Apple Watches have to be unpaired from an iPhone before anyone else can use them
Actor and TV host Joel McHale lost his Apple Watch on a flight and after tracking its whereabouts with Find My, has a special offer for its new owner.
“The Bear,” “Community,” and “Crime Scene Kitchen” star Joel McHale is seemingly resigned to having left his Apple Watch behind on a flight. After discovering that he’d forgotten it, he checked Find My — and then took to Instagram.
McHale’s Instagram post (source: Instagram)
The comments that followed his post do include some wondering “who takes their watch off on a plane?” Others suggested going to the house McHale showed in a Find My screenshot.
That shot did show the Apple Watch as being in one of perhaps seven buildings, so it wasn’t as if McHale were giving out a specific address. Nonetheless, showing an area did risk prompting people to visit.
In this case, the Apple Watch was mislaid rather than stolen, so it wouldn’t be a thief who was at the area pictured. Police advise that people can use Find My to help inform authorities where a device is, but they must not attempt to confront anyone.
But another suggested the Apple Watch may have been above them all — on another flight out of the area. Find My will show the last known location of a device so conceivably even if McHale had checked again a few minutes later, it might still be showing the same spot.
However, if it really were on a flight, he could have expected Find My to show the Apple Watch as moving, at the very least when the aircraft next landed.
McHale’s offer of giving the Apple Watch to its “new owner” if they are even close guessing his passcode, is fun but nonsense. Even with the passcode, the Apple Watch will remain paired to McHale’s iPhone.
When you intentionally give away or sell an Apple Watch, it must first be unpaired from the owner’s iPhone. That disables Activation Lock, and allows the new owner to pair it to their own iPhone.
None of which would be an issue for McHale if he hadn’t taken his Apple Watch off. It’s not clear why he did, but he is a demonstration of just one reason why it’s a particularly bad idea to not keep your Apple Watch on while you’re on the go.
