Apple will soon let you share the location of lost or misplaced items, such as an iPhone, MacBook, or anything with an attached AirTag, with people other than your contacts via the Find My app using a link. is.
The company is currently testing the feature in the iOS 18.2 public beta after introducing it in the 18.2 developer beta earlier this month. Apple says the feature is intended to make it easier to find lost items by sharing your location with third parties, such as taxi drivers and airline employees.
In the coming months, nearly 20 airlines will begin accepting “Find My item location” links as part of their lost baggage customer service, the company said. These airlines include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, and Swiss. International Airlines, Turkish Airlines, United, Virgin Atlantic, Vueling. Airline staff must authenticate access through their Apple account or partner email address.
The Find My app now has a new “Share item location” option that provides a shareable link to the location of your lost item. Users can open and track links on any device (including non-Apple devices). The link automatically expires after one week or when the item is returned.
Image credit: Apple
There's also a “Share Contact Information” option, which allows you to connect to the item on any phone and open the website, displaying your phone number and email address (by adding the details on the item's contact page). ). This appears to be intended to allow people who find the item to contact you.
“The Find My network and AirTag have proven to be a powerful combination for users when traveling, providing valuable location information when a bag is misplaced or mishandled. “With location sharing, we're excited to give users a new way to easily share this information directly with third parties like airlines while protecting their privacy,” said Eddie Cue, SVP of Services at Apple. said in a statement.
Find My already lets you share the location of items with people in your contacts. With this update, users will also be able to see statistics such as the number of people who visited their links.