"where is" app on iPhone is missing play sound option with all AirTags

Try the following:

Check Location Services & Permissions

1. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Make sure it's enabled.
2. Scroll down to Find My. It should be set to While Using the App and Precise Location should be ON.

Sign Out and Back In to iCloud (mildly disruptive but not like a full reset) This often clears account-level syncing bugs.

1. Go to Settings > [your name] > Sign Out, then sign back in.

Warning: You will need to re-download iCloud Drive contents and may have to re-authenticate some services, but it's way less intrusive than a full device reset. If you go this route, make sure Find My iPhone is disabled temporarily.

Check System Updates

Just to rule it out — go to Settings > General > Software Update and install if anything’s pending.

Regarding the “Navigate” button behavior: iOS 17+ has changed some flows here — instead of the old-style full-screen in-app direction tracking, it may default to launching Maps directly for navigation (especially if Precision Finding isn’t available at the time). However, Precision Finding should still appear if you're within Bluetooth range and using an iPhone with a U1 chip (iPhone 11 or newer).

If it's not showing up, make sure:

• Bluetooth is on
• You’re within range
• UWB (Ultra Wide Band) is not restricted (like in certain countries or system-wide settings)

I think it was hardware in an unknown state. Powering the phone down, then back on cleared all problems. All of my settings appeared to be correct, and now I have "Play Sound" and "Find Nearby" available to me again. Yay!

Thank you for the detailed suggestion, it was helpful when verifying settings.

I feel like this may have started when I toggled on the Lockdown mode, even though I have since turned it off. Cannot play sound from phone, but can from watch.

You're welcome!

Hard resettingmy iPhone worked for me too. I had the same issue.