4iiii Precision 3+ Adds Apple Find My

Power meters measure watts. This one also says where the bike is, because 4iiii has put Apple Find My inside the pod. It sounds like a feature bolted onto a spec sheet. For anyone who leaves a time trial bike in transition at a race, or outside a cafe, it may be the main reason to buy.

What the plus actually means

The Precision 3+ is a Precision 3 with Find My added. Nothing else changed, and the manufacturer does not hide it. The FAQ on the 4iiii site states plainly that the “plus” refers to the Apple Find My technology integrated into the power meter.

The way it works is simple. While riding, the pod sends power, cadence and calories to a head unit over ANT+ or Bluetooth. When the bike is stationary, Find My activates and the pod reports its position to Apple’s network, meaning to any iPhone that walks past. The location shows up in the Find My app on iPhone, iPad or Mac, or in Find Items on an Apple Watch.

One distinction matters: what is being located is the power meter, not the bike. As long as the pod is bolted to the crank the two are the same thing. If someone removes the crank, the trail goes cold.

Numbers: 1%, 9 grams, 800 hours

The specification for the left side version of the Precision 3+:

• Accuracy ±1%. 4iiii uses three strain gauges and measures bending, pulling and twisting of the crank arm. The manufacturer claims it is the only crank based power meter taking a reading across three axes.
• Weight 9 g, profile 5.5 mm. The real problem with crank based power meters is frame clearance rather than weight. The low profile improves compatibility, but 4iiii still publishes a separate clearance guide, and it is worth reading before ordering.
• Battery life up to 800 h from one CR2032 cell. The dual sided PRO version runs to 550 h.
• Cadence range 30 to 170 rpm, power 0 to 4000 W, operating temperature 0 to 50°C (32 to 122°F).
• IPX7 and a three year warranty.

One inconsistency is worth flagging. On the 4iiii product page, one description gives “up to 550 hours” for the Precision 3+, while the specification table says 800 h for the left side version. The 550 h figure belongs to the PRO model, so the table is the more credible source here.

An automatic terrain selector detects the surface and adjusts the cadence and power reading. In practice that is a gravel and mountain bike feature, where broken cadence throws off averaging algorithms.

First catch: Apple only

4iiii answers that question in the FAQ in one sentence: Find My is compatible with Apple products only. An Android rider is buying a standard Precision 3 with an extra character in the name, paying for a feature that will never run.

That is a limitation of the ecosystem rather than the device. It still decides directly whether the premium is worth paying.

Second catch: one leg, doubled

The base Precision 3+ is a single sided power meter. It measures the left leg and multiplies by two, so there is no left/right balance.

For most age groupers that is not a problem. FTP, zones and progression across a season need a repeatable measurement rather than absolute truth, and a single sided meter is repeatable. The problem arrives with genuine asymmetry, after a knee injury or surgery for instance, or when comparing numbers against a training partner’s pedal based meter. That is when the dual sided PRO is needed.

The second condition concerns the crank. 4iiii fits pods to Shimano only: 105 through Ultegra and Dura-Ace, plus GRX, XT and XTR. Riders on SRAM, or on a bike manufacturer’s own branded crank, are outside this offer.

What it costs

Prices from the manufacturer’s own store in the US:

• Precision 3+ left side, Ride Ready (pod factory fitted to a new Shimano crank), $334.99
• Precision 3+ left side, Factory Install (the rider ships their own crank in for fitting), $339.99
• Precision 3+ PRO dual sided, Ride Ready, from $979.99

At that price difference the Ride Ready version is the more convenient one. It arrives as a new crank with the pod fitted, and the left arm swaps in through the standard Shimano procedure. Factory Install means the bike stands without a crank for as long as shipping takes in both directions.

Every 4iiii power meter comes with eight weeks of premium access to the JOIN Cycling app. The Precision 3 with Apple Find My also won an iF Design Award in 2024.

Activating Find My: pull the battery three times

There is no elegant way to describe this one. Putting the pod into Find My pairing mode requires removing and reinserting the battery three times, after which the rest of the procedure runs in the Apple app. It is a one off inconvenience, but worth knowing about before hunting for a button that does not exist.

There is good news for owners of the older model. Anyone who bought a left side Precision 3 before the Find My launch can send the pod back to 4iiii and have the feature added.

Who it makes sense for

Buy it if the bike runs a Shimano crank, the phone is an iPhone, and this is a first power meter bought as the cheapest sensible entry into training with power. Find My is then a free bonus rather than the reason to buy.

Skip it for an Android phone, a SRAM crank, or any case where left/right balance is needed to work on asymmetry. In that last case the price gap between the single sided version and the PRO is threefold, and it is worth comparing the PRO against pedal based meters that move between bikes.

Check frame clearance before buying. It is the most common reason crank based power meters get returned, and the one thing no firmware update will fix.

The next piece of the same puzzle is Clip-On Aerobars: Three Picks for a Road Bike. When the training is ready for a start line, Racelify lists cycling events.