Rancher Uses Apple Watch to Find iPhone 12 in a Haystack in Apple's Latest Ad

Apple today shared a new ad called "Haystack" in which a rancher uses his Apple Watch to find his iPhone 12 in a haystack. The ad plays on the "needle in a haystack" idiom and is set to the song "Searching (For Someone Like You)" by country singer Kitty Wells.


In the one-minute ad, a rancher drives down a rural street surrounded by bales of hay. He then backs up his truck off the street, walks with his dog to a large haystack, and taps on a button in the Apple Watch's Control Center to ping his iPhone, which results in the iPhone playing a sound to help pinpoint its location if misplaced nearby.

"An iPhone that's lost is easily found," says Apple. "Relax, it's iPhone + Apple Watch."

To use this feature on the Apple Watch, swipe up to open Control Center and tap the Ping iPhone button, which will make the device chime. You can also touch and hold the Ping iPhone button to make the iPhone flash as well.

Of course, if your iPhone isn't in range of your Apple Watch, you can track its location using the Find My app on another Apple device or iCloud.com.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Coming Soon, Likely With iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Fix

Thursday September 18, 2025 9:17 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The update will have a build number of 23A350, or similar, the account said. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's Henry T. ...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...

Top Rated Comments

Cam Elppa Avatar
55 months ago
When will Apple Watch be able to be use like find my with an airtag. So you get an arrow to help find your phone…
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Freida Avatar
55 months ago
or, you can just leave you phone in the car when you are going to do all these haystacks :)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
55 months ago
... no. I come from ranchers. You know those huge military spec cases you see in the occasional ad that are comically large, and camo? That's what every single person I know that ranches in any way shape or form has their phone wrapped up in. The only time that case comes off is the rare instance when it's removed for a scrubbing. Something you will never see anywhere near that life is an unprotected phone, because they'd last a couple hours at most on the average day.
Also: who finds their phone on the first try? I love that feature, it's saved me many a time, but the echo effect means I have to hit it 4-5 five times on average before I locate my buried phone. This dude magically finds it on his first try without even actually looking?
The whole "needle in a haystack" riff is cute and all, but this is a miss.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
threee Avatar
55 months ago
I don’t get it. He knew it was in the haystack. Why did he park so far away from it? Maybe to help make the commercial a bit longer?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Devnul0 Avatar
55 months ago
Okay, I use the beeper all the time when I misplace my iPhone in the house; however, how did the Watch in this commercial get him to the haystack in the first place? If Watch and iPhone are separated, is the Watch app "Find People" location for "Me" going to show the iPhone location (I've never tried it), or are they leaving out the part where he grabbed his iPad and opened "Find My" there?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macpro2000 Avatar
55 months ago

Okay, I use the beeper all the time when I misplace my iPhone in the house; however, how did the Watch in this commercial get him to the haystack in the first place? If Watch and iPhone are separated, is the Watch app "Find People" location for "Me" going to show the iPhone location (I've never tried it), or are they leaving out the part where he grabbed his iPad and opened "Find My" there?
I agree. Pretty stupid ad...At the minimum he should walk around it a bit, bend down and reach in with his hands feeling around.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)