Lost Apple Watch

Hi. Picking up on this thread.

I lost my Apple Watch Series 6 kitesurfing in the ocean. Its basically lost for good 😔. However since I physically lost it, on Find My iPhone app, the watch shows up as being with me (with my iPhone). Why is this? I know it isn’t with me; I would imagine it would show the last recorded location, no?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hello regan60,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. It looks like you're unable to locate your lost Apple Watch. We'd love to help.

Just to clarify, could you please elaborate on what you mean when you say it's pinging?

To get started, please check out this helpful link:

If your Apple Watch is lost or stolen

We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.

Hello regan60,

Thanks for getting back to us with those additional details. It looks like your Apple Watch shows as active on "Find My" after being lost for 3 weeks. We'd be happy to investigate this issue further.

Is your Apple Watch with GPS and cellular, or GPS only model? We're asking as Apple Watch with GPS and cellular can use GPS and a trusted Wi-Fi or cellular connection to show you its approximate location. 

Please check this out:

About Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular on your Apple Watch

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Have a nice day.

Hello regan60,

Thanks for confirming your Apple Watch model. We understand your inquiry about your Apple Watch being active as it must have been out of battery by now, and we'd be happy to clear things up.

"Your Apple Watch uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to communicate with your paired iPhone. If you have cellular, your watch can also stay connected through a cellular network. Your watch switches between these intelligently to choose the most power-efficient connection. "

About Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular on your Apple Watch

That's why it still shows as active on "Find My".

Hope this helps. Cheers!

Hello regan60,

Thanks for following up with us. We'd be happy to answer your questions about your lost Apple Watch. If it says that it was active where you were staying 2 weeks ago, that means it shows the last location while battery was low.

" 1-To see your device even when it's offline, turn on Find My network.

2-To have the location of your device sent to Apple when the battery is low, turn on Send Last Location.

If you want to be able to find your lost device on a map, make sure that Location Services is turned on. To do this, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services, and turn on Location Services.

To make sure you can find your devices even if they're powered off or disconnected, check that Find My network is turned on."

Set up Find My on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Apple Support for further assistance. You can reach out to them here: Get Support

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Best regards.

Yep same here. Lost my watch in Dublin, but seems to be following me wherever I go even 2 weeks after being lost.

Shows the today (03:06) time in red once a day.

Utterly pointless, what’s creating this watch ghost!.

I have the same issue, with my watch pinging after a seemingly impossible time. What's worse, when I first lost my watch I thought it might have been in the woods, but I didn't look for it there after it showed a last known location at my car, assuming it must have been somewhere inside. Seeing that this seems to be a bug in the location feature, now I am afraid it was in the woods the whole time and I've lost my opportunity to go look for it when it still had a charge and could be found more easily.

Yessss I have been driven absolutely nuts on trying to find my watch and it follows me where ever I am but it’s not with me. This is the first thread of others with the same problem as me and I’m so happy to not be alone

Same here! I lost mine and in another state and put it in lost mode about a week ago.. it still says Lost Mode is pending (meaning it hasn’t been turned on since activating Lost Mode?) but is also showing it’s near me every time I track it.

Is this true? Currently experiencing the same thing. Out of town, went to charge it and used “find my app” & it said it was 50 feet away. Searched the room, nothing. Then went to bed assuming it was in my vehicle. Went down and could not find it. Drove to game and it pinged there!?! Got back to hotel and it keeps pinging at the game when I know it wasn’t there. Could that have been it using my iPhones location and not my watch? So frustrating!!!! Please help

Not sure if my last comment posted.. sorry if this sounds like a duplicate.

I can’t say for sure, but it sounds like you’re having the same problem. I just checked again on my iPhone and it says the watch is right near me (which it is for certain not). I then tried on my iPad and it says the location can’t be found, which is correct but doesn’t help me with the last known location. My Lost Mode still seems to be pending too after a few weeks now.

Okay, confession time. I can't blame Apple entirely for this one. After about a month, I found the watch stuck to the roof of the car underneath my car-top ski carrier by its magnetic wrist band. It must have popped off my wrist when I was climbing up the side of the car to reach the roof topper. Amazingly, it was in perfect condition and even had a bit of a charge. The leather band just needed a little vaseline. I had tossed my car and house upside-down looking for it.

So great watch, but don't trust those magnetic wrist bands. Good to have it back!