Using Find My when none of the devices have internet access

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Using Find My when none of the devices have internet access

So I know about the Find My network that allows an Apple device to be found even if it doesn't have an Internet connection. This is a little different to that.

In this scenario I have an iPhone 7, and iPhone 11, and a MBP 2020. All powered on, all previously setup in iCloud with Find My enabled. But none of the devices are in range of cellular or WiFi (i.e. rural), so there is no Internet access for any of them.

Can the devices use bluetooth (or similar) locally to find each other using Find My?

Does it change if...

the phones are in flight mode but with Bluetooth and WiFi enabled?
the iPhone 7 is registered to a child family members iCloud account (in the same iCloud family)

Thanks

iPhone 11, iOS 14

Posted on May 9, 2021 6:58 AM

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Answer 1

May 10, 2021 8:29 AM in response to somekiwi

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities, somekiwi.

We would be happy to give you some more information on Find My and locating your devices. In order for your devices to show their active location in Find My, they will need to have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. If they do not have access to connect to either one of these networks, the only way you are able to see their location is if the Send Last Location setting was previously enabled on the devices. This will allow you to see the last known location of the device before it lost connection and went offline. The devices last known location is only available for a day and you will not be able to see the location after 24 hours of the device being offline. Find My is not able to use bluetooth connection to actively locate your devices.

You may find this article helpful for more information on Find My and the connections that are needed to locate a device: If Find My iPhone is offline or not working

We hope this helps.

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Using Find My when none of the devices have internet access

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