Technologies

Your Holiday Survival Guide to Finding a Dead or Stolen iPhone

It’s a busy time of year, between work and holiday festivities. If you happen to misplace or have your iPhone stolen, here’s how to get it back.

‘Tis the season for holiday parties and festivities, but a lost iPhone can quickly spoil the joyous cheer and vibe fast. Whether misplaced or stolen, modern iPhones have powerful features to help.

Apple’s Find My feature, with its crowdsourced Find My Network, is your best ally. It sends your phone’s location to iCloud, even when the device is off. For added defense, Stolen Device Protection secures sensitive data, such as credit cards and passwords.

If you have an iPhone 11 or newer (excluding the 2020 and 2022 iPhone SE), you have the ultra-wideband chip for offline finding. As long as Find My is enabled and you’re signed in to your Apple ID, you can locate your iPhone even if the battery is dead. Before panicking, follow these steps to recover your phone.

Apple Find My and Find My Network aren’t the same

Apple Find My and Find My Network are different, which can be confusing. While Find My is now the name of an app, the Find My Network is what allows you to locate your device when it’s offline, turned off or low on power.

You can use the Find My Network feature within Apple’s Find My app or sign into your Apple ID at iCloud.com to locate your misplaced iPhone. Plus, the app also allows you to add other Apple products and items that you want to track to your Find My Network.

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How to turn on Find My and Find My Network

You need to make sure Find My and Find My Network are set up to allow you to locate your switched-off iPhone. Open Settings and follow these steps:

Tap on your name in the Settings menu.
Go to Find My > Find My iPhone and make sure the switch is toggled on.
Below Find My iPhone, you’ll see Find My Network and Send Last Location toggles. Turn them on, too.

You can check if your iPhone is discoverable even when it’s switched off by going to the power menu: Swipe down from the top-right corner to view Control Center and press and hold the power button in that corner, or hold the side and volume down button. Under the «slide to power off» slider, look for «iPhone Findable After Power Off.» Your iPhone is now all set to be found, even if a thief turns it off.

However, there are a few exceptions. If your iPhone hasn’t sent its location to Apple through Find My in the last seven days, you’ll see «No location found» next to your device. It can happen if there’s an issue with your device’s location services.

How to find a lost iPhone with the Find My app on another Apple device

Now comes the hard part: What happens after you lose your iPhone? Assuming you’ve completed the steps above, you can keep calm. If you have another Apple device, such as an Apple Watch, iPad or MacBook, follow the steps below to locate your misplaced or stolen iPhone. This will also work on a friend’s or family member’s device that you’ve shared your location with.

Open the Find My app and locate your iPhone in the list under the Devices tab. You should see it in this list (even if it’s powered off) as long as you have previously enabled the Find My iPhone, Find My Network and Send Last Location options.
Tap or click the name of your iPhone. This should take you to a menu with several options for finding your phone or marking it as lost.
If you misplaced your iPhone and you’re sure that it’s nearby, tap or click Play Sound or Directions to make the device play a sound or get directions to the device’s last recorded location, respectively.
If you’re sure your iPhone is stolen, tap Activate under the Mark As Lost option. This immediately locks the device with your passcode, suspends Apple Pay and displays a custom message with your contact information for anyone who finds it. You can also use Send Last Location to locate the last known location of your device.

How to find a lost iPhone if you don’t have another Apple device

In case you don’t have another Apple device, you can sign into your iCloud account in a web browser to find your lost iPhone (though this option can be troublesome if you don’t have another Apple device because of two-factor authentication). Follow these steps to use a web browser to see your lost iPhone’s location:

Go to icloud.com/find and sign in with your Apple ID.
Go to the Devices list.
From here, use the same options for playing a sound, marking your device as lost or erasing the device as you would in the app.

You can also disable Control Center access on the lock screen while traveling abroad to prevent a thief from turning off data or enabling Airplane mode. To do this, do the following:

Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode) and enter your passcode.
Under the Allow Access When Locked section, toggle off the Control Center option.

This option can add some inconvenience to day-to-day use, but I recommend turning off Control Center while traveling.

These settings give you the best chance of finding your iPhone if it’s been stolen and turned off. For more iPhone tips and advice, check out our guide to the Camera Control and how to block distracting websites.

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My 3 Favorite Bose Headphones Deals on Amazon Aren’t Actually From Bose

Baseus’ Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 headphones with Sound by Bose are up to 23% off during Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. A bonus item makes the deal even harder to ignore.

I gave CNET Editors’ Choice awards to Baseus’ Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones and Inspire XP1 earbuds because they’re well designed and sound decent consider their prices. I also liked Baseus’ Inspire XC1 clip-on earbuds, which have dual drivers. They even earned a spot on CNET’s best clip-on earbuds list and are probably the best clip-on buds at their price right now.

Amazon’s Big Spring Sale just kicked off, and it’ll be around through March 31. Right now, all three models are discounted to $100 to $123, bringing them near their all-time low prices.

That’s a deal I’d highlight on its own, but if you click through to any of those models’ Amazon product pages and look closely, you’ll see that each is eligible for «one free item» with purchase.

Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds of 2026

You must click the how to claim link first. Then click a button on the left side of the screen (above the stars for average ratings) to switch the view from «qualifying items» to «benefit items» and see the freebie. The items tend to be Baseus’ entry-level headphones or earbuds, but if you don’t like the free item option with a $120 purchase, you can try the options at lower prices.

You can read my full reviews of the Inspire XH1 headphones here and the Inspire XP1 earbuds here. And here’s my quick take on the Inspire XC1 earbuds:

Like Baseus’ noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds, which I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 have Sound by Bose and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don’t sound as good as the XP1, they’re decent open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers (one is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance). While they don’t produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds’ sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material. I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks that feature harder-driving bass.

While I slightly prefer the design and fit of Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, as well as the design of their case, and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds, as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction. And they play louder than the Bose, too.

You can grab the Inspire XH1 for $123, the XP1 for $100 and the XC1 for $110, saving you up to 23%. Just remember to claim your free item with your purchase.

Read more: Best Headphones We’ve Tested

HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones (Black):

$248 (save $152)
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$170 (save $181)
Sony WH-1000XM6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones:

$398 (save $62)
Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Twilight Blue):

$179 (save $170)
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless ANC Over-Ear Headphones (Black):

$200 (save $250)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

For other audio deals happening now, our CNET shopping experts have rounded up headphones, speakers and earbuds deals across a variety of brands and budgets.