Speaking of lost stuff, there’s one iPad feature that I hope Apple finds a way to deliver. There’s already a patent for it, and iOS 17 is a positive sign that it could actually happen.
For households like mine, the Apple Pencil should be sold in packs of four. That’s not because we have four iPads in use, but because there’s always a misplaced Apple Pencil hiding somewhere.
They’re not lost in the wild. They always turn up, but usually in time for replacement Pencil to get misplaced. It’s not the cheapest thing to replace, but it’s just the nature behavior for the Apple Pencil (and more importantly, kids).
Apple built an AirTag into the AirPods Pro 2 case with its U1 chip. iOS 17 will let you use Bluetooth on your iPhone to point you toward your missing Apple TV remote. But the Apple Pencil must fend for itself.
If you do misplace an Apple Pencil, you can kind of determine if it’s nearby based on active Bluetooth connections to its paired iPad. That’s helpful if you’re not sure if the Pencil is stuck between car seats or at the bottom of a toy box.
These are all completely hypothetical situations and not experiences… from the last two months… okay, you’ve got me. Anyway, adding an Apple TV remote method based on Bluetooth could be very cool!
That particular feature isn’t out yet, so the verdict is still out as to whether or not it’s reliably helpful. Anything can help, though.
Perhaps the solution will be this acoustic-based method described in this Apple patent application last month. All I know is that I’m bound to locate a few Apple Pencils of my own if this feature ships.
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