Once you have picked a device, everything else drops away and you get one number that rises as you approach. It is the childhood hot-and-cold game with a radio.
How it works
- Isolate one deviceSelect it from the scan list so you are following a single signal.
- Sweep slowlyMove in a straight line across the room and watch which direction makes the signal rise. Bluetooth readings jump around, so give each position two or three seconds.
- Turn at the peakWhen the signal stops rising, turn 90 degrees and repeat. Two passes usually put you within a metre.
- Search low and insideSignal strength drops sharply through fabric, bodies and metal. If the number is high but you cannot see the device, it is inside or underneath something.
When you’d use it
The final two metres
You know it is in this room. That is not the same as knowing where.
Cluttered rooms
A bedroom with a lot of soft furnishing is where visual searching fails and a signal reading does not.
Requirements
| Platform | iPhone, iOS 17.0 or later |
|---|---|
| Added in | Version 1.0 |
| Permissions | Bluetooth |
| Account needed | No, no sign-up, nothing collected |
| Works offline | Yes |
More of what the app does
Each feature covers a case the others cannot.
- See battery on nearby devices, Inside Scan
- Bluetooth scanner for iPhone, Scan tab
- Clap to find your phone, Clap tab
- Save the devices you care about, My Devices tab
- How to stop losing the same things, Prevention
- UWB: Ultra-wideband
- All features, the complete list
Common questions
Why does the signal jump around when I am standing still?
Bluetooth signal strength is genuinely noisy, it reflects off walls and is absorbed by bodies, water and metal. Read the trend over a few seconds rather than any single value.
Can it tell me the exact distance in metres?
Not reliably, and any app claiming a precise metre figure from signal strength alone is overstating it. What is reliable is the direction of change: rising means closer.
Does this use ultra-wideband like AirTag Precision Finding?
No. Precision Finding uses the U1 chip and only works with devices that also have one. This works with any Bluetooth Low Energy device, which is the trade-off: much broader compatibility, less precision.