But what happens when you actually lose your item? In those situations, you need to enable Lost mode in order to locate it. Once an AirTag is in Lost Mode, you'll be able to track it down by using nearby Apple devices and a Bluetooth connection to relay the location.
Once you have marked an AirTag as lost, if someone finds it, all they need to do is bring it close to their iPhone or Android device with NFC enabled. Doing this will bring up a notification with a link to a website URL that contains your lost message and phone number.
Lost Mode allows you to create a custom message to be displayed when your AirTag is found by someone else and scanned using NFC on either an iOS or Android device. This also presents your contact details to help reunite you with the AirTag.
Mark an AirTag or other item as lost in Find My on iPhone
When an iPhone is in Lost Mode, it will be locked and will display a custom message. At the same time, it will turn on tracking so that you can see the location of the device, even if your location services were originally disabled.
Once Lost Mode is enabled, the device will be locked down to the following screen and no action can be performed on the device. More often than not, devices are misplaced within the organization premises. Consider a scenario where an employee has misplaced his iPhone in his office.
Lost Mode displays a phone number and a message on the iPhone's screen, leaving everything else inaccessible. If you didn't have a passcode set up, Lost Mode will prevent your iPhone from being used.
Activating Lost Mode immediately disables credit or debit cards associated with Apple Pay, activates Low Power mode for maximum battery life, and renders all features on the iPhone, such as Siri, inaccessible.
When you switch on Lost Mode, Location Services will be turned on. This allows you to track your device. iPhones and iPads will also be put on Low Power mode to preserve battery life and increase your chances of tracking it down. Devices in Lost Mode never display notifications on the lock screen.
Tap the Items tab. Tap the AirTag you want to mark as lost. Scroll down until you see Lost Mode, then tap Enable.
With Lost Mode turned on, your headphones will regularly send out a Bluetooth signal, which any other Apple device in range can detect and report to the Find My network. The final result is an indicator on your map, showing you the location of your device.
For an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple Watch, your device doesn't display alerts or play a sound when you receive messages or notifications, or if any alarms go off. Your device can still receive phone calls and FaceTime calls.
Under All Devices, select the device that's been lost or stolen. Turn on Lost Mode. The ability to make payments using Apple Pay on this device will now be suspended. If you find your device and take it out of Lost Mode, your cards will automatically be added back to Apple Pay.