If you're like most people and keep a lot of important documents and personal data on your mobile devices, losing your iPad can be a catastrophe. If you use Find My, though, you can locate your iPad in moments.
You'll need to plan ahead, though; to use Find My to find your iPad, you'll need to set it up beforehand.
Here's how to set up Find My and then use it to find your iPad.
How to find your iPad with Find My
Using the Find My app on another device
Find My comes preinstalled on all iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Grab another device that's logged into your iCloud account and follow these steps:
1. Open the Find My app — its icon looks like a green circle with a blue dot in the middle.
2. Tap Devices at the bottom of the screen. You'll be shown a list of all the devices connected to your iCloud account.
3. Tap your iPad's name and the map will scroll to center on it. If your iPad is connected to the internet, or on and nearby other Apple devices, you should see its exact location. If it's not, you'll see its "last known location."
4. Tap Directions to get step-by-step directions to its location, or Play Sound to make it ring. You can also tap Mark As Lost to display a message on the iPad's screen that tells whoever finds it where to bring it — if you do this, be sure to turn on Notifications so you know when it's found.
5. If you're certain that you don't want anyone getting access to your iPad, tap Erase This Device. This will factory reset your iPad, deleting every bit of personal information on it. It'll also turn off Find My, meaning that your iPad will disappear from the map entirely.
If you erase the iPad and later find it again, you can restore your data from a backup.
Using the iCloud website
1. In any web browser, open https://www.icloud.com/find. You'll need to log in with your Apple ID and password, but Apple won't ask you for a two-factor authentication code even if you have it enabled.
2. You should see a map with every device connected to your iCloud account. Above the map, click All Devices and then click the iPad you've lost to see where it's located. If your iPad is connected to the internet, or on and nearby other Apple devices, you should see its exact location. If it's not, you'll see its "last known location."
3. You can zoom in to get a better idea of where the iPad is located, and if you're near enough, you can click Play Sound to make it ring. If it's lost or stolen, you might want to click Lost Mode (which locks the iPad and displays a custom message on the lock screen) or erase it entirely.
Only erase the iPad if you think there's no hope of getting it back, since this resets the iPad to factory settings and Find My won't work anymore.
Dave Johnson contributed to a previous version of this article.
