How to Find Lost Google Pixel Buds With Find Hub

How you find lost Pixel Buds depends on the model. Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Pixel Buds 2a appear in Google’s Find Hub app, where you can see each earbud and the charging case on a map and play a loud chime from any of them. Pixel Buds Pro, Pixel Buds A-Series and Pixel Buds (2020) can ring only while they’re still connected to your phone and nearby. Once they disconnect, you can check their last known location, which is where your phone was last connected to them (Google). When you’re close, follow the Bluetooth signal or a sound to pinpoint them.

What your model can do

Model	On a map	Ring the earbuds	Ring the case
Pixel Buds Pro 2, Pixel Buds 2a	Earbuds and case, in Find Hub	Yes	Yes
Pixel Buds Pro, A-Series, Pixel Buds (2020)	Last known location only	Only when connected and nearby	No

Source: Google.

Pixel Buds Pro 2 and 2a: use Find Hub

These models need to be set up for Find Hub before they go missing. Google lists these requirements (Google):

• The buds are paired with a compatible device running Android 9 or newer, with Location turned on.
• The buds have been added to Find Hub. You’re offered this when you first pair them with Fast Pair. If you skipped it, open the Pixel Buds app, tap Find device, then Find when disconnected, and follow the steps.

To find them, open the Find Hub app and choose the earbud or the case. If the earbuds are out of the case, you can pick which one you want. Tap Play sound for a loud chime, and check the map for where the case and earbuds are (Google). Without your phone, you can sign in to Find Hub in a web browser. To ring an earbud, it needs to be turned on and out of the case (Google).

If your buds are far from your phone, the Find Hub network can still help. Android devices in the network use Bluetooth to scan for nearby items, and when one detects yours, it securely sends the location where it saw them to Find Hub. You get the location where your buds were detected and roughly when they were last seen (Google), so check the time before you go looking.

To get help from the network, your Android device needs a PIN, pattern or password. Under Find Hub’s Find your offline devices setting, “With network in busy places only” helps in places like airports, while “With network everywhere” also covers remote areas (Google). In busy-places mode, the network waits until multiple Android devices have detected an item before it shows you a location (Google).

Pixel Buds Pro, A-Series and (2020): ring them or check the last location

These models rely on the Android phone they were Fast Paired with, which must run Android 6.0 or newer and have Location and Location History turned on (Google).

To ring them, open the Find device screen. On a Pixel phone with Android 10 or newer, go to Settings, then Connected devices, and tap the settings icon next to your Pixel Buds. On other Android phones, open the Pixel Buds app. Then tap Find device, and Ring Left or Ring Right. The earbuds must be nearby and connected to your phone. The sound starts at zero volume and gets louder over 20 seconds, so give it a moment (Google).

To check the last known location, tap Last known location on the Find device screen when the buds are disconnected. You can also open the Find Hub app or website, sign in to the Google account linked to your buds, and select them. Google says this won’t give you an exact or current location. It shows the place your phone was last connected to the buds, like home or work, which tells you where to start searching (Google).

If you use Pixel Buds with an iPhone

Pixel Buds pair with any device that has Bluetooth 4.0 or newer, including iPhones. Google says full access to their features requires a Google Account and a companion phone running Android 6.0 or newer (Google), and each finding method on its Find your Pixel Buds page starts with pairing the buds to an Android device (Google). So Pixel Buds you’ve only ever used with an iPhone won’t be in Find Hub.

If the buds are still connected to your iPhone, play a loud chirp through the left or right earbud with the Earbud Sound Finder and listen for it. If they’ve dropped the connection but are probably still on, follow their signal.

Follow the signal for the last few feet

When your buds are on and in range, your phone can measure the strength of their Bluetooth signal. That reading is called RSSI, short for received signal strength indication, and a higher number means a stronger signal (Bluetooth SIG).

Go by the trend. RSSI drifts with the surroundings and its scale varies from one chip maker to another, so a single number means little, but a signal that keeps getting stronger as you walk tells you you’re moving toward the buds (Bluetooth SIG). Pause for a few seconds at each spot: the Bluetooth SIG suggests going by the value that comes up most often over a short period to filter out noise.

Walls, windows and other obstacles weaken a Bluetooth signal, and how much depends on what they’re made of (Bluetooth SIG). Google also lists running microwave ovens, wireless speakers, baby monitors, Wi-Fi routers and other 2.4 GHz devices as sources of interference for Pixel Buds (Google). Search one room at a time and hold the phone still while you read it.

When nothing can detect them

A bud that’s switched off, out of battery or shut in its case may not transmit at all, and then no phone or app can detect it. Google’s own tools have the same limits. Find Hub needs earbuds turned on and out of the case to ring them (Google), and Google’s troubleshooting page lists having no power or being turned off as reasons Find Hub may be unable to locate a device (Google).

In that case, go back to the last place and time Find Hub showed and search by hand. Our guide to finding earbuds that are turned off walks through how to retrace your steps.