It's one of the most important features of the iPhone, and it was created by an intern

© Presse-citron

You touch your pants pocket and there, your heart drops into your stomach: where is your smartphone?? It's panic, you get agitated and frantically search through all your pockets and your bag. If it remains untraceable, you consider turning your apartment upside down. Finally, your smartphone is waiting for you patiently under a cushion on the sofa…

A few years ago, Apple wanted to solve this problem by imagining a feature that is now essential for all its users: Find my device. If you have an iPhone, Airpods or a Macbook, you have certainly already used this feature at least once. We tell you its origin.

A feature that “saves your life”

Losing your smartphone, what a anguish! Today, Apple’s “Locate” feature is essential for all owners of an Apple device. If we are talking about a crucial feature of the Cupertino firm, it was an intern who came up with the idea. As it turns out…

Let’s take a quick trip to the end of the 2000s. At Apple’s WWDC in 2009, the Cupertino company announced the first Find My iPhone application. It would be available a little later that year, with the release of iPhone OS 3. That doesn’t make us any younger. Originally, the Find My iPhone application was not accessible to everyone, and only members of Apple’s MobileMe service could take advantage of it. But everything changed in 2011 when Steve Jobs’ teams unveiled iCloud. That’s when this now essential feature became available for free to all users.

Today, the “Find my device” application is pre-installed on all Apple devices. Whether you have a MacBook, an iPhone, an Apple Watch or an iPad, you can easily find your device. For the past decade, you can even keep an eye on your suitcase or keys thanks to Airtags. Some users even use them to locate their pets (even if this is not recommended).

While this feature is now essential for Apple users, it was an intern at the Cupertino firm who highlighted the universal panic of losing one's iPhone. The rest is history. Ultimately, Apple only responded to a problem that everyone has encountered at least once. As Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of services, explains, it's not a genius idea. “But no one had thought of it until we did it”. Since then, Apple has led the way and its competitors have followed suit.

📍 To not miss any Presse-citron news, follow us on Google News and WhatsApp.

[ ]