AirPods

[Gumps]

I have dilemma that I could do with some tech help on. My child lost their AirPods at school. A month later she goes on a trip with some friends. The AirPods flash up on my find my iPhone as having connected to my child's phone. I ask parents to check if they have my child's by mistake but they all say no.
A few weeks later the same children come to the house and the AirPods show as connected to my child's phone again on find my iPhone.
is there another explanation other than someone took my Childs AirPods? The suspected child in question seems a lovely child. I don't want to keep thinking the worst but I can't see another explanation for it. We haven't accused them and won't. But I need to know for my sanity and really hope it is a technology issue.

AirPods have to be paired to auto connect to your phone. They don't just randomly connect without the pop up to run you through the process.

Also if they're on your find my, they're AirPods that have been registered to your account. My husband has my AirPods in his case, but the ear buds themselves show up as mine, even though they're in his case.

They will only show up if you've paired them, so they will be your child's AirPods - like PP said if they appear on the "find my" section, they're yours.

Ye this is where I am at. But the mum of said child also says they show up as theirs on her phone ... This can't be right can it?

Well you could ping them through find my, the buds themselves will make a noise. Not when they're in the child's ears mind you. She could do the same. They can't be registered to two accounts.

Steal them back. Stick them in a drawer until Xmas, tell daughter you've bought her some new second hand ones 😀

The mum can have paired them with their phone too - they'll show up on both phones then.

A random strangers AirPods being brought into your home wouldn't ever show up on your iPhone, it has to go through the pairing process first - so unless you've taken this child's AirPods and paired them to your phone at some point, they're your daughters.

They can be paired to lots of different devices, but only registered to one iCloud account at a time. If they're in your find my, they're your daughter's.

ThatsMsAtomicBob that is golden information thank you! I knew there must be a definitive way to find out. Is there anyway the mum could disconnect them form my iCloud account or could only I do that?

Nancyvicious this is so very tempting.

If she resets them, they will disconnect from your iCloud but should also disconnect from your phone.

In other words, she hasn't done it yet so she might not know how to do it or that she even should.

Do you still have the box? They will have a sticker with the serial number. You can find the serial of the AirPods on the inside of the case, flip open the lid and the serial is on the underside. This will be irrefutable.

Go around and solve it in person.

Missed out obviously comparing the serial on the box sticker to that written on the AirPods. The serials are unique so if they match, they’re yours.

Suspect child in question lost their own and stole someone else’s so parents wouldn’t be angry.