The Find My feature
The Find My app combines two location apps in one: Find My Phone and Find My Friends. It enables you to track the location of all kinds of Apple devices: not just Macs, iPhones and iPads but AirPods and Apple Watches too. You can access it from the Mac or iOS app, or via iCloud.com on the web.
Find My is designed to do two things. It can let you know where devices are, whether that’s an iPod touch that’s fallen down the back of the sofa or the iPhone of a family member who can’t remember where they last had it. And the second is to take action if a device has fallen into the wrong hands.
The location-based part of Find My works really well. It can identify the last known location of your device, family devices or devices whose location your friends have agreed to share with you. It then shows the location on a map and enables you to flash a message or just play a sound so you can work out where in the house it is.
Find My is really useful and it’s recovered many devices many times for us, but the really important feature here is the one for when your device appears to be lost or stolen. It’s called Activation Lock.
The easy way to find your friends and locate missing Macs
Activation Lock
Activation Lock works on iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, Apple watches running watchOS 2 or later and Macs with Apple’s T2 security chip running Catalina or later. If you mark a device as lost in the Find My app, it locks the device with a passcode and disables Apple Pay. You can also get it to display a message asking whoever has it to return it.
Once your device is locked, it can’t be reactivated without your Apple ID – and that makes it effectively unsellable, which is why you need to turn Find My off on any device you’re selling or giving away. If your device remains missing, Find My also enables you to remotely erase it: the next time it goes online, it’ll wipe all your personal data.
Erasing the device is the nuclear option, and it’s really important that you don’t do it if you have AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss coverage: your missing device must remain connected to your iCloud account until your claim has been approved.