troysantos

Q: keep Find My iPhone running even when I'm not searching for it

My macbook seems to have been stolen a few hours ago. I've been using the Find My iPhone service in iCloud. But the results are always that the mac is offline, so iCloud can't locate my mac. Okay, I understand that it can only be located when the computer is online. But, because I'm not checking ALL the time, I'm wondering if there is a way to turn this service on for a whole day or for several days at a time. So, in case the thieves go online while I'm not using this Find My iPhone service, then if I can keep this service on all the time for a day or for several days, it'll find my computer.

 

I understand that there are ways that a thief can get around these security measures. One is by turning off Find My Mac. Honestly, I don't even know that I ever turned it on. I have no recollection.

 

Now, I read in another thread that there is something that can be turned on / off in System Preferences. But it wasn't clear to me if that was the phone or the macbook. I don't remember seeing anything for this in System Preferences on the computer. And, if there is such a thing, I don't remember ever turning it on or off. I've got a mid-2013 model, with 10.10.2.

 

Also, I saw in a thread somewhere that someone had reported to some Apple center (iCloud?) that his macbook stolen, but didn't say where he'd reported it stolen. Where is this?

 

The place it was stolen is monitored by CCTV but have to wait until tomorrow morning to see the tape. I'm in Thailand. There are stories of Thais stealing things from foreigners. I've been here for 11 years and though I've sometimes left things in stupid places, this is the first time I've had something stolen. There've been times in the past when I thought something had gotten stolen, but it turned up later. This time ... ****. My whole life is on that computer. It's a good thing that just yesterday afternoon I backed up all my data.

Thanks.

 

I'm editing this a few minutes after I initially posted. Just went to the iCloud Find My iPhone service again. This time I noticed that there is a box I can check that says, "Notify me when found". I can choose to have a sound played. I clicked the box, and hopefully I'll get an email if the computer is located while I'm not on this (public) computer.

OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), Believe me: I have OS X 10.10.2!

Posted on May 19, 2015 7:41 AM

Close

Q: keep Find My iPhone running even when I'm not searching for it

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by FoxFifth,

    FoxFifth FoxFifth May 19, 2015 8:28 AM in response to troysantos
    Level 7 (26,809 points)
    iPhone
    May 19, 2015 8:28 AM in response to troysantos

    The following link has some additional information that may help: If your Mac is lost or stolen - Apple Support

  • by troysantos,

    troysantos troysantos May 19, 2015 8:48 AM in response to FoxFifth
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    May 19, 2015 8:48 AM in response to FoxFifth

    Thanks for this link. Second time now reading that page. This time it makes more sense. First time I hadn't logged into iCloud to use the Find My iPhone service. Now that I have used it, the link makes sense to me. I didn't turn off my computer so changing the password wouldn't do any good. I'll know more tomorrow morning.

    I still don't get the thing about turning on / off the Find My Mac in System Preferences. Now, this seems odd to me ... turning it off before the computer is lost or stolen. Why would anyone turn it off? Why not have it on all the time? Does it eat up a lot of batter when it's on? I take this out with me nearly every day. I'm usually careful about it, but today was a little careless.

    Thanks.

        

        

  • by FoxFifth,

    FoxFifth FoxFifth May 19, 2015 12:10 PM in response to troysantos
    Level 7 (26,809 points)
    iPhone
    May 19, 2015 12:10 PM in response to troysantos

    System Preferences > iCloud is where you turn on Find My Mac. Once it is on I can't think of any reason to turn it off other than when if you were selling or giving it away to a new owner. It doesn't have any effect on the battery. It has never been turned off on my Mac.

  • by troysantos,

    troysantos troysantos May 20, 2015 2:43 AM in response to FoxFifth
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    May 20, 2015 2:43 AM in response to FoxFifth

    FoxFifth ... you mean System Preferences on the macbook, right? Is it possible to do this remotely? Is it turned on as a default factory setting, or does the user need to turn it on and off? The thief could have turned it off, so I'll never find it, is this right? I didn't turn off the computer so it just went into Sleep. Opening the lid would automatically wake it up. I have it set so that when turning it on, a password is required, but since I didn't turn it off, no password is needed to just start using it. But since I haven't been notified that it has been connected to the internet, that means 1) it hasn't been connected to the internet, OR 2) whoever took it turned off the Find My iPhone. Have I got this right?

     

    I've logged into the Find My iPhone service on iCloud many times now but the system always says the computer is offline, and I haven't been notified that the computer has been online. I've pretty much given up hope that it'll be found, but who knows ... maybe it'll show up real soon.

     

    I'm also wondering if this is the best community for this issue. Before sending this question to this community, I tried to send it to Find My iPhone and iCloud communities. But those communities don't exist, right?

        

  • by FoxFifth,Solvedanswer

    FoxFifth FoxFifth May 20, 2015 6:12 AM in response to troysantos
    Level 7 (26,809 points)
    iPhone
    May 20, 2015 6:12 AM in response to troysantos

    Right -- System Preferences on the Mac.

    There isn't a way to tun Find My Mac on remotely.

    It requires the user password to turn it off. even if the machine is awake an running and logged in to your user account, it will still ask for the user login password if someone wants to turn off Find My Mac. However on a Mac, unlike an iPhone or iPad, I think it is fairly easy for someone who knows what they are doing to defeat the Find My Mac feature in other ways.

    If it was mine, I wouldn't be optimistic about seeing it again, sorry to say. Hope I am wrong.

    This or the Mac OS & System Software community are as good a place as anywhere for this question.

  • by troysantos,

    troysantos troysantos May 20, 2015 7:27 AM in response to FoxFifth
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iWork
    May 20, 2015 7:27 AM in response to FoxFifth

    Thanks a ton.    Mch appreciated.