What stops working
A powered-off phone does not ring, does not respond to a clap, does not answer Siri and does not broadcast Bluetooth. No app can detect a device that is not transmitting, and any product claiming otherwise is misrepresenting how radio works.
What still works
- Apple’s Find My holds a last-known location and, on recent iPhones, can remain locatable for a period after shutdown through the Find My network.
- A last-seen map records where the device was when it was last detected, which does not expire when the battery does.
- Your own timeline, the last photo you took, the last message you sent, the last card payment, places the phone geographically better than most people expect.
Search the last known place properly
- Go to the last recorded position rather than searching outward from where you are now.
- Search by volume, not by surface: inside bags, under cushions, in the frame of furniture, in coat linings.
- Retrace by clothing. Phones travel in pockets far more often than they are put down on tables.
- Check every charger in the building. A phone plugged in and switched off is a phone that is not lost.
Next time
Keep a charged device that can log positions, and save the things you lose most often so their last-seen locations are recorded automatically. The difference between a fifteen-minute search and a lost afternoon is almost always whether a position was recorded before the battery died.
Related methods
If this was not the situation you are in, one of these probably is.
- How to find a phone lost in the house, Method
- How to find something lost in a car, Method
- How to find something you left at the gym, Method
- Bluetooth scan is not finding a device, Troubleshooting
- How to stop losing the same things, Prevention
- Clap to find your phone, Clap tab
- Find My network: Apple’s crowd-sourced finding
- All how-to guides, the complete list
Common questions
Can you track a phone that is turned off?
Not live. Recent iPhones can remain findable for a period after shutdown via the Find My network, and a last-known location is stored, but there is no method that detects a device with no power at all.
Does Bluetooth work when a phone is off?
No. A powered-off device transmits nothing, so it cannot appear in any Bluetooth scan.
In the app: This is what the app is built for. Read about Last-Seen Map.