"Find My" is not linking/adding my new AirPods Pro 3

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"Find My" is not linking/adding my new AirPods Pro 3

Bought a new pair of Airpods Pro 3.

They linked perfectly to my iphone and MacBook via Bluetooth (in otherwords, I can listen to music/talk).

However, they won't connect to Find-my. Although Find-my is initially recognizing the AirPods when I seek to "add another item," Find-my fails to link the Airpods (after I assign the AirPods a name and Emoji within Find-my), and Find-my gives me the message "Could not Add a New Item. Make sure the item is nearby and ready to connect." IT IS NEARBY. IT IS CONNECTED. So Find-my is just not finishing the connection.

Yes, I updated my iOS on iPhone.

Posted on Sep 28, 2025 11:51 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

SRehman36 Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 29, 2025 8:21 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

It works now that my iPhone updated to iOS 26.0

Today I got an notification on my iPhone to update iOS again to do this update. I did not get this notification nor did it appear in the "software update" part of settings for the past few days; though it did give me an update to 18.7

I don't know why it didn't update to iOS 26 in the first place but it all works now. Thanks for your attention/assistance with this

I will also mention: The Model Name of the Aipods now appear as they should "Airpods Pro 3"

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Answer 2

Nov 8, 2025 8:57 AM in response to SRehman36

Same issue here and running OS 26.0. I checked software updates and saw an update to OS 26.1. I did the update and my AirPods showed finally up in Find My. Hope this helps.

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Answer 3

Sep 28, 2025 2:27 PM in response to SRehman36

Hmm, very strange. I’m noticing in your screenshot next to “Model Name” it has a placeholder string where it should say “AirPods Pro.”

Can you verify what iOS version you are running? Are you on beta software? And did you buy these new AirPods directly from a well-known retailer?

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Answer 4

Oct 21, 2025 2:06 PM in response to kgaffar

I updated. Still does not work iPhone 16 pro.

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Answer 5

agakar

Level 1

8 points

Oct 28, 2025 6:45 AM in response to Jim Jacobson

same here. Everything updated, just now.

connecting soI cam use them but not in find my.

Restarted.

Reseted.

tried multiple times.

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Answer 6

Oct 28, 2025 12:50 PM in response to Jim Jacobson

iPhone 16 updated to 26 here too. Same issue

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Answer 7

Nov 4, 2025 12:22 PM in response to SRehman36

I have the same issue as described above. iPhone 15 Pro: iOS 18.7.1

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Answer 8

Daoyee

Level 1

40 points

Nov 4, 2025 1:26 PM in response to Daoyee

I just noticed that under my AirPod Pro 3 settings. It says Find My is disabled. It is not disabled. . I can locate my older AirPods no problem.

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Answer 9

Sep 28, 2025 12:02 PM in response to SRehman36

Did you enable the Find My Network on the AirPods?

Go to Settings > [your AirPods name] or Settings > Bluetooth > (i) next to your AirPods name. Then make sure Find My Network is enabled.

See How to turn on Find My on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac - Apple Support and scroll to the AirPods section of the article for more information.

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Answer 10

SRehman36 Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 28, 2025 12:45 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

Yes, I did.

I just took this screenshot (attached below) of my iPhone's Settings > Bluetooth > (i) button next to my AirPods Pro 3 (ignore that I called it "Airpods 3" in my phone; it's a Pro). As you can see, no Find My reference/options. Any thoughts/suggestions?

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Answer 11

PpAppler

Level 1

20 points

Oct 5, 2025 2:14 AM in response to SRehman36

I have the exact same issue. I’m on iPhone 15 with iOS 18.7.1.

Am thinking it might get fixed if I upgrade to iOS 26 since, when connecting the AirPods, it even says “some functionalities are only available if you upgrade your iOS version” or something like that. But since it’s been full of bugs and battery issues, I don’t want to upgrade yet.

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Answer 12

SRehman36 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 28, 2025 7:40 AM in response to SRehman36

For me, it started working after I updated. Note: I had already updated my iPhone but there was yet another update that I hadn’t done after that (I didn’t get notices or anything until later; can’t remember for sure but maybe almost a day later). It was after the second update within 2-3 days of getting the AirPods that it finally recognized it in “Find My” and the name of th AirPods Pro 3 appeared correctly in settings>Bluetooth.

hope this helps.

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Answer 13

Oct 28, 2025 2:27 PM in response to SRehman36

Same here. Spent an hour on the phone to Apple Care when I got the pro 3s when they wouldn’t show up in find my but “worked”with my 15 pro . No luck. Went to local Apple Store and spent an hour with a guy there who even swapped them out in case it was hardware but suggested it was a problem with 26.0.1 that would not be fixed till 26.1. Got a 17 pro last week (same firmware) and that’s the same. Also the pro 3 buds don’t show up my iCloud device list even though they are paired (by Apple staff in shop) and acoustically perfect and actually a quite incredible sound for a bud.

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Answer 14

Daoyee

Level 1

40 points

Oct 29, 2025 11:20 AM in response to SRehman36

My AirPods Pro 3’s connect and work. (I.e., music and talk) They show in Find my. But according to the settings Find My is is disabled with no option to enable. Which is funny because my old AirPod Pro’s show up and work fine in Find My.

All software is up to date.

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Answer 15

Nov 3, 2025 9:02 AM in response to SRehman36

Is there any way to resolve it without upgrading to ios26? I have the iPhone 16plus and I don’t want to update to ios26?yet because many people are saying that it is buggy. How can I get my AirPod pro 3s to show up on FINDMY without upgrading to ios26? Yes they are genuine, I purchased mine from Best Buy.

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