VanMoof and Apple Spent Nine Months Working to Integrate E-Bikes Into Apple's Find My Ecosystem

Tuesday April 13, 2021 12:50 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Last week, Apple announced the launch of its Find My network accessory program, allowing compatible third-party accessories to be tracked in the ‌Find My‌ app right alongside Apple devices. The first products that work with the Find My app will include the new Chipolo item tracker, new Belkin earbuds, and two electric bikes from VanMoof.

works with apple find my
Given that VanMoof is based in the Netherlands, Dutch website iCulture's editor-in-chief Gonny van der Zwaag was able to get some early hands-on time with the VanMoof S3 bike with Find My support. Van der Zwaag also had the opportunity to interview VanMoof's product design chief Job Stehmann about the company's collaboration with Apple.

Stehmann revealed that when Apple first announced its plans for the Find My network accessory program at WWDC 2020, a VanMoof engineer posted a message on an Apple developer forum, saying it was an interesting feature. Apple was apparently actively looking for partners to work with at the time, and the two companies soon started working together, with weekly meetings held remotely on Mondays.

VanMoof provided Apple with many prototypes of its bikes for evaluation, according to Stehmann. Given that VanMoof has an office in San Francisco, the company was able to deliver the bikes directly to Apple engineers' homes as necessary. Despite some hiccups in the development process, Stehmann said there was never too much pressure from Apple.

Stehmann said the Find My integration is purely a software feature, with no special chip inside the bike, adding that it took about nine months for Apple and VanMoof to tweak the software to be implemented properly.

All new VanMoof S3 and X3 e-bike models purchased after April 7 will be compatible with the Find My app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, allowing users to locate the bike on a map if it has gone missing. If you lose the bike and someone else with an ‌iPhone‌, iPad, or Mac comes close to it, the bike can communicate with their device, with the approximate location of the bike relayed securely and privately back to you.

Everything You Need to Know About Apple's Find My Network Accessory Program

For those interested in purchasing a VanMoof bike, Van der Zwaag has shared some detailed hands-on impressions of the S3 model at iCulture.

Tags: Find My Guide, Find My Network Accessory Program Guide

Top Rated Comments

tzm41

72 months ago

Thank you. That was exactly what I wanted. But I see that Apple is basically blackmailing us into participating in the Find My network.

Right underneath that setting is the text of the blackmail:

"Participating in the Find My network lets you locate this iPhone even if it's offline."

So if I don't participate in the Find My network, Apple won't allow me to locate my iPhone even if it's offline. Nicely played, Apple. Now I'm forced to participate if I want have a chance to locate my iPhone if I ever lose it and it goes offline.

So... you don’t want your phone to help others find their missing stuffs, but you want others’ phones to help you find your missing stuffs. How brilliant that the world revolves around you!

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

alexandr

72 months ago

I still want to opt out of having my phone being used as a beacon for people to find their missing stuff.

whoa, here's a guy who's never lost anything important!

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

99chickens

72 months ago

I still want to opt out of having my phone being used as a beacon for people to find their missing stuff.

That's easy. Post it for sale on eBay, and pick up a Galaxy phone.

By the way, your "phone" is not what's being used.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Alan Wynn

72 months ago

Thank you. That was exactly what I wanted. But I see that Apple is basically blackmailing us into participating in the Find My network.

No, not blackmailing you, offering you a deal. You help others and others help you.

Right underneath that setting is the text of the blackmail:

"Participating in the Find My network lets you locate this iPhone even if it's offline."

That is not blackmail. It is an explanation. If your device does not participate in the network, your device can only be found if it transmits its GPS location to the network. If it does participate, it acts as a part of the mesh and transmits its tag to any participating Apple device that passes it, and when other devices are near it, it receives their tags and uploads their location to Apple when the radios next get powered up. Completely anonymous.

So if I don't participate in the Find My network, Apple won't allow me to locate my iPhone even if it's offline.

If you do not activate the service, you are neither a transmitter nor a receiver and you do not get the benefit of the service.

Nicely played, Apple. Now I'm forced to participate if I want have a chance to locate my iPhone if I ever lose it and it goes offline.

You do understand that the service would be useless if people could only be transmitters, right? If there are no devices that receive these pings, there is no network. You can still locate your device as long as it can still send out its GPS coordinates. That takes a lot of power and so will not last that long. The Find My Network pings are very low power and will last much longer.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JonnyBlaze

72 months ago

Is this for people who have a few too many and can't find their bike or an anti-theft feature that will be defeated by smashing that plastic bit with a hammer?

Yeah theyd have to strip the bike apart to get the tracker out, probably killing the other electrics in the process. Thieves either want to strip for parts or sell on whole bikes quickly. Vanmoof uses mainly proprietary parts so no good for stripping, and this makes it harder to sell on quickly. Good extra deterrent I guess.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

sunapple

72 months ago

Is this for people who have a few too many and can't find their bike or an anti-theft feature that will be defeated by smashing that plastic bit with a hammer?

Built into the frame. Also most bike thieves don’t have clue about these features. And it already has GPS tracking along with a service where VanMoof will retrieve your bike or get you a new one if they can’t find it. Find My offers more precise location and some additional features.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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VanMoof and Apple Spent Nine Months Working to Integrate E-Bikes Into Apple's Find My Ecosystem

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