How to Find Your Lost AirPod Case In 5 Minutes
Check this guide on how to find your AirPod case lost. Plus, some insider tips you should know!
Have you ever experienced looking for your AirPods case on your bag, only to realize it’s not with you? Whether it was being misplaced or stolen, we understand how helpless you could have felt.
Unlike wired options, AirPods require their case for charging as well as pairing to devices. They will practically be useless in no time without it. Besides, it’s frustrating to know just how big a hole your pocket has to suffer to deal with it.
That’s why we’ve come up with this guide for you. Just in case you can’t find them, we got you covered on what you can do and how to prevent losing them again.
Can You Track Lost AirPod Case?
This depends on whether or not your AirPods are in the charging case when you lost them.
If at least one of your AirPods is in your lost charging case, you can easily find them using Apple’s Find My App. Unfortunately, if you only lost your AirPods’ case, finding it can be impossible especially if you don’t have any preventive measures or tracking devices in place.
This is because, unlike the AirPods themselves, the charging case cannot play any sound to help you track it.
Apart from that, while the AirPods have Apple’s custom H1 chips, the charging case only has standard chips from its respective suppliers. This means your charging case doesn’t have the advanced technology AirPods have that lets Apple’s Find My app track them.
Furthermore, your AirPods case also doesn’t have its own Bluetooth connectivity, so no third-party app can help you scan their location when they’re nearby.
Even Apple won’t be able to track them with your AirPods serial number. In this case, your best option is to replace your lost or stolen AirPods case instead.
How to Find Your AirPods Case With Your AirPods in Them
We know it’s not uncommon to lose your AirPods case. There’s no shortage of stories reporting how people lost them on land, in the air or even to theft. So much so that the community of AirPods users came up with a creative idea to prevent theft.
Near or far, wherever they are, as long as you have at least one of your AirPods in the case, you can locate it with Apple’s Find My app by following these steps:
- Launch the Find My app on your iOS device.
- Under the Devices tab, select your AirPods.
- You will see a map showing where they are or their last location before they were powered off.
- You can play a sound to locate them.
- Select Directions to open maps to route to your AirPods.
How to Replace Your Lost AirPods Case
Losing your AirPods charging case literally renders your AirPods useless. The charging case not only powers your AirPods but also enables pairing with other devices.
Fortunately, they are not exclusive as a set. This means that you can either get a replacement from Apple or consider third-party options.
Official Apple AirPods Case Replacement
Getting a genuine Apple replacement case is the best option as your AirPods are guaranteed to work well with it. That is, if you’re willing to part with the required fees.
Aside from being sure that you’re getting a legitimate replacement, Apple also offers a warranty for their replacement parts. This depends on how long you had your AirPods before you lost them.
This is because Apple’s warranty duration for replacements can last either for 90 days or the remaining term of your Apple warranty, whichever is longer.
This makes it a worthy option if you lost them shortly after owning them, especially if you’ve previously bought AppleCare+ coverage for your AirPods.
Third-party AirPods Case Replacement
Third-party AirPods cases are available if you don’t wish to spend that much for an original AirPod case replacement.
For a fraction of Apple’s out-of-warranty replacement fee, you can get several third-party replacements if you’re always frequently losing them.
However, these third-party cases aren’t meant to work with genuine Apple AirPods. They could pose several issues such as over/under charging due to different charging voltages.
Aside from that, the custom Apple silicon H1 chip might detect the use of non-Apple certified accessories. This could result in unstable connections or errors when pairing your AirPods to other devices.
How to Set Up AirPods With New Case
If you have replaced either of your AirPods or a new charging case, they’ll require setting up before you can use them again. Simply putting them back into their charging case will not work.
Thanks to their intuitive design, you can easily set them up with these steps:
1.On your iOS device, go to Bluetooth in Settings.
2.Tap “i” next to your AirPods.
3.Tap Forget This Device and tap again to confirm.
4.Put both AirPods in your charging case.
5.Open the lid and check the status light. It should flash amber.
6.Press and hold the setup button on the back of the case for a few seconds. The status light should flash white.
7.While at the Home Screen on your iOS device, open the case with your AirPods inside and hold it next to your iOS device. A setup animation should appear on your screen.
8.Tap Connect to pair your newly set up AirPods with your iOS device.
How to Avoid Losing Your AirPods Case
As it’s often said, prevention is better than cure. To save you from this, we’ve come up with some practical accessories to keep your AirPods within your reach.
AirPods case cover with anti-lost straps
Before applying “high-tech” solutions, you can consider using the AirPods case cover with anti-lost straps for your AirPods case.
They not only provide protection to your AirPods case with shock absorbing silicon but also act as a keychain that you can conveniently attach to your handbag or backpack. This is one of the most affordable options as it doesn’t involve any elaborate technology.
However, this isn’t foolproof as it depends on your due diligence to keep them fastened to your accessories by the keychain.
There’s also a Multifunctional Package Combination that provides all the necessary accessories to keep your AirPods securely with you.
AirPods case and AirTag cover
Our next pick would be adapting Apple’s AirTag to your AirPods. Since its introduction in Spring 2021, third-party accessory makers have hustled to make all kinds of creative accessories to complement the AirTags.
One such accessory is the 2-in-1 Protective Skin Case for AirPods Pro and AirTag Case Combo Set. Not to worry, they also have it for the 1st and 2nd generation AirPods. Soon, we can expect one for the AirPods (3rd Generation).
Besides protecting your AirPods case, you can place an AirTag in it to aid the tracking of your AirPods.
AirTag leverages Apple’s vast Find My network to locate itself. It makes use of Apple-designed U1 chip harnessing Ultra Wideband technology, to enable Precision Finding. It can also play a sound with its in-built speakers just like your AirPods.
Similar to AirTag, you can try attaching Tile trackers to your AirPods. Tile has been one of the most successful crowdfunding project that materialised into one of the most popular lost item tracker.
Tile trackers leverage Tile’s vast network (every phone running the Tile app and Tile’s own Network Extenders) to track lost it
Unlike Apple’s Find My app which is exclusive to Apple devices, Tile has its own app that is compatible with Android, Apple and other platforms.
Better yet, Tile has subscription plans for customers such as Premium Protect where the company will actually reimburse you up to $1,000 per year if Tile is unable to help you find your lost item within seven days.
Conclusion
As you can see, it’s not so easy to lose your AirPod case with the right countermeasures in place. But, at least now you can have confidence enjoying your AirPods and bringing their case anywhere you go without the fear of losing them. And even if they get stolen, you’ll know where and how to start looking.
Did we miss anything? What worked for you? Share your lost and found stories of AirPods with us if it ever happened to you.
