Tech —

Find My iPhone app can now give directions to the finder’s door

Just be cautious showing up without police if you think the device was stolen.

Tapping the green car icon will get you directions to your device's location, while tapping the blue arrow will give you other options.
Tapping the green car icon will get you directions to your device's location, while tapping the blue arrow will give you other options.

Apple's Find My iPhone app has been updated with the ability to easily get driving directions from your location to the location of the device you're trying to recover. Although the directions predictably rely on Apple's new Maps app—which continues to have a dubious reputation among drivers—the added feature reduces the number of steps one would normally have to take in order to be reunited with a lost device.

The feature can be found by selecting the device you want—in my case, an iPad mini—and looking for the green car button to the left of the device name. Tapping on it switches to the Maps app, which will map a route between your current location and the device. Apple also updated the UI of the Find My iPhone app by moving the buttons that play a sound, put the phone into lost mode, and erase the device. In the new view, tapping the blue arrow next to the device will reveal these buttons on the bottom of the screen.

Numerous successes have been reported in the media about people using the app to find their lost or stolen devices. Assuming the person holding your device isn't a threat in some way, driving to find them may be a perfectly fine idea. But if you suspect the device has been stolen and you could be dealing with a criminal, it might be an even better idea to get police involved before you show up at some stranger's door demanding your electronics back.

Channel Ars Technica