's missing fast enough. FindMy only finds the charger, not the headphones out of charger, but you can make it play a sound.

You can buy a replacement for about 50% of the price of a new set (complete with charger case).

teekert• 2 years ago

Wow 1 percent in a week. I use mine every couple of days but they drain much faster. Perhaps yours decided, he, see no iPhone for a couple of hours let’s do some deep sleep.

I’d love to have more control over then charge cycle like that.

WanderPanda• 2 years ago

I washed my Airpods in a washing machine once and they continued working normally for 6 months until the noise cancelling started to fail on one side.

thekevan• 2 years ago

I accidentally put mine through the washing machine. The aftermarket case I had them in died but the Airpods themselves survived just fine. That was 2 years ago and I still use them every day.

furyofantares• 2 years ago

I lost two sets in the snow at my mom's house. Where she lives the snow sticks around for 4 or 5 months. They would have been near the top of a few feet of snow where we were making snow angels and generally frolicking, and then covered up by additional snowfall. We found them once it melted. They both work fine.

ErigmolCt3• 2 years ago

It’s rare to hear (for my ears) such a perfect outcome when it comes to lost tech

carstenhag• 2 years ago

(in germany) Friend took multiple trains, Ubahn, Bus. 5 Seconds after leaving the bus, he realized he had forgotten his backpack with id, laptop, etc.

We were "hunting" busses for 2h but couldn't find it. He didn't have Find My set up on the mac. Filed police report etc. A week later he got mail saying the bag was found in a train in Augsburg. Which was the 2nd of 4 legs of the trips or something, and he was completely off where he lost it :D

ja27• 2 years ago

I saw someone on Twitter that left hers in a seatback on a flight. They'd show up on Find My every day for almost two months before they died. She talked to the airline multiple times about someone checking her seatback and several times they insisted they weren't there. Doubtful they ever checked at all but impressive battery life.

conradev• 2 years ago

I used to bike from SF to Apple in Cupertino once a week. One week, I dropped my AirPods case on the ride and only when I got to work did I realize I was missing an AirPod. The next week, I stopped right around where I dropped the case and I found it, working just fine.

I love that when you drop the case, the AirPods scatter into the farthest reaches of wherever you are – favorite feature

johnwalkr• 2 years ago

Find my is really a killer feature. When AirTags were first released, there was a bunch of media on potential use by stalkers and it seems like Apple hasn’t advertised how airtags (and findmy with devices) work at all since then. Most people think they just work locally until I show them an AirTag halfway around the world that just updated its location.

I bought one for my luggage, and when boarding a train in Paris, I was informed that I left my luggage behind. Went back to grab my luggage, boarded my train and then bought more AirTags at the first opportunity. I’ve used them multiple times to prove my lost luggage is in the airport, countless times to track shipping of high-value goods and countless times to find my keys.

tamimio• 2 years ago

A while ago, I did something similar but with an AirTag. I found a few at a local thrift store, and whoever donated them still had them linked to their iCloud, so they were useless. But it was easier since the area code was known. I tried a few numbers, and luckily, one answered and removed them from their account.

aledalgrande• 2 years ago

My friend left them in a rental car. He spent more than a week seeing them coming on and offline in Find My and moving around in a university area. Assumed someone had stolen them. Finally called the rental company and got access to the car: they were in the glovebox.

benatkin• 2 years ago

This seems genuine to me, but I'm sure some unscrupulous people would love a story like this hitting the front page of HN.

Props to the author for helping the user find their missing AirPods! I believe your story. If I see another story similar to this I may find it harder to believe.

tzs• 2 years ago

I started with the assumption that the owner lived near me in the Portland metropolitan area. With that, I restricted the search to our local area code. Sure, they could be from out of town, but hey, let's give it a shot

They could also be local but with a non-Portland area code. Generally, at least if you are using a nationwide cell phone carrier, you can move to another area code and keep your number.

I wonder what percent of people do that?

yieldcrv• 2 years ago

Nobody has had to change their cell number while moving across the US for 30 years

I would say a high percentage of people do that, but portland may not have as many transplants as other cities

Yeah it was a weird assumption and I’m glad it worked

seabass-labrax3• 2 years ago

This part of the story is even more surprising to me, as I'd never considered the possibility that mobile phone numbers could have area codes. The Portland metropolitan area has a population of just under three million according to Wikipedia[1]; my country has a population of just under seventy million and has only a single block of phone numbers allocated for cellular use.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area,_Or...

sgerenser3• 2 years ago

This is not the case in the U.S. (discussed elsewhere in this discussion). All phone numbers, landline or mobile, have an area code associated with a specific city/region. Since number portability became a thing in the early 2000s it’s much more common for cell phone users to just keep their number from decades ago, however, which will often not match the physical area they now live in.

lxgr5• 2 years ago

Love the methodology, although they did get lucky that the number (in addition to being local) was not ported from an originally landline-specific block :)

bandrami• 2 years ago

My favorite "what the hell are we doing?" moment was when I saw that they now sell lanyards for wireless earbuds because people keep losing them.

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

I will never get over how apple figured out how to resell headphones someone already owns for $100+. Brilliant psychologists in their employ I am sure.

nyanpasu64• 2 years ago

You could argue that it's less likely to tug your phone off a cable when using a lanyard between headphones compared to a wire to the audio source.

paul7986• 2 years ago

Probably not a popular opinion but I prefer smart glasses (take calls, listen to audio, ask what you see in front of you like whats that mountain, take pics/videos and more) to Airpods. For me glasses are more comfortable and not as easy to lose, especially since you have to store and charge them in the hard case they come with.

spacecadet• 2 years ago

I lost mine! Shat them out in the morning. Just in time for sprint planing, but not enough time to clean them out!

divbzero• 2 years ago

Taking them to an Apple Store might have worked too? Though not nearly as cool.

mattgreenrocks• 2 years ago

Kinda love this.

Some people would say it's creepy to do stuff like this, but creatively exercising your talents to reunite people with their lost stuff is a net win in my book.

AdamJacobMuller2• 2 years ago

I lost a pair of AirTags on an international flight (in cargo), fortunately I only lost the AirTags, and not the actual bags they were attached to!

One of the AirTags actually flew around internationally for a week or so (London, Amsterdam, back to the US a few times!) but sadly after about a week there were no more updates.

Someone must have found the AirTag in whatever baggage container it was stuck in and removed the battery.

I still have the AirTag in FindMy, one day I suppose I'll delete it but I sometimes wonder what happened to it.

Did the person who found it just throw it out? Do recovered AirTags go back to Apple to be recycled and resold? Does the CEO of American Airlines, Robert Isom, have a scrooge-mc-duck-esque pool of lost AirPods he swims around in? Sometimes I wonder.

ancientorange• 2 years ago

Why not put the airtag inside the bag?

My lost tag is (presumably) attached to my keys at the bottom of a lake. I refuse to delete it from findmy.

glitchcrab• 2 years ago

Yes this was my reaction too, I can't see any reason to have the airtag on the outside at all.

theoreticalmal2• 2 years ago

Kindred spirit! My old Apple Watch is at the bottom of the Colorado River near Moab. Still paired in Find My.

AdamJacobMuller2• 2 years ago

It was a pair of scuba tanks in a custom bag which was too small for the tanks, so there was no really secure inside.

But, it was attached to the handles with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B34Y5YZS

There are people who dive down and find lost stuff on the bottom of lakes, and people who go magnet fishing, they still might find your keys!

Towaway69• 2 years ago

My first paired AirTag was somehow removed from my findNow list when I paired my phone with my MacBook (I suspect it had something to do with encryption).

I went back to my Apple Store and explained the problem. After demonstrating that a reset didn’t fix the problem, they gave me a new AirTag and kept the old one.

When I paired the new AirTag, the old one suddenly reappeared in my list! It spent some three weeks at the Apple Store, then about two weeks in Poland and now it’s been in a Dutch warehouse for about three months - last seen 17 hours ago.

I don’t know why it’s spending so much time in a Dutch warehouse - perhaps it’s Apples junkyard in Europe.

firtoz2• 2 years ago

Some naughty folk could do this trick to identify worthy treasure to plunder

ErigmolCt3• 2 years ago

It must have been both amusing and frustrating to watch your lost AirTag go on its own international adventure

fallinghawks• 2 years ago

I'm curious about the chances of the owner having the same area code as where the airpods were found. I think in many cases the mobile number is going to be from where you lived when you first got a mobile phone, which could have been (at least in my case) decades ago. But I'm glad you got lucky!

I found an airtag in a parking lot last year. It behaved a bit strangely even with a fresh battery and resetting it, and it still seemed the owner had not marked it lost. A friend who was an Apple rep told me it was probably defective and to just throw it away. I put it in the garage meaning to take it to the hazardous waste facility and forgot about it for about 8 months. Came across it again and just for grins and giggles I gave it one more try -- it seems the owner finally did mark it lost, and I was able to pair it to my iPad. So I have an extra airtag now...

firefoxd5• 2 years ago

Alright, so I have a project that is mostly abandoned right now due to various other obligations.

The main goal was to contact car owners without having to have their phone numbers and such. But i quickly saw the advantage of tagging all sort of things. So I have it on my keychain, wallet, or several other things I own. If I lose these items, any stranger can contact me without having any of my personal contacts.

What is it? It's a QR code. You scan it, and you can send some prewritten notifications to the owner. Once they reply, you can have a conversation. Scanning captures the gps location both for security measures and to help recover it.

https://web.ottomon.net/join

Landing page is totally misleading, I had big plans, but changing diapers took priority.

ljlolel• 2 years ago

This is a great idea for losing stuff and you should finish and ship it.

firefoxd5• 2 years ago

Eventually I'll get to it...

AndrewKemendo2• 2 years ago

BitRip does this exactly:

https://www.bitrip.com/shop

firefoxd5• 2 years ago

Except they don't have the cutesy startupy mascot that I have.

parhamn• 2 years ago

Wonder what the benefits of their format are. That and why their smallest model is so big (I think this might be related to the format?)

slim• 2 years ago

you need a special app to scan these

dyauspitr2• 2 years ago

How does the owner reply? Is the finder required to enter their phone number during the QR code process?

firefoxd5• 2 years ago

You can chat through the dashboard. Email only. Basically, the finder scans it, sends a message. The owner gets a notification through the app, or email, replies. The scanner can create an account to chat. No personal info is exchanged, unless they decide to do so via chat.

davchana2• 2 years ago

https://app.ngf132.com/

Long time ago I came across very similar concept in use in India. Not much, but visible usage. I also came to know by looking at a sticker on car windshield.

whoami7302• 2 years ago

Seems to be just for cars.

pomian• 2 years ago

This seems brilliant. No batteries to fail, etc. No tracking, no databases, simple. True hacker solution. I assume we can print our own bar code on paper, and using clear tape, attach it to most things.

firefoxd5• 2 years ago

Yep, you can print it out. My goal was to provide the printing. You can purchase a bundle of QRs stickers, or print it for free. Next year I'll do a show hn.

doron2402• 2 years ago

You’re a good man! Awesome story

someonehere• 2 years ago

There was a story of a hit and run in Florida recently where the teenager lost one earbud in the car that hit him. Using Find My they found the driver who hit them and arrested them for felony hit and run.

bartvk• 2 years ago

Found it. Quite amazing story:

NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/us/airpod-hit-and-run-flo...

Cache: https://archive.ph/sRHFV

RockRobotRock8• 2 years ago

I’m glad they caught the piece of shit. I’m also a victim of a hit and run.

heywoods• 2 years ago

In the spirit of doing this all on an iPhone. Here is an iOS shortcut that is a workaround for the group text problem.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/49fb6b48ba104885a846ea4f6f2...

max_2• 2 years ago

What technology does Airpods & AirTags use to allow them to be located when lost?

They have no cellular reception hardware. How to they transmit their location to Apple?

waschl• 2 years ago

I guess broadcasting beacons via Bluetooth to nearby iPhones, same principle like AirTags work

max_2• 2 years ago

Is it some kind of proprietary P2P mesh network?

kennyloginz• 2 years ago

Random late night story, my iPhone was lifted while being unattended. Using findmy, I was able to circle in on an apartment complex.

After bugging the police for weeks, they finally met with me to look at my evidence. We met directly outside of the apartment. They didn’t leave their SUV.

A week later I got the phone back , because you can place a message on the lock screen remotely. The janitor of the apartment called me because I offered ( and paid ) a 100 dollar reward and a number they could reach me at.

Not sure if there is a lesson here, except the feature of remotely changing a Lock Screen message is a great feature.

globular-toast• 2 years ago

You paid the thief?

flumpcakes• 2 years ago

If the police can't help you this is the best you can do. I know lots of stories of people getting back their $1000+ gear only when they offer cash for the person to drop it and walk away or to anonymously return it.

$100 to guarantee your device back is a small price to pay apart from the insult of paying the thief.

insane_dreamer2• 2 years ago

I forgot my iPhone in a taxi in China; managed to call it and talk to the driver who had found it. Had to pay him off to get it back though :/ But it was cheaper than buying a new phone.

b1122• 2 years ago

Huh. Where I am, janitor is used exclusively for more of an overall maintenance person of the entire building. And in such scenarios, due to rental laws, the janitor cannot enter an apartment without prior notice... unless of course it is an emergency.

(An emergency has to be a real emergency, not "it's urgent to the landlord")

So why I find this weird is, did the thief just leave a stolen phone, charged, in their apartment laying around for anyone to see? And if so, how would the janitor even see the lockscreen, wouldn't they have to hit the power button to see it (I presume the screen is off by default?). And why was the janitor even in the apartment? And presumably without the thief in their apartment?

And worse, why would the janitor effectively steal a phone from a tenant, and go outside and sell it to you for $100, just because there was a message on the lockscreen. How did the janitor know you didn't somehow hack the owner's phone, and you were the thief?

NOTE: I'm sure the story is true, but I'm curious if it's just a stupid thief, or.. what.

Whatever I'm not understanding, good job on getting your phone back.

actionfromafar• 2 years ago

Maybe the thief and the janitor split the difference.

sgerenser3• 2 years ago

I assumed the janitor was the “thief.”

lukevp• 2 years ago

Portlanders are the best! My brother was visiting us here and he lost his wallet at a major tourist attraction. He figured it was gone for good. Nope, someone turned it in with the $200 in cash still in it.

rootusrootus6• 2 years ago

I think Portlanders are generally pretty nice, too. But as it turns out, leaving a bit of cash in your wallet works anywhere in the world.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lost-wallets-are-more-li...

echoangle3• 2 years ago

TIL American cellphone numbers use an area code that represents the actual location. Do you get a new number if you move and then change to a different provider?

In Germany the cellphone area code is just out of a range your provider has registered and if you move to a different provider, you typically move over your number.

bb611• 2 years ago

Phone numbers are initially assigned geographically but people generally take their phone number with them as they move.

echoangle3• 2 years ago

So the author of the article was lucky it wasn’t someone who moved to Portland. I wonder what the ratio of people who have the area code of their actual location as a phone number is.

t0mas883• 2 years ago

Same in Netherlands, France and UK as far as I know. Landlines have an area code, mobile numbers are all in a specific range that isn't linked to any location.

First time I got a cell phone in the US I was surprised I had to tell T-mobile my postal code and got a "local" number.

stingraycharles2• 2 years ago

Yup, from NL, have moved everywhere and and changed provider a dozen times and have the same cellphone number since my first phone in 1999 or something.

arrowsmith2• 2 years ago

Yes, in the UK all mobile numbers start with "07". Landlines start with a geographical area code - e.g. London numbers start with "020".

nullhole• 2 years ago

https://xkcd.com/1129/

pridkett• 2 years ago

Was going to post the same thing. People forget that prior to cell phone number portability between carriers in late 2003, you basically got a new phone number when you moved or changed carriers. Hence much more of the “new phone, who dis?”

Now the comic is more like “where you lived in 2005 or when you first got a cell phone”.

Now that I have kids it’s an interesting signaling mechanism seeing which parents have local area codes and which ones have them from other parts of the country.

afavour• 2 years ago

You can, and some do, but a lot don’t. I live in NYC and you’ll see area codes from all over the country.

bigstrat20032• 2 years ago

I think NYC is likely to be an extreme outlier in this regard. A lot of people move there from all around the country (and outside it).

0rzech• 2 years ago

In Germany the cellphone area code is just out of a range your provider has registered and if you move to a different provider, you typically move over your number.

Same in Poland.

kevincox2• 2 years ago

This is the same in Canada. It isn't possible to distinguish landlines from cell phones by looking at the number. All numbers issued in an area have the same area code.

The North American numberig plan looks like +1-AAA-BBB-CCCC Where AAA is the area code and BBB-CCCC is mostly meaningless. There are a few special area codes like 8xx for toll-free calls (the classic 1-800 numbers that businesses often use) but no prefix dedicated to mobile.

When I moved to Ireland I thought it was weird that mobile numbers were identifiable. Especially since I had a Google voice number which looked like a landline which really confused people and websites. "Trust me, just text it. It is fine."

Do you get a new number if you move

I don't know about the US but this used to be common in Canada. Many providers would consider calls to different cities long distance and charge extra. So if you moved it was "polite" to get a new number so that people could call you for local rates. For example I went to university in Ottawa and changed my Toronto number so that people didn't have to pay long distance to call (even though it is the same province, about a 5h drive).

However this isn't really the case anymore. In the US and mostly in Canada country-wide calling us pretty standard so most people's mobile number will reflect where they grew up, and they will carry that around for the rest of their lives.

and then change to a different provider?

Usually not. You can ask your provider for a new number in a different city and they will issue it. Most Canadian providers are country-wide so you don't need to switch provide if you don't want to.

ahmedfromtunis• 2 years ago

Practically forcing people to change mobile phone numbers when moving from one place to another is a level of evil I didn't not expect to exist in Canada.

Any idea if the premium was due to technical limitations or just to milk the customers?

xattt• 2 years ago

Canada. It isn't possible to distinguish landlines from cell phones by looking at the number.

Atlantic Canada is small enough that there was a single area code for Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia up until a few years ago.

Cellphones in the region tend to have their own CO code (first three digits of the phone number), so you can usually infer if it’s a number you can text or not.

This is also the case for different regions of NS and PEI, so seeing a 902 number where the CO number is different from what you’re used to makes it seem “exotic”. This was also handy back in the day to know whether it was long distance or not.

This is slowly eroding as numbers get ported out, and landlines get disconnected.

wcunning• 2 years ago

Area Code 810 is the Thumb of Michigan, including some of central Michigan, so it's not all 8XX. Unsure how they draw the line, but 800 and 888 are the two that I see businesses use for toll free calling.

CountHackulus• 2 years ago

Usually not. You can ask your provider for a new number in a different city and they will issue it. Most Canadian providers are country-wide so you don't need to switch provide if you don't want to.

There's a way around this that I've done a few times. You port the number to VOIP (I use voip.ms) and then you set up that number to forward to whatever the new number you get given. Dialing out you still get your new number, but people dialing you can use the old number.

This was super handy when I had to move my mom from a retirement home in one city to another city a province away.

masnick• 2 years ago

I grew up in a small town in the US before cell phones were ubiquitous.

When we started getting cell phones, the numbers all had the same first six digits. The last four were assigned in order of provisioning.

My friend and I got our phones at nearly the same time, so our numbers were like 555-555-1004 and 555-555-1008.

This came in handy when I was going to visit him years later, and my phone died on the plane. I didn’t have anyone’s cell number memorized other than my parents (555-555-1013) and his thanks to the numeric similarity. (We kept the same phone numbers when we moved away from home.)

In this town, landline phones also all shared the same first six digits. Before cell phones got into the mix in the late 1990s, people could (and did) use 5 digits to represent phone numbers: 3-XXXX where the 3 referred to the first digit of the “exchange code”. The next town was 8-XXXX, etc.

Pyrodogg• 2 years ago

My Dad got a family plan of cell phones for my two brothers and I in ~2003-04 from a fairly small midwestern town.

I have no idea if he was given an option but our numbers were sequential. X, X+1, and X+2.

_thisdot• 2 years ago

Here in India, on iPhones, it displays the city when you get a call from an unknown number.

Not sure how it’s done. Maybe there’s a code system.

Also for the biggest service provider, it always displays Ahmedabad as the city for some reason.

alistairSH2• 2 years ago

Why would moving require a new provider/number? Are plans/numbers not portable in Europe?

In the USA, the number reflects the area it was issued. So my phone number matches suburban DC. If I move to California, everybody would know I lived in DC in the past. Kind of odd, I guess, but is a leftover from when cell homes didn’t exist and then when numbers weren’t portable across providers.

headPoet• 2 years ago

In the UK cell numbers start with 07 and landline numbers start with 01. And there is no region encoded in a cell number, but landline numbers begin with an area code.

echoangle3• 2 years ago

Why would moving require a new provider/number? Are plans/numbers not portable in Europe?

They are portable in Europe (I said that in the second part of my comment), but it seemed like they weren’t in the US, because otherwise, the post is a bit strange. The author just tried every number from his area code to find the owner, when it is possible/likely that the owner has a completely different area code. That’s why I thought it might be that the current number always reflects the actual area code.

RamblingCTO• 2 years ago

But that's exactly what they are saying. Numbers are just ported over to a different provider, so there's literally no certainty you can even pinpoint the provider they are using from a number. The prefix belonged to a provider, but you can move numbers as you move providers.

alexanderdmitri• 2 years ago

When I first got my plan / phone on the US east coast I was given the option to pick a number from anywhere in the country. I went with a fulsom county CA number and its come in really handy. I know to screen incoming calls that have the fulsom area code (always spam) and numbers that have the local area code where I live are actually legit.

mystified5016• 2 years ago

In the olden days, if your cell number had a different area code from the place you were physically in, you'd get long-distance charges when calling a local number, but not when calling a number matching your area code.

In modern times however, the area code is largely irrelevant. You get assigned a number with the area code of the place you first opened your account, and then you can just keep that number forever if you want. I've had the same number for almost 20 years and I've had four different providers in that time. Porting a number between carriers has been a standardized process for a very long time.

tommoor• 2 years ago

There's also some social signaling here, like 415 is the original San Francisco area code – but if you got a number in the last few years it might be 628 which was added as 415 reached capacity.

chasd002• 2 years ago

Yeah some people put a lot of value on area codes. My wife was so proud when she got her first iPhone years ago because it was a 214 number (Dallas proper). There use to be posters around town saying “keep 972 out of 214” since 972 was associated with the smaller suburban areas just North of Dallas. I had an 817 number which was ft worth and basically an untouchable haha.

caseyohara2• 2 years ago

This social signal predates cell phones. There was a bit about it in an episode of Seinfeld, “The Maid” (1998)

The episode also featured the New York area code 646. When the 212 area code ran out of numbers, 646 was created. Elaine gets a new number with the 646 area code. She is not happy with the new number because she believes the area code makes it too long to dial. She is proved correct when attempting to give her number to a man in the park. Initially eager, he reads the number, asks if it is in New Jersey. Her response is, "No, it's just like 212 except they multiplied every number by 3…and added 1 to the middle number." He says he is already in a relationship and walks off.

insane_dreamer2• 2 years ago

You can keep your number if you move. My number is from another state. Also nowadays when you get a new line you can pick any area code, so they have become somewhat meaningless.

bigstrat20032• 2 years ago

I wouldn't go that far. Area codes don't mean as much as they used to, but they are still a very strong association to the actual area. I would say that the majority of people I interact with in my area have a mobile number from the area code. And of those who don't, all of them are from out of state.

bps4484• 2 years ago

They stay with you if you choose. What's kind of sentimental and nice is that the area code stays with you as marker of where you're originally from no matter where you go. It says "this is where I was from as a teenager when I was first allowed a cell phone."

I don't know if this coincided with trend of getting an area code tattoo to signify where you're from, but that also is something that is done by some.

throwway_278314• 2 years ago

I remember the happy days when a telephone number (also an email) was a ephemeral, changeable thing. Not a permanent unchanging form of ID.

Alas, if you move out of the country for a period of time, it is a challenge to maintain the host country phone service. So there are no guarantees that you can hold on to that signifier of "this is where I was the last time I wanted to get a new phone subscription".

So the tattoo might be the better choice.

rootusrootus6• 2 years ago

The US and Germany both made number portability a thing in 1998. In the US you can port numbers between land lines and mobile. In Germany you cannot.

mjlee• 2 years ago

I have some distant family who moved from California to Idaho as part of a wider Conservative exodus. Some Idahoans aren't too keen, they see Californians as migrants who are driving up house prices etc. I don't believe there's any sense of irony on either side.

Anyway, they had to get new cellphone numbers because they'd get awful/no customer service if, say, they dropped their truck off for repairs and left a California number.

8bitme• 2 years ago

Good use of Fermi reasoning

hi-v-rocknroll• 2 years ago

I lost AirPods with an AirTag attached to them in my (now former) apartment complex's parking structure. It was Austin and so APD refused to help recover them despite me telling them there was an AirTag on them and they were still in the area, but moved to a vacant building leased by Google. Still no help from APD. Then, I watched them migrate to a residential address in another nearby town. Again, zero help from the Austin Police Department. Calling the police department in the other city was also of no help.

tl;dr: Don't live in Austin. That Google building's security people were thieves.

Reasons: Nonviolent crimes aren't policed in ATX because they're short ~300 officers. And, it also isn't prosecuted because the DA has the same views as other big cities, leading to more crime and a city death spiral.

amarcheschi• 2 years ago

A month ago or so I helped a tourist rescue his iPad which was stolen and throw in a field of tall grass. I also found a pair of 1st Gen airpods who weren't his, and I guess they were stolen some time ago. The old models don't have this feature, and bringing them to the police won't do anything here, since someone should voluntarily go to the police and ask for a pair of lost airpods... I've looked for and there aren't alternative ways to localize them or to get back the owner, it sucks

manmal• 2 years ago

I‘ve accidentally left my AirPods Pro in a safe in a hotel, and forgot about them. Over the next days I tried to get them back, but reception claimed that nobody has them.

Now the Find My app reports them in a small town near where I „lost“ them, ca 600km from my home, and clearly someone is using and charging them (with Android? Because otherwise the „Lost“ functionality would be nagging them constantly).

I won’t drive there (what would I even do if I found the person?), but this is quite maddening. I‘d rather not know where they are.

sva_• 2 years ago

Maybe one day your paths will cross and you can exact your revenge.

sroussey2• 2 years ago

Similar thing happened to me. I gave them an address and asked them to cross reference with their employees addresses.

I got the stay for free after that, they reversed the charges and apologized.

yazaddaruvala• 2 years ago

The engraving service on Apple’s website is great!

I engraved my entire phone number, including the +1, and I’ve had my AirPod returned to me twice now.

sroussey2• 2 years ago

I did the same! Such an easy hack.

Also the 1 helps balance/center the phone number.

Spooky23• 2 years ago

My iPhone lost the ability to track my AirPods. I replaced my phone, and they don’t show up anymore.

Fix is essentially to sign out/sign in to all devices. For me, that’s a real PITA. Apple magic is magic until it ain’t.

gcanyon3• 2 years ago

This wouldn't work for me; my area code is from Los Angeles, but I haven't lived there for fifteen years.

I have lost my airpods, back in 2020 (it was the start of covid and I was taking off a mask in Thailand and flipped them out of my ears). I noticed they were missing twenty minutes later, used find my to get back to where I dropped them, had them make noise and found one of them.

brirec• 2 years ago

Does this really only show the last four digits?!

I lost my AirPods Pro in an Uber back in January, and they’ve been in Lost Mode ever since, and I regularly see them moving around between three or so different places on the Find My map. Nobody ever reached out to me, but if it doesn’t even show your number I guess they wouldn’t be able to…

amelius• 2 years ago

What if they got 50 responses instead of 1?

soygem• 2 years ago

I know a guy who lost his iPod...

chasd002• 2 years ago

I let my son take mine on a school trip to Japan. They’re still there only now it shows the left and right earbuds are about a block apart. Godspeed AirPod pro heh.

osigurdson• 2 years ago

Wired earbuds: one hard to lose thing. AirPods: three easy to lose things.

rootusrootus6• 2 years ago

So you gain a bit of protection against losing them, and lose a bunch of convenience. It is a trade-off. I have precisely zero desire to ever go back to corded headphones. Between the cord noise and catching it on things, wireless headphones have been a marked improvement in the quality of my listening experience.

joshiain• 2 years ago

On a recent holiday I'd just checked in to my hotel, went to unpack a bit and couldn't find my AirPods.

I went to look at Find My to see where they were, but unfortunately I was in South Korea, and little did I know the location function in Find My doesn't work there.

I thought it must have fallen out of my pocket while I was in the taxi, as I remembered having them as I got off the plane, and I have a bit of history with my earphones falling out of my pockets.

I took a taxi from the taxi rank at the airport, so there was no record of who drove me like with Uber, but luckily I paid by card, and I could see what taxi company I used.

I asked the staff at the hotel if they could help me call the taxi company to see if they could find out which driver dropped me off. They somehow managed to contact the driver, but he had not seen my AirPods.

I went about the rest of my day while trying to convince myself that I didn't need a new pair. But while the location doesn't work with Find My, I could still play a sound through the case. So I would randomly hit it a few times hoping it was actually hidden away in my things.

After losing all hope, later when I returned to my hotel room I found a note had been left for me saying the taxi driver had found my AirPods and turned them in to a local police station!

Feeling excited I wouldn't have to go on the rest of my holiday without earphones, I happily made an hour long trip across the city to collect my AirPods, arriving just as the station was closing.

hackernewds• 2 years ago

Cool story

2OEH8eoCRo0• 2 years ago

It's interesting how we have become so paranoid about privacy that we don't even give full "if found please contact..." information anymore.

alcover• 2 years ago

  "And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind."

miunau• 2 years ago

About a year ago our cat went up the tree in our backyard and left his snap-off collar with an Airtag in a branch somewhere up there. We could ping it and hear it, but couldn't see it. So it got left up there for a year, rain, shine and hail. A couple of days ago I noticed it on the ground. Still working fine.

DonHopkins• 2 years ago

At least if somebody stole the tree, you'd be able to track it down easier than putting up lost tree signs all over the neighborhood.

floam• 2 years ago

Wish I had the courage to branch out into that kind of crime.

"my that is a handsome tree" -> do something bold. now wake up with that tree in your yard the next day and every day after.

that’s true freedom

why track it? if i woke up to discover a freethinking, freewheeling apex man of action took my tree, i would just admire them. and flattered this caliber of person thought i had anything worth seizing. i wouldn’t tell the police. (but if i could track it, i might go visit it to witness the man i wish i was)

if i was my girlfriend i might put a tracker into my finest tree, and leave me for any man that might ever take the tree. i couldn’t blame her. i would admire her

joshuamcginnis• 2 years ago

I've washed (and dried!) my AirPods twice. They're still alive and kicking. Pretty cool.

chrisrodrigue• 2 years ago

I love this kind of detective work. It blows my mind how easy it is to pinpoint someone with the smallest bits of identifying info.

j45• 2 years ago

Allowing the lost and found parties to communicate securely (and pseudo-anonymously) through the find my app could be interesting too.

In some cases if it’s lost being able to put a reward message on the screen is valuable too beyond the price of the device.

Apple could also put an AirTag in the AirPod cases for then those go away. Phone relative tracking is nice until batteries die.

ErigmolCt3• 2 years ago

I feels like detective mission! Loved that

HeavyStorm• 2 years ago

Wish kindles had any functionality like "Find My". I'm on my third Kindle, having forgotten one on a cab (I think) and another on a plane (I know for certain).

jedberg• 2 years ago

It feels like Apple could help solve this. Make it a feature that if you find a device you can bring it near your phone and it will automatically set up a two way anonymous iMessage session.

antb123• 2 years ago

Lost on pont neuf while biking in Paris….

Found the case neatly put next to a mailbox.

Earbud one about 15m / 50 ft away. Earbud 2 appeared in the seine river.. I guess some threw it in the river.

Did you lose your AirPods?

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