Apple Intelligence is now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac!

📢 Newsroom Update

Apple introduces M4 Pro and M4 Max. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Previous owners macbook name appears in find my notifications

Hi everyone,


I bought a macbook pro 16 m1 pro on the second hand market. The previous owner quit icloud and i did a factory reset of the entire laptop. Then i logged into my apple id, set everything up and everything was fine until i left the house and i got a notification from find my that "Yuriy's macbook pro (3)" was left behind.


I checked and everywhere in the system is a different name, in find my is a different name, in airdrop is a different name, when viewing find my from other devices the name is different. And only notifications from find my for some reason shows the old name from the previous owner.


I've changed name multiple times and I've also tried this commands in terminal:

sudo scutil --set ComputerName "newname"
sudo scutil --set LocalHostName "newname"
sudo scutil --set HostName "newname"


and dscacheutil -flushcache


Even here in tags section in suggestest devices is the new name)


And I also contacted the previous owner and he showed me that this laptop is not in the device list in his apple id.


So how and why am I seeing the old owners name in Find my notifications, and there only?


Thanks!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.4

Posted on Jul 24, 2023 1:57 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 24, 2023 6:50 AM

"i did a factory reset"


Does this mean you actually wiped the drive and installed fresh copy of the OS or that you simply reinstalled the OS? Had you erased the drive, all previous owner data would have been erased completely.


If you erased the drive and installed a fresh OS, then something didn't go well and I suggest you do it again: This is what should have been done before resale: What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support


You can still do this. Of course make good backupS of your data before you start

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 24, 2023 6:50 AM in response to sanchick

"i did a factory reset"


Does this mean you actually wiped the drive and installed fresh copy of the OS or that you simply reinstalled the OS? Had you erased the drive, all previous owner data would have been erased completely.


If you erased the drive and installed a fresh OS, then something didn't go well and I suggest you do it again: This is what should have been done before resale: What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support


You can still do this. Of course make good backupS of your data before you start

Previous owners macbook name appears in find my notifications

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.