The reason we laughed is that a year and a half ago, I placed this very same iPad on top of this very same machine, and then, after paying for my parking, I walked away, leaving my iPad lying there. A few minutes later I realized what I’d done and hustled back to the machine, but my iPad was gone.
The good news was, the person who picked it up apparently worked at the airport. I know this because Apple has an app called “Find My,” which, by using some kind of magical rays, enables you to see where all your devices are, and I could see that my iPad was still at the airport. The bad news was, whoever picked it up did not immediately take it to the Lost and Found office. Instead, he or she took it to a part of the airport where the public can’t go. I could clearly see it on the Find My map on my iPhone, which I showed to — this is a conservative estimate — 17,500 airport employees.
It’s an extended joke, but real-world successes with Find My are more enjoyable when they’re written by Dave Barry, and doubly so when the phrase “my brain is full” triggers a Far Side cartoon reference.
For those of us who may be susceptible to forgetting Apple devices in public places, be sure to turn on Find My in Settings > Your Name > Find My. Then open the Find My app and enable “Notify When Left Behind” for each device in the Devices tab (do the same in Items for AirTags and similar accessories). In my experience, those notifications can take longer and require more distance than you’d expect to trigger, but they’re better than nothing—and you can add exceptions like “Home” to reduce noise. If you do lose a device, immediately turn on Lost Mode and set a custom message and optional contact number.
We once left an iPad Mini in an airport on our way to the U.K., filed a Lost and Found report when we got back, and then about 10 or 11 months later, the Mini turned up, and the airline shipped it to us.
The closest I’ve come to losing an iPad is when a TSA screening agent removed it from my bag without saying anything and put it in a bin that ended up two spots behind my closed bag. So naturally, I grabbed my bag and walked away not knowing it had been removed. Fortunately, I heard a fellow traveller ask “whose iPad is this?” while putting on my shoes.
I’m sure many of you can tell stories about how useful Apple’s ‘Find My’ is. Here are my stories.
We often fly from Zurich to Palermo and have already arrived twice without our suitcases. The first time, my suitcase simply stayed in Zurich, and the second time, my wife’s suitcase ended up in London instead of Palermo. Thanks to the AirTags in the suitcases, we were able to locate them and inform the airline, that took four days to return our suitcases to us, which was not easy as we were on a small remote island in the meantime.
Last week, my wife’s suitcase was stolen on the train from Milan to Bologna. Thanks to the AirTag, we were able to locate the suitcase near the intermediate station of Reggio Emilia. We contacted the local police, who found the suitcase, broken up and empty. Certainly a case for our insurance company, but our stay in Bologna was less pleasant than planned.
Although I am not likely to leave stuff behind I have Notify when left behind on in Find My for all my devices and Air Tags. It does take some time/distance to get notified when you leave something behind, but at least you do get notified and it has saved my day a few times. Except once when I left my iPhone behind at a friend’s house. Not even your Apple Watch will notify you then (at least not one like mine without cellular). Good thing I was able to see I left my phone at my friend’s house and although I could not call him (nor could he call me), we were able to mail each other and make an appointment to pick it up the next day. At least it gave me a good nights sleep
Find My has come in handy for me twice recently: once when I left my iPad at the doctor’s office, and once when our cat sneaked out the back door while wearing his AirTag collar!
