Woman confronts retail worker over stolen AirPods she tracked to store

Air Pods Pro on stage
Air Pods Pro on stage (Image credit: Rene Ritchie / iMore)

What you need to know

  • A woman in Australia tracked down her stolen AirPods and confronted a retail worker who had them in her possession.
  • Juliette Fox followed her AirPods for four days, eventually pinning them down at a Woolworths in Melbourne.
  • Thanks to 'Find My' she was able to ask for them back, despite their new owner's excuses.

A woman in Melbourne successfully tracked her AirPods for four days before confronting a retail worker at Woolworths who was in possession of them.

As reported by Daily Mail Australia, Juliette Fox had her AirPods taken from her coat pocket while visiting friends and family in an arcade.

Although missing, Fox was able to track her AirPods using Apple's 'Find My' network, watching for four days as her AirPods traveled between an apartment building, train stations, and even a restaurant.

"I've been clicking on this every single day, it became the bane of my existence," she said. Fox tracked down the AirPods to the apartment and left her name and number, but after three days of back and forth had not recovered them. Due to fly to Canberra, Fox when to the Woolworths in Melbourne to confront the employee at work, all the while knowing her AirPods were in the store:

'I know the AirPods are still here,' she told the employee.'So you're either going to give them to me or I'm going to go back to the cop station.''You can look but I don't have it,' the employee told her.Ms Fox then showed the employee her tracking notifications that alerted her the AirPods had recently been used in the store and the employee called her partner.

The employee phoned her partner and said that the "lady whose the AirPods are" was here and that she had tracked them. Ending the call, the employee claimed her partner had placed the AirPods in her work bag and would go to look for them.

Naturally, the employee emerged with the AirPods, her partner claiming he had taken them "accidentally" and that they wanted to return her AirPods. Devices like Apple's best true wireless earbuds, its AirPods Pro and AirPods 3 can be tracked and located using Find My on devices like iPhone should they ever be lost, or worse, stolen. Ms. Fox at least was able to track down her AirPods before leaving the city, a happy reunion.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9