Ping Apple Watch from iPhone to find lost watch fast

You can ping a lost Apple Watch from your iPhone, thanks to iOS 17 and watchOS 10. The reverse has always been a cool feature of the Apple Watch, helping you find a lost iPhone you left somewhere nearby.

If you take your Apple Watch off at the end of the day, forgetting to throw it on the charger, you might not remember where you left it the following morning. Now, you can find a lost Apple Watch from your iPhone. Here’s how it works.

How to ping a lost Apple Watch using an iPhone

You could always use Apple’s Find My app to locate a lost Apple Watch. But this handy trick is faster and easier. I typically employ the rule that my watch is only ever (a) on its charger or (b) on my wrist, but that just makes it harder for me to find when I happen to leave it elsewhere. This handy method makes it far easier to quickly find a missing Apple Watch.

Note: To use this feature, your iPhone must be running at least iOS 17 and your Apple Watch must be on at least watchOS 10. Not sure if your iPhone is up to date? Go to Settings > General > Software Update to get the latest version. (To check your Apple Watch software, open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General > Software Update.) The watchOS 10 update is available for all Series 4 models and newer, including SE and Ultra.

Table of contents: How to ping a lost Apple Watch using an iPhone

1. Add “Ping My Watch” button in Settings > Control Center
2. Open Control Center and hit the Apple Watch button

1. Add the button to your iPhone’s Control Center

To quickly find your Apple Watch with your iPhone, first you need to add the Ping My Watch button to your phone’s Control Center. First, open Settings > Control Center. This is where you can customize which “controls” show up. Next, scroll all the way down and tap + Ping My Watch to add the button to your iPhone’s Control Center. Scroll back up and you can reorder all your controls by grabbing and dragging the ☰ on the right. (While you’re at it, remove any controls you don’t use by tapping the −.)

2. Ping your Apple Watch from iPhone’s Control Center

Now you’re ready to ping your Apple Watch from your iPhone for the fastest find possible. To do so, simply swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone screen to bring up Control Center. Then, tap the Apple Watch button. Your watch will play the same fun, rhythmic chime out of its speakers that you’re used to hearing when using it to find your iPhone. And yes, this works even if you leave your watch in Silent mode — as most people do, and honestly, everyone should.

The Apple Watch doesn’t have quite as loud of a speaker as the iPhone, but the audible alert still should help you find your missing watch in a room. If you can’t hear anything after pinging it for a while, it’s likely too far away for you to hear the alert. In that case, you might want to open Find My, tap the Devices tab, and then tap on your Apple Watch to confirm it’s not truly missing.

Learn more iOS 17 tricks

The 50 best iOS 17 features you should try after you update

We originally published this post on how to ping your Apple Watch from your iPhone on November 8, 2023. We updated the info.