Bluetooth scanner
Findy lists the Bluetooth Low Energy devices advertising around you, with an approximate signal strength that strengthens as you move closer to the source — and watches, in the background, for a device that keeps reappearing near you across different places.
The Bluetooth scanner and the background item-tracker detection are free. No subscription is required for anything on this page.
Try it: warmer or colder. Move the phone and watch the signal — it tells you which direction to keep moving.
Weak signal — the device is somewhere in range. Stronger — you are moving the right way. Keep going. Strong — you are getting close. Keep moving. Strongest here — now look. This is the spot the signal points to.
What it shows
- Bluetooth Low Energy devices currently advertising within radio range
- The name a device broadcasts, where it broadcasts one
- An approximate signal strength indicator that rises as you get closer
- Whether a device has kept turning up near you across separate places and times
It finds devices that are
- Powered on and actively advertising
- Within radio range
- Visible under iOS's rules for third-party apps
Using distance and direction
Findy shows an estimated distance and a direction arrow derived from signal strength, to help you home in on a device. Walk slowly, watch the estimate, and move in whichever direction makes it fall — you are comparing readings as you move, which is exactly how a warmer/colder search works.
Background item-tracker detection
A tracker hidden in a bag or a car behaves differently from a neighbour's headphones. The headphones are near you in one place; the tracker is near you in several places, over time. Findy watches in the background for that pattern — the same device reappearing near you as you move between locations — and tells you when it sees it.
Reading a Bluetooth result
Unidentified device
Advertising nearby, with nothing about it indicating what it is. This describes most devices in most places — offices, flats and cafés are full of them.
Keeps appearing near you
The same device has turned up across separate places. Worth checking your bag, coat and vehicle.
Using the scanner well
- Scan from the middle of the room first, to see the full list of what is advertising.
- Identify the obvious: your own devices, a television, a speaker, a smart bulb, a fitness band.
- For anything you cannot place, walk slowly and watch whether the signal strengthens in a particular direction.
- Follow the strengthening reading to the area, then search that area with your eyes and hands.
- Repeat from a different starting point — one walk can be misled by a reflected signal.
Related
The magnetic field scanner is the other free tool for narrowing down a specific object. How Findy works covers all five methods together.
Last reviewed 2026-07-23 · Reviewed by the Findy team at Flaps Apps.