Giving my MacBook Air to my daughter

Giving your computer away without following the steps here is a very bad idea. You need to disassociate your Apple ID from the machine or there will be probems at some point and your daughter may find the account locked. And, you should never share your password with anyone. So it is best to transfer your files to another computer and then erase and prepare this one properly.

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Hi caroline319,

If you're giving away your MacBook Air to your daughter, you should back up your data and then erase the Mac. This allows your daughter to start fresh.

Before I provide the steps needed to erase your Mac, can you please do the following to describe your Mac and the software it's running? This affects how the erase will be done.

1. Click the Apple logo in the top left corner, and select About This Mac.
2. Please provide the device model (e.g. "MacBook Air") and the year it was made.
3. If a Chip item appears, please provide that as well.
4. Please also provide the version of macOS that's running on your Mac.

EDIT: There are ways to transfer ownership of your Mac without erasing it, but it generally isn't recommended. If done wrong, the new owner (your daughter) could end up with issues like Activation Lock and/or App Store apps being tied to the wrong Apple ID.

ku4hx wrote:

Your files are protected by your password. If you create her an admin user, she can't get to your files unless you expressly give the permission.

The user accounts may be separated from each other, yes, but admin users have top authority in macOS and can effectively do anything they want. They can, for example:

• Forcibly reconfigure permissions on files and folders
• Enable or act as the superuser ("root"), which has default permissions to view everything on the system - including other users files
• Reset other users passwords, including other admin accounts
• Add or delete user accounts, including other admin accounts
• Access macOS Recovery
• Authorize system security downgrades, including modifying or disabling System Integrity Protection

It wouldn't take much for the daughter to be able to view her mom's files once she has an admin account. That said, I agree that she should get an admin account - especially if she wants full ownership of the Mac.

Your files are protected by your password. If you create her an admin user, she can't get to your files unless you expressly give the permission. Admin user because it sounds like you want her to have control. If a standard user, you're still involved, have the control and she'll likely be asking you to enter the password to get certain things done. It all depends on who you want to actually administer the Mac..

But keeping your files on someone else's computer is not a bad thing necessarily, but why do it? If you need your files, transfer them to your computer. Her MBA is portable after all, and she and "her" Mac may be gone when you need something.

Now is the time to get more familiar with your Mac. All computer users need certain basic skills and that knowledge and know-how comes with working outside your box so to speak.