Apple has made finding your lost AirPods even easier: with a firmware update after the release of iOS 15, your earbuds and headphones can now be located in the "Find My" app with the help of millions of other Apple devices Now.

The last location where your AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max were connected to your iPhone could already be located, but it may not help much if you're far away. Now, if you activate Lost Mode on your lost AirPods, a nearby iPhone, iPad, or Mac can join the search party via Bluetooth.

When your AirPods get within Bluetooth range of another device in Apple's vast ecosystem, you will be notified of its location. You can then use the revamped "Find My" system to find them.

In addition to support for "Find My Network," users can now receive notifications when they leave their AirPods somewhere. This feature is available on many Apple devices, but the "Find My" app added in watchOS 8 is particularly useful, allowing the Apple Watch to tell you when you leave your iPhone where you shouldn't.

With the exception of the AirPods Max, AirPods are smaller and more easily lost than iPhones. They can slip under cushions in cafes, between car seats, or get covered by clutter in drawers. And unfortunately, Apple earbuds are a difficult type of device to recover because there is not much to distinguish one person's AirPods from another.

These new features should increase the chances of reuniting lost AirPods. It's not perfect, but it's better than only being able to see where the headphones were last dropped within the iPhone's range; AirPods are the best wireless earbuds, and you wouldn't want to replace them unnecessarily and regularly.

When I go out, I often leave my AirPods at home on purpose because the buds tend to fall out of my ears. I've decided to stop using wireless earbuds because they don't seem to fit my ear shape. A few months ago, I tried AirPods Pro for running, but I spent more time chasing falling buds than working out, so I opted for bone-conduction headphones for running.

When wearing the expensive AirPods Pro outdoors, I worry that fiddling with my hair or shaking them while running will send them flying to places I can't recover from, especially if the grass is overgrown. There is also the possibility of not noticing the loss while walking down a busy street. Would you necessarily want to put something back in your ear if it fell on the sidewalk in New York City? No, but this new feature would be a great insurance policy the next time you take your AirPods on the go.

While you can't force your AirPods to update their firmware, you can check to see if you have version 4A400, which supports the latest Find My tools, by going to Settings > General > [AirPods name]