Apple Will Now Let You Share the Location of Your Lost Devices With Third-Parties

• Apple's upcoming IOS 18.2 update will have a new feature that will help you find your lost devices by sharing their location with third parties.
• Apple's Find My feature already lets you share the location with your contacts - the new Share Item Location" option expands that.
• Right now, the feature is in beta mode. So you can either enroll in Apple's developer program or wait for the update which is expected to come out by the end of 2024.

Apple's upcoming iOS 18.2 update might let users share the location of their lost Apple products such as Macbook or iPhone or anything with an Airtag attached.

The update was first noted by Macrumors who spotted the feature in the iOS 18.2 developer beta. It was later confirmed by the company. The new feature will be available under the Share Item Location" option.

Apple's Find My network already lets you share the location of a lost object with your contacts. But with this update, you'll also be able to share it with third parties. This will help you out in situations when you have to rely on a stranger to find your lost belongings.

Imagine you are travelling somewhere and your travel bag containing your Macbook gets lost. In that case, you can share the location with the airline staff to speed up the search. Using it is also quite simple.

• You'll simply have to click on the Share Item Location" option to get a shareable link. The receiver can open this link even if they don't own an Apple device.
• Once they open the link, they'll also be able to see your phone number/Apple email ID so they can reach you when needed.
• Remember, you need to add your contact info to the lost item's contact page beforehand if you want this option to work.

You can also keep a tab on how many people have opened the link.The best part is this link automatically expires after you get back your device or after a week so you don't have to worry about strangers having continued access to it.

Who Can Avail This Feature?

As you already know, the iOS 18.2 update isn't out yet. So to access this feature, you'll need an iPhone that can run iOS 18 and enroll in Apple's developer program. Once you sign up, click on the new " Beta Updates under Software Updates" under the device's Settings menu.

Note: The beta we are talking about is the developer beta". The public beta hasn't been released yet.

Also, since the feature is still in beta mode, you run the risk of running into bugs. Even the recently released iOS 18.0.1 had certain bugs where the VoiceOver app read your passwords out loud. Apple had to quickly roll out a security update to fix the issue.

If you want to avoid such issues, you can wait for the iOS 18.2 update which is expected to roll out later this year.

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