How to Turn off 'Find My' on a Mac

This article explains how to turn off Find My on a Mac, making it so you can't track your Mac.

How to Turn off 'Find My' on a Mac

Find My is a feature that allows you to locate your Apple products, like your iPhone or your Mac, if they are lost or stolen. It’s tied to your Apple ID, which allows you to track any of your connected devices from any of your other devices, or via the iCloud website on virtually any device at all.

If you’re worried about being tracked by Find My on your Mac, you can turn it off through System Preferences. This feature can be turned on and off at any time as long as you have access to your Mac, and switching it off doesn’t remove any of your data.

Here’s how to turn off Find My on a Mac:

1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the menu bar.
   

2. Click System Preferences.
   

3. Click Apple ID.
   

4. Select iCloud from the left sidebar.
   

5. Deselect Find My Mac.
   

6. Enter your Apple ID password and click Continue.
   

   This is your Apple ID password, not your local Mac password.

7. Now enter your local Mac user password and click OK.
   

8. Click Done.
   

9. Find My is now disabled on your Mac.
   

   To turn this feature back on, navigate to System Preferences > Apple ID, click the checkbox next to Find My Mac, click Options, and make sure it says Find My Mac: On.

How Do You Turn off Find My Mac From Another Device?

You can't turn off the Find My Mac feature from another device. What you can do, however, is erase the Mac from that other device.

1. Navigate to the iCloud login screen.
   

2. Click Find iPhone.
   

3. Enter your Apple ID email and password, and click Sign In.
   

4. Click All Devices, and select the Mac you want to erase.
   

5. Click Erase Mac.
   

6. Click Erase.
   

   You can also remove your Mac from your account altogether after erasing it, but erasing the Mac will prevent it from being tracked.

Why Do I Need to Turn off Find My Mac for Repair?

Before you send a Mac in for repairs, you need to turn off Find My Mac. Apple doesn’t disclose exactly why this requirement exists, but the most likely reasons are they may need to offer you a replacement unit instead of repairing yours, it serves to prove you are the owner of the device, and they probably don’t want people to be able to track the location of their repair facilities for security purposes.

When you send in an Apple product for repairs or warranty work, it isn’t always sent to an Apple repair facility. In the event repairs are too costly or complicated, they may offer to provide you with a replacement unit instead of fixing yours. Your device may be repaired later or simply disposed of, but in either case, there would be no reason for your Apple ID to still be associated with the device, or for Find My to still be enabled.

By requiring you to disable Find My, Apple also effectively verifies you are the owner of the device. Since this feature can’t be disabled unless you know both the Apple ID password and local password associated with the device, the fact you can disable the feature proves you own it.