FEBRUARY 2020 MACWORLD 61device will be locked, and you can
optionally display a phone number and a
message to display on the lock screen, to
help the person who finds it contact you.
The Mark As Lost section will change to
show you when it was activated—you can
tap on this to change the phone number
and message, receive email updates about
the device (with its location as it moves), or
turn off the Mark As Lost feature.
REMOTE ERASING YOUR
DEVICE
If you know one of your devices is gone
forever and you want to make sure
nobody could possibly get at your data,
you can remotely erase it.
Just open the Find My app, go to the
Devices tab, and select the lost device.
Scroll down and tap on Erase This Device.
This will remove all content and settings
from your device, essentially returning it to
its new-in-box setup process.
If the device is offline, it will erase itself
as soon as it comes online. If you have an
Apple ID associated with the device,
Activation Lock (go.macworld.com/aclk)
will prevent someone else from setting it
up without first entering your Apple ID. You
need to remove your Apple ID from that
device before someone else can set it up
for themselves.
This is a great feature to help protect
your products from being stolen—they’re
of no use to thieves without your Apple ID
login and password. But if you plan to sell
your device, make sure you remove your
Apple ID from it first!
Most of the actions you perform on
your devices using the Find My app will
trigger an email to the address associated
with your Apple ID: playing sounds,
marking as lost, erasing devices, and so
on. So if someone else gets access to
your unlocked phone and starts making
changes to how it is tracked, you’ll at least
get an email about it. ■If you feel
your device
is probably
gone forever,
be sure to
erase all your
content and
settings.