For several of the Find My solutions mentioned below, you must have your AirPods with you.

1. Make Sure Find My Is Enabled for Your Paired Device

When you set up your iPhone, Find My is switched on by default. And when you pair your AirPods to this iPhone, Find My is automatically enabled for the AirPods too. You don't have to take any other steps. However, if you later turn off Find My for your iPhone, it will have the same effect for your AirPods as well.

Keep your AirPods connected to your iPhone and follow these steps to ensure Find My is enabled for it:

2. Enable the Find My Network for Newer AirPods

The Find My Network uses other nearby Apple devices to securely transmit your lost AirPods' location to you. If you have AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, or AirPods (3rd generation), you can see the location of these missing AirPods inside the Find My app for up to 24 hours after they were last connected to your device.

Here's how to enable Find My Network for your AirPods so that you can locate them using the Find My app in the future:

3. Put Your AirPods in the Charging Case and Restart Your iPhone

Sometimes, your AirPods might not show up in the Find My app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac due to temporary glitches, which can be easily solved by a simple restart.

To address this, put your AirPods in their charging case and close the lid. Now go ahead and restart your iPhone or the Apple device you're checking the Find My app on.

4. Check Apple's System Status for the Find My Service

On rare occasions, the problem may not be on your end but on Apple's. To check, visit Apple's System Status page. Here, make sure you see a green circle next to Apple ID, iCloud Account & Sign In, iCloud Web Apps, and Maps.

If these services show a yellow or red symbol, it means they're facing an outage. You'll need to wait for Apple to fix it. After that, open the Find My app or go to iCloud.com/find to locate your AirPods.

5. Use iCloud.com Instead of the Find My App

When you can't locate your AirPods in the Find My app, try using this service in a browser instead. Here are the steps for that:

6. Ensure Your AirPods Are Charged

If your AirPods are dead, they won't show their location in the Find My app. The most you can see in this situation is their last known location. To charge your AirPods, put them in their charging case. If the case has no battery left, connect it to power.

7. Find My Isn't Available With a Managed Apple ID

You won't have access to Find My while using a managed Apple ID assigned to you by your school, college, or office. As a result, you won't be able to see your AirPods (or any device) in the Find My app. The solution is to sign in to a personal Apple ID account on your connected device instead.

8. Unpair Your AirPods and Pair Them Again

When none of the above fixes work, it's time to unpair your AirPods and pair them again. These steps will show you how to do that:

9. Update Your AirPods Firmware

Like software updates on your iPhone, AirPods get firmware updates to fix bugs and introduce new features. For example, the October 2021 update added the Find My Network feature to AirPods Pro and Max. Thus, to get the best possible AirPods experience and to fix any problems, learn how to update your AirPods to the latest firmware.

10. Reset Your AirPods

Finally, if the issue continues, the penultimate option is to reset your AirPods. This will remove the AirPods from all earlier devices you have paired them with, and you'll have to connect them again from scratch. Doing this fixes several major problems with the AirPods, including when they don't show in the Find My app.

11. Find My Won't Show Your AirPods if It's Been Too Long

Technically, Find My shows the last known AirPods location, even when their battery dies. But if it's been a particularly long time, Find My might not show any location for your AirPods, even though it still lists them in the Find My app.

In the screenshots below, you can see that my old AirPods still show up in the list of devices. But after tapping their name, the map shows no location or relevant details except giving the option to play a sound (which won't work until the AirPods come online). The only solution for this is to connect and use your AirPods again.

Locate Your AirPods in the Find My App Again

Since AirPods don't have network connectivity and rely on your iPhone or another connected device to show up in Find My, it can be pretty tough to find them if they ever go missing.

Nevertheless, the Find My service is handy and can be used to learn the last known location, get directions, and play sounds from missing devices. All these features make it very worthwhile to add your AirPods to Find My, and the above solutions should ensure they appear correctly.