How can I be getting updates on the location of my lost iPad if the device is WiFi-only, with no cell phone hardware?
I lost my iPad mini (current model, 5th generation, running iOS 14 beta), the model that is equipped only for WiFi. This is the model of iPad mini without any cell phone hardware.
When I checked now using Find My on my iPhone, Apple reports contact with the iPad only a half-hour ago, showing a current location on the other side of the city. But I've not been on that side of the city for hours.
Where I lost the iPad, there are no WiFi networks that I have ever given permission for the lost iPad to join.
➥ So how can Apple's server's be reporting contact with a Wifi-only iPad with no previously-joined WiFi network available?
I understand that a WiFi-only iPad can determine its location by scanning for nearby WiFi routers. But how does a WiFi-only iPad communicate that location back to me via Apple if the iPad has no authorized WiFi network connection?
- Apple devices join networks for setup by default so any open network would work even enter resetting your SSID / network preferences. I’m not sure you can be certain some SSID wasn’t joined without forensic details, but let’s set that more obvious cause aside.
- Apple devices use handoff to talk amongst themselves without any WiFi based station. You’ve enabled this by signing in to iCloud from what I can tell based on Apple’s documentation and experience.
- Apple devices have offline location functionality built in as well as last known location reporting.
Find My can help you locate a missing device — even if it’s offline and sleeping — by sending out Bluetooth signals that can be detected by Apple devices in use nearby. These devices then relay the detected location of your device to iCloud so you can locate it in the Find My app. It’s all anonymous and encrypted end-to-end so no one, including Apple, knows the identity of any reporting device.
Any one of these will update location and all could be in play based on your situation. Find My has many ways to establish a location report as opposed to the initial functionality of find my iPhone from June 2010 and iPhone 4s. Both the hardware and software have developed quite significantly.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Find_My_iPhone
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210515