Help: brand new AirPods Pro were lost/stolen

[citivolus]

Totally my fault. I bought them on Monday while on vacation to use on the flight home to Newark Airport on Thursday and forgot them in the seat back pocket. Got home at midnight then realized it and immediately filed a missing item report with the airline. FindMy showed them still at the airport so I enabled Lost Mode. Called the airline but they said the luggage claim office at the airport was closed for the night.

The following morning I see them moving in FindMy to a location just 10 minutes from where I live. My guess is someone from the cleaning crew took them but of course that is just a guess. I went to the police stations at both Newark Airport and the town where they are currently showing in FindMy, but neither said they would do anything.

I know this is an incredible long shot, but does anyone have any suggestions for how I could get them back? Maybe change the message in Lost Mode offering a reward? I know i should just move on but it’s so aggravating continuing to see them in FindMy at a location just 10 minutes from my home.

 

[russell_314]

Nothing you can do, but just forget about it. Police won’t do anything about stolen property unless it’s stolen from the government. Any attempt to recover them would be dangerous and the police will side with the thief.

 

[citivolus]

According to this Apple support article:

“If you misplace your AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st generation), or AirPods Max, you can mark them as lost and create a message that provides your contact information.”

Has anyone actually been able to see such a message? I tried it with my daughter’s AirPods Pro after putting them in Lost Mode and “found” them with my own iPhone but never saw or was able to display the message with my daughter’s contact info.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Lost mode message won't show on a Family account, that's probably why you didn't see it with your daughter's.

Put a message on - possibly someone will see it and possibly they'll send you a message. But, AirPods don't have Activation Lock so it's also possible (maybe "Likely?") that they'll just reset & use the AirPods themselves.

 

[citivolus]

Lost mode message won't show on a Family account, that's probably why you didn't see it with your daughter's.

Thanks, but I tried it with a blank iPhone 8 which was logged into an iCloud account not part of our family plan.

Put a message on - possibly someone will see it and possibly they'll send you a message.

I did do this but don't believe that the AirPods will actually send the message. I spoke to numerous people at Apple tech support and the Genius Bar and literally no one could explain how it works.


After a lot of persistence, I finally got a detective to take the case. He said that there's little he can do since no prosecutor will provide a search warrant even though the Airpods continue to ping from the same address just 10 minutes from my home.