Re: Find My for iPad w/o cellular

On 2024-07-19, Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@yahoo.com> wrote:

On 7/17/24 6:49 AM, Chris wrote:

Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
Hi somebody just asked me something and I don't know the answer. If
you have a iPad that only does WiFi, what happens if you misplace it
somewhere or it gets stolen and you want to use Find My to find it?
It can't connect to the Internet to say where it is unless it gets
near a WiFi network it already knows.
>
I know maybe it can use Bluetooth if there are other Apple devices
around, but that's more iffy. Iphones can get on the Internet with
cellular and say where they are, but what about an iPad w/o
cellular??

>
The same way it works with AirPods and AirTags neither of which have
wifi either. It's all bluetooth.
https://www.howtogeek.com/725842/what-is-apples-find-my-network/

>
Okay, so like I said it's iffy b'cuz it can only use Bluetooth so
other things have to be near it or you can't find it. Not like a
iPhone that can report where it is itself.

 In practice, Apple devices are almost everywhere there are people. So
AirTags are able to relay their location securely and privately in most
places without much of an issue. In your hypothetical situation where an
iPad is stolen, chances are it's going to be in the vicinity of other
Apple devices at least some of the time after it's stolen, allowing you
to track its physical location, display a custom message on it, play an
alarm sound on it, lock it, and even erase the contents of the startup
drive - all remotely from any iOS device or any computer with a web
browser. In fact you can do all of that ahead of time, and iCloud will
dutifully wait for the computer to connect to the internet and ping the
iCloud service, whenever that happens to be.