First there was Find My iPhone, a feature that enabled you to, you know, find your iPhone if it was lost or stolen. Even though Apple extended the capability to the iPod touch (“Find My iPod touch”), and later to the iPad (“Find My iPad”) and to Macs (“Find My Mac”), “Find My iPhone” is still used as an overall term. But I find that somewhat confusing, so to reduce ambiguity, in this book I use the generic term “Find My Device” when talking about the feature as it applies generically to Macs and iOS devices.

But now you can find other people too, with the Find My Friends app. That means, of course, other people carrying iOS devices—it’s really “Find My Friends’ iOS Devices.” For want of a better term that encompasses people and assorted Apple devices (plus whatever else may be added in the future), I’m calling all these capabilities collectively “Find My Nouns.”