"Find My" is not linking/adding my new AirPods Pro 3

Bought a new pair of Airpods Pro 3.

They linked perfectly to my iphone and MacBook via Bluetooth (in otherwords, I can listen to music/talk).

However, they won't connect to Find-my. Although Find-my is initially recognizing the AirPods when I seek to "add another item," Find-my fails to link the Airpods (after I assign the AirPods a name and Emoji within Find-my), and Find-my gives me the message "Could not Add a New Item. Make sure the item is nearby and ready to connect." IT IS NEARBY. IT IS CONNECTED. So Find-my is just not finishing the connection.

Yes, I updated my iOS on iPhone.

Posted on Sep 28, 2025 11:51 AM

Top-ranking reply

SRehman36 Author

Level 1

20 points

Posted on Sep 29, 2025 8:21 AM

It works now that my iPhone updated to iOS 26.0

Today I got an notification on my iPhone to update iOS again to do this update. I did not get this notification nor did it appear in the "software update" part of settings for the past few days; though it did give me an update to 18.7

I don't know why it didn't update to iOS 26 in the first place but it all works now. Thanks for your attention/assistance with this

I will also mention: The Model Name of the Aipods now appear as they should "Airpods Pro 3"

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19 replies

Sep 28, 2025 12:02 PM in response to SRehman36

Did you enable the Find My Network on the AirPods?

Go to Settings > [your AirPods name] or Settings > Bluetooth > (i) next to your AirPods name. Then make sure Find My Network is enabled.

See How to turn on Find My on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac - Apple Support and scroll to the AirPods section of the article for more information.

PpAppler

Level 1

20 points

Oct 5, 2025 2:14 AM in response to SRehman36

I have the exact same issue. I’m on iPhone 15 with iOS 18.7.1.

Am thinking it might get fixed if I upgrade to iOS 26 since, when connecting the AirPods, it even says “some functionalities are only available if you upgrade your iOS version” or something like that. But since it’s been full of bugs and battery issues, I don’t want to upgrade yet.

Nov 3, 2025 9:02 AM in response to SRehman36

Is there any way to resolve it without upgrading to ios26? I have the iPhone 16plus and I don’t want to update to ios26?yet because many people are saying that it is buggy. How can I get my AirPod pro 3s to show up on FINDMY without upgrading to ios26? Yes they are genuine, I purchased mine from Best Buy.

kgaffar

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2025 8:43 PM in response to SRehman36

do i have to update to the new ios in order for it to work?

"Find My" is not linking/adding my new AirPods Pro 3