How to find your iPhone using your Apple Watch
2 min read · 4 steps · Updated 2 October 2026
Press the side button on the watch to open Control Centre and tap the button with a phone and sound waves. Your iPhone plays a loud sound, even in silent mode. Hold the button to make the iPhone flash its light as well.
If your iPhone is somewhere in the room, under a cushion or in a bag, your Apple Watch can make it ring. It works as long as the phone is nearby and switched on.
These steps are for recent versions of watchOS. The pictures are simplified diagrams of the watch screen, not screenshots.
Step by step
Press the side button
The side button is the long button below the Digital Crown. One press opens Control Centre. On watchOS 9 and earlier, swipe up from the bottom of the watch face instead.
Tap the ping iPhone button
It shows a phone with curved lines on both sides. The iPhone plays a pinging sound, even if it is set to silent.
Hold the button in the dark
Touch and hold the same button and the iPhone flashes its camera light as well as sounding.
Follow the direction on newer models
With an Apple Watch Series 9 or later and an iPhone 15 or later, the watch also shows the distance and direction to the phone as you move.
Good to know
If the phone is out of range or switched off, use Find My instead: open the Find Devices app on the watch, or sign in at icloud.com/find on any computer.
It works the other way round too. In the Find My app on the iPhone, choose your watch and tap Play Sound.
In short: Side button, then the ping iPhone button. Hold it to flash the light.
- Apple Support: Locate your iPhone with your Apple Watch
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