Find your iPhone with Apple Watch — how to ping and locate your phone in watchOS 10

Apple Watch Series 9 review
(Image credit: Future)

With the introduction of watchOS 10 and the advent of the new chip in the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, finding your iPhone with your Apple Watch looks a bit different in 2024. 

Pinging your iPhone with an Apple Watch still lives in Control Center on Apple Watch, however the way that you access Control Center has changed. After years of muscle memory swiping up, you've probably found yourself getting it wrong on more than one occasion, I know I certainly have! Here's how to find your iPhone with your Apple Watch in the latest version of iOS and watchOS. 

Note: Your phone needs to be turned on and have Bluetooth enabled for this to work, and it will only ping the iPhone your Apple Watch is paired with; you can't currently find other devices in this manner.

How to find your iPhone with your Apple Watch

  1. Press the Digital Crown button to return to the watch face
  2. Press the side button below the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch to reveal the Control Center. It should show your iPhone at the top as "Connected" in green
  3. Tap the Find iPhone button in the middle of the left-hand column, it's a rectangle with curved lines around it

(Image credit: Future / Apple)

If you have an Apple Watch Series 8 or earlier, doing this will activate an audible ping from your iPhone, hopefully helping you to find it. If it stops pinging before you get to it, simply repeat all of the steps to reinitiate the noise. 

Pro-tip: Sometimes that submarine-style ping isn't enough to help you track down your device. If you tap and hold the Find iPhone button on your Apple Watch, it'll make your iPhone's LED light flash while you search.

How to use Precision Finding on Apple Watch Series 9 with an iPhone 15

If you have an Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 and you're using an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro, following these steps will bring up the Precision Finding screen. This uses the new Ultra wideband chip to show you how far away your iPhone is in feet and a rough general heading. You can then use the display to accurately locate your iPhone, the same way you'd use it to find an AirTag, just follow the screen! You can also play a sound from the phone by pressing the button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. 

Always know where your iPhone is

So there you have it, with a couple of quick taps you can ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch to quickly play a sound and find it when it's missing. If you've got a new iPhone 15 or an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2, Precision Finding brings a serious upgrade to an already very nifty feature.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9