MacLife UK – August 2019

Is location trackable?
The panel warns if Location Services is
turned off, but it’s worth looking closely. Go to
the Security & Privacy pane and ensure Enable
Location Services is checked. Click Details next
to System Services and check Find My Mac.

Choose a device
Click/tap All Devices, then a device to
see its battery level and location (shown as an
old location after a few hours). There’ll be up
to three actions: Play Sound, Lost Mode/Lock,
and Erase. Tap the car for directions in Maps.

Lock a Mac
Here, the equivalent is Lock, which
wants a PIN and a message. Include a phone
number, but be concise; it may be unclear the
message is scrollable. The code is to unlock the
Mac, and is applied as a firmware password too.

Look up device locations

Either download the Find My iPhone

app for iOS, or sign in at iCloud.com with your

Apple ID and click Find iPhone. Either way, you

will see a map showing last known locations of

your devices that have tracking turned on.

Enter Lost Mode

For an iPhone, iPad or Watch, click/tap

Lost Mode. Enter a number you can be reached

on (advisable), then a message to show on the

Lock screen. As long as the device is online,

you can update these details by returning here.

Set a persistent

message

In System Prefs’ Security & Privacy pane, set a

Lock screen message with contact details. This

shows even if your Mac’s offline, unreachable

via iCloud to lock it, and no user is logged in.

GENIUS TIP

So people with physical

access to your Mac can’t

override Find My Mac,

ensure all user accounts

have a strong password,

and that automatic login

(in System Preferences’

Users & Groups pane)

is disabled.

GENIUS TIP

For direct access to

the web app for locating

devices, we suggest you

memorize icloud.com/find

(or bookmark it) so you go

directly to it, even if

you’re panicked.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

Image rights: Apple. maclife.comAUG 2019 91