Removing sold device from find my mac

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Removing sold device from find my mac

I have sold and given away 2 mac laptops. Now they both periodically show up in find my iPhone. I have tried removing device and each time I am told that if the device is turned on and find my mac is enabled it will come back into my list. At least I didn't hit erase to erase it from my list. The buyer would have been quite upset.

Both computers had the hard disk erased prior to sale, and a fresh copy of the OS installed.

That suggests that the MAC address is used to identify the machine. It should be possible to notify find my Mac that I no longer own the machine.

It may be important to turn off find my Mac before erasing hard drive and reinstalling the OS.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 6:47 PM

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Answer 1

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sheila_m.

Community Specialist

Oct 26, 2013 8:32 AM in response to waldhaus1

Hello waldhaus1,

Thank you for providing the details of the issue you are experiencing with Find My Mac. According to the following article, even if you remove the device from Find My iPhone, it will reappear once online:

If your device goes online again later (and Find My iPhone is still turned on), it automatically reappears in Find My iPhone. If you still have access to the device, prevent it from reappearing by turning off Find My iPhone:

On a Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then deselect Find My Mac.

iCloud: Remove your device

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2702

I understand you no longer have access to the device to deselect Find My Mac, and the alternative is to change your Apple ID password:

Ask the new owner to erase all content and settings as described above.

If you are using iCloud and Find My iPhone on the device, you can erase the device remotely and remove it from your account by signing in to icloud.com/find, selecting the device, and clicking Erase. When the device has been erased, click Remove from Account.

If you are unable to complete either of the above steps, you should change your Apple ID password. Changing your password won't remove any personal information that is cached on the device, but it will make sure that the new owner can't delete your information from iCloud.

What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5661

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Sheila M.

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