We also have Google Find My Device
Find My — Simple Flow
Step 1 — Device advertises BLE signal
An AirTag or Find My device broadcasts BLE advertising packets.
It does not connect to phones.
The packet contains:
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Rotating encrypted identifier
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No personal data
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Very small payload
Device mostly sleeps → ultra low power.
Step 2 — Nearby Apple devices listen
Any nearby iPhone, iPad, or Mac:
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Passively scans BLE
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Detects Find My advertisement
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Reads encrypted ID
No pairing or connection needed.
Step 3 — Location is uploaded
The Apple device:
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Adds its own GPS location
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Encrypts everything
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Sends data to Apple servers
The phone owner never knows it helped.
Step 4 — Owner retrieves location
The owner:
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Opens Find My app
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Apple servers return encrypted location reports
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Only the owner can decrypt them
Privacy preserved.
Key technical ideas
BLE advertising, not connections
Find My mostly uses advertising mode, not BLE connections.
Less power, more scalable.
Rotating identifiers
Device IDs change frequently:
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Prevents tracking
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Improves privacy
Crowd-sourced positioning
Devices don’t compute location.
Nearby phones do.
Ultra-low power firmware
Device:
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Sleeps almost all the time
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Wakes briefly to advertise
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Battery lasts years
20-second interview answer
If asked:
“How does Find My work?”
You can say:
A Find My device broadcasts encrypted BLE advertisements. Nearby Apple devices detect them and anonymously forward their location to Apple’s servers. Only the owner can decrypt and see the device location. The system relies on crowd-sourced positioning and ultra-low-power advertising rather than persistent connections.