The Task

As Bose was looking to launch a new product line; their SoundSport Free headphones, Apple was releasing their first iteration of AirPods; which included the ability to locate lost AirPods.

Leveraging the technology behind the way the headphones functioned for their primary usage, we designed and built a new feature called “Find My Buds” that tracked last known locations of a user’s buds and helped find them through audio-based signals.

With the introduction of the Find My Buds (FMB), we needed to walk users through exactly how the feature worked, how it would be initiated, and what the limitations would be.

Animated visuals alongside descriptive, but bite-size text allowed users to easily understand the feature and why they would want to use it.

Throughout the introduction slides, users were prompted to enable location services, turn on notifications, and eventually enable the full feature. Users would manually initiate the system-dialog prompt, keeping the app from burning its single chance to enable these options.

Using the phone’s location services, the app could take note of the last known location of earbuds before they were disconnected. This location would be pinned to the map and updated at time of next connection.

Using low-energy bluetooth technology, earbuds that were once connected to a user’s device could constantly send connection requests to the device until a connection was made.

Buds that could eventually establish a connection could be “chirped”, allowing them to emit a loud beeping sound to inform the user of their location. Buds not within connection range would be greyed out and not “chirpable”.