Rancher Uses Apple Watch to Find iPhone 12 in a Haystack in Apple's Latest Ad - MacRumors
Skip to Content

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

Ads Are Coming to Apple Maps Feature

Apple Announces Ads Are Coming to Apple Maps

Tuesday March 24, 2026 9:22 am PDT by
As expected, Apple has officially announced that ads are coming to the Apple Maps app on the iPhone and iPad in the U.S. and Canada starting "this summer." Apple says businesses in the U.S. and Canada only will be able to place ads in search results and at the top of a new "Suggested Places" section in the app. "Ads on Maps will appear when users search in Maps, and can appear at the top...
little finder guy macbook neo top

Apple Leans Into Little Finder Guy With New TikTok Videos

Monday March 30, 2026 4:47 pm PDT by
When promoting the MacBook Neo, Apple found a surprise hit with a tiny anthropomorphized version of the Mac Finder icon, which people have taken to calling Little Finder Guy. Little Finder Guy starred in some of Apple's early March TikTok videos, and Apple is now targeting Finder fans with a trio of new videos. Three tutorials on Apple's TikTok account star Little Finder Guy. Videos feature...
iPhone 17 Pro Stickers Ad

Apple Covers iPhone 17 Pro in Stickers in New Ad

Thursday April 16, 2026 8:25 am PDT by
In a video uploaded to its YouTube channel in South Korea today, Apple showed off a handful of iPhone 17 Pro devices decorated with tiny stickers. The stickers are placed on the iPhone 17 Pro's so-called "plateau," the protruding aluminum area housing the rear cameras, an LED flash, a microphone, and the LiDAR Scanner. The video has the hashtags #PhoneDecor and #iPhoneCustomization....

Top Rated Comments

Cam Elppa Avatar
63 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)
63 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
63 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
63 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)
63 months ago
Colors are beautiful in the ad. I especially love the truck parked in the field.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
63 months ago
I've used the ping lots of times. I'd like to say it is an incredible feature. But, at best, it tells me the phone is within a fifty foot location. Because of the sound used, it often seems to me that the ping echos all over when walls are involved, at different amplitudes not making it any easier to find the phone... I could be within ten feet or twenty five. Same sound to me. Upstairs in my bedroom charging? Left on a bathroom counter? Downstairs by the couch? Sitting over by my keys on the kitchen counter? Could be any one of these, up and down stairs many times. Its in one of these three rooms... just where...I've also done the long press on the ping button of the watch so the flash on the phone goes off, but given I rarely put that phone down with the flash up, often questionable if it would help.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)