What to do, in order
- Start where you stopped, Picnic spots, benches and the base of whatever you leaned against.
- Walk a grid, not a wander, Parallel lines about twenty metres apart with a scan running covers open ground properly. Wandering re-covers the same area repeatedly.
- Watch the trend, not the value, Signal in the open is cleaner than indoors, so a rising reading is more trustworthy here than anywhere else.
Where it usually turns up
- Long grass at the edge of where you sat: Where small items disappear entirely from view.
- Under a bench: Slid off the slats.
- The route back to the gate: Dropped while carrying things.
Worth knowing
- This is the environment Bluetooth is best in. Fifty metres of clear line of sight is realistic, which makes a grid sweep efficient rather than hopeless.
Lost somewhere else?
The first hour looks different depending on where it happened.
- How to find something you lost at a festival
- How to find something you left at the office
- How to find something a child left at school
- How to find something you left in a rental car
- How to find something you left on a plane
- Save the devices you care about, My Devices tab
- How to find a lost camera, A few hundred shots
- All places, the complete list
Common questions
How long do I have to get something back from a park?
Picnic spots, benches and the base of whatever you leaned against.
Where does it usually turn up?
Long grass at the edge of where you sat is the most common. Where small items disappear entirely from view.
In the app: A pin recorded at the moment you were last there is what separates these cases. Read about Last-Seen Map.