macformat.com @macformat SEPTEMBER 2019 | MACFORMAT | 31Keep track of your kit
Mislaid your MacBook? Forgot your iPhone? iCloud to the rescue!
W
ith built-in GPS, your
iPhone always knows
where it is, to the
nearest three metres
or so. iPad and Apple Watch models with
Cellular also have GPS. Macs and iPod
touch don’t, but can guess their position
surprisingly accurately based on nearby
Wi-Fi. iCloud’s Find My... can use this
location data to show you where all your
devices are.
For this to work, Find My... must be
enabled on each device. In macOS, go to
System Prefs > iCloud and tick Find My
Mac. In iOS, open Settings, tap your
name, tap iCloud then Find My iPhone.
Switch on Find My iPhone and opt to
Send Last Location, so that whenever
your battery is low, the device will
automatically send its location to iCloud,
which remembers it for 24 hours.
To locate your devices, go to iCloud.
com in Safari, log in and pick Find iPhone
(it works for all devices). After a short
pause, you‘ll get a map with dots for all
the devices associated with your Apple
ID that can be found. Click a dot to see
details of that device and options to play
a sound on it, activate Lost Mode or erase
it. Playing a sound is handy if you’re fairly
near, or someone you trust may be:
regardless of the volume setting, it
plays a repeating chime loud enough
not to be missed.Lost and found
Lost Mode disables all notifications on
the device (although it can still receive
phone calls and FaceTime) to preserve
your privacy, and lets you lock it with a
passcode if you ignored our advice about
using passwords. You can also display a
message on the screen for anyone who
finds it. While in Lost Mode, iCloud will try
to continuously track an iOS device.
Remotely erasing is a good option if
you’re concerned about personal data
falling into the wrong hands, although a
strong password should make that fairly
unlikely. As long as you’ve been using
iCloud Backup or Time Machine, it’s easy
to restore everything if you get the
device back.
On iOS devices, you can install a Find
My iPhone app. This lets you track other
devices, as an alternative to iCloud.com,
but makes no difference to whether that
device itself can be located.If a device is turned off (not
just sleeping), or out of
battery, or has no internet
connection, you won’t be able
to track it, although Find
My... may still show a recent
location. A device without GPS
needs to be connected to the
internet over Wi-Fi to report its
location (Ethernet won’t do).
An incorrect system clock
setting can break location
tracking, but this shouldn’t
happen if Time & Date is set to
Set Automatically. tvOS doesn’t
support Find My, so don’t lose
your Apple TV!When Find
My... won’t