It does so because a static identifier could allow others to latch onto it for tracking purposes. Your device is assigned an ephemeral public encryption key, so it frequently changes over time. And it does this with limited battery impact for all devices involved, so you should see little to no difference in power consumption. Offline Finding uses a background process called 'Search Party' to broadcast and receive Bluetooth beacon signals at regular intervals, and it can even do its work when the device is in a sleep state.

Hackers won't be able to intercept and decode your device's location, snooping marketers won't be able to track you in their stores, and even Apple won't see any of the data being sent or received.

With E2E encryption, nobody can abuse the system. And best of all, the whole process works using end-to-end encryption. The feature in question, Offline Finding, utilizes your lost device's low-energy Bluetooth connection to talk to other nearby Apple devices with Bluetooth enabled.

Don't Miss: Make It Easier to Locate Your iPhone When It's Dead or Offline.

It's a great companion to ' Send Last Location,' which transmits your device's last location to Apple's servers before its battery dies and stores it for 24 hours. But if your missing iPhone, iPad, or MacBook were away from any hotspots and in a no-service area, Apple's anonymous crowd-sourcing enhancement could be the key to geolocating the device. Why would that even be necessary if your lost Apple device is still connected to the internet via a Wi-Fi network or cellular data? It wouldn't.

As long as you have the option enabled, you can leverage other Apple users' devices to find yours on the map. Apple's latest updates to its operating systems add another security feature to its Find My service, so you have an even better chance at locating your lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac should it ever happen.

Check find my iphone with mac