Apart from being expensive, your Mac may contain personal photos, sensitive and confidential information that can be misused. Hence, consider setting up Apple’s “Find My Mac” Service to help track your Mac, in case it gets lost, misplaced or stolen.
Find My Mac Service
Although the service is named as Find My iPhone when you land on iCloud, Apple’s device tracking service can be used to Track and Find any Apple Device, including your Mac.
In addition to indicating the location of your Lost, Stolen or Misplaced device, “Find My Mac” service can also be used to lock your Mac or completely wipe out the data on your Mac, in case you are worried about the possibility of confidential or personal data being misused.
In order to setup Find My Mac service, you can make use of your existing iCloud Account that is associated with your Mac or create a new iCloud Account.
Set Up Find My Mac Service
Follow the steps below to setup “Find My Mac” Service to help track your lost, stolen or misplaced MacBook.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the top menu-bar on your Mac and then click on the System Preferences option in the drop-down menu.
2. On the System Preferences screen, click on iCloud.
3. Next, login to your iCloud Account using your Apple ID and Password (in case you are not already logged-in).
4. On the Next screen, you will be prompted to Set up two-factor authentication. In this case let us click on Not Now to move to the next screen.
5. On the next screen, click on Do Not Upgrade, since we are not setting up two-factor authentication at this point of time.
6. Once you are in your iCloud Account, check the option for Use Find My Mac and click on Next.
Note: At this point of time do not check the option for Use iCloud for Contacts, Calendars, Reminder, Notes and Safari, unless you want to.
7. You will see a pop-up, asking you to “Allow Find My Mac” service to use the Location of this Mac. Click on the Allow button.
8. You may see a pop-up asking you to enter your Admin User Name and Password (this happens when you are not signed in with your Admin Account).
9. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and make sure that the option for Find My Mac is enabled.
You can now close the iCloud window. However, make sure that you do not click on the Sign out button, as signing out of iCloud Drive will disable Find My Mac service.
How to Use Find My Mac to Track Lost or Stolen MacBook
Since you have either lost or misplaced your Mac, you can make use of another Mac or PC to track your missing Mac using Find My Mac Service.
1. On any other Mac or PC visit icloud.com
2. Sign in to your iCloud Account using your Apple ID and Password associated with your Lost, Misplaced or Stolen Mac.
3. Once you are in your iCloud Account, click on Find iPhone option (See image below).
4. Enter your Apple ID Password, to sign-in to Find iPhone Service.
5. On the next screen, click on the All Devices option and then click on your Device Name (See image below)
6. You can click on Notify me when found option, in case Find My Mac service says that it cannot locate your Mac. This can happen in case your Mac is out of range or has been switched OFF (See image below).
Note: As soon as anyone turns on your Mac, you will receive a notification at your email address associated with your Apple ID.
7. If your Mac happens to be online, Find My Mac service will indicate the Location of your Mac on a Map and it will also provide you with the following options.
- Play Sound
- Lock
- Erase Mac
Here is an explanation of what each option does:
Play Sound: This option plays an audible tone on your Mac. This option can be used when you are quite sure that you have misplaced your Mac, either within your house or at a friend’s place.
Lock: This option can be used to completely lock your Mac with a passcode. You can also display a custom message on the Lock Screen of your Mac for the finder of your Mac (Your Phone number to get in touch with you).
Erase: Using this mode you can delete all your personal information from your Mac, in order to protect your privacy.