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I have an iCloud Drive with all my files on it and also all my Safari bookmarks are synced to iCloud. Also most importantly my 1Password data is in iCloud.

My new employer is forcing me to use a company MacBook which is a 'managed Mac' meaning everything is controlled by the employer.

What should I do, just sign into my personal iCloud account and hope for the best or do you think my employer could access all this data?

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    Are they also forcing you to use personal iCloud accounts at work? Why would you not use a separate account?
    – Andy Hames
    Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 18:51
  • @AndyHames no they have OneDrive, but all my documents that I have collected over the years are on iCloud, my passwords and bookmarks and its just easier to run my life if I have access to everything
    – TheLearner
    Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 16:18
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    @TheLearner: Do that on your personal phone, not your work laptop.
    – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
    Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 17:48
  • @TheLearner Have a separate account for work and personal. The which bridges that put in a 3rd place. For my self I have a GitHub gist's page with handy shortcuts for that kind of thing
    – DarcyThomas
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 4:25

3 Answers 3

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With a managed Mac where "everything is controlled by the employer", the employer could technically access your personal data stored on that Mac - yes. It doesn't matter if the data comes from iCloud or other places.

Note that your employer probably does not access your personal data, and depending on where you live and what you agreements are, it is probably not legal for them to do so. However, it is very probable that they could access the data given the necessary intent and technical knowledge.

My advice would be not to store any personal data on a company laptop, unless you wouldn't mind your employer or a system administration to stumble upon that data.

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    +1 for first and last paragraphs but -1 for legal. If the data is on a company machine then they can read it
    – mmmmmm
    Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 13:12
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    @mmmmmm that heavily depends on what jurisdiction is in play, as many countries have laws which protect the privacy of employees at work, including things like files, emails, browsing history etc.
    – Moo
    Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 1:13
  • Also, if an employer were to USE the credentials from the employee's password manager (1Password) account to access any of the employer's non-work-related accounts, they'd be breaking the law in the US, at least. Not that that would necessarily stop them. Given that password managers typically have credentials for logging into banking accounts and/or using pseudonymous accounts, it would likely be a problem if any employer staff stumbled on the data. And just knowing what the usernames or sites are could be problematic. E.g. ...
    – WHO'sNoToOldRx4Covid-CENSORED
    Commented Sep 2, 2020 at 23:32
  • .... E.g. any username on neonazis-R-US.tld or suicidal-peer-suppport.tld, or Deviant-Sex-Match.tld, or carderforum.tld ..... or AngryAnon on reddit or Alt-EPA on twitter...
    – WHO'sNoToOldRx4Covid-CENSORED
    Commented Sep 2, 2020 at 23:35
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From your personal iCloud account share a folder with only work-related files to a company supplied AppleID/iCloud account running on the managed MacBook.

At a moments notice your work-owned Managed MacBook could be deleted or locked.

It is their property and possible agreements regarding its use may include any data on the machine.

Why else do you need your personal information on the work Machine? Use your personal machine for personal stuff.

You will probably be a much more productive employee when you are not accessing your personal stuff when at work, or when working.

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  • The question was "how", not "tell me what to do". There can be many reasons. For example, I am storing a lot of work-related notes in Apple Notes App. If I don't sign in using iCloud, I won't be able to access those on company's machine.
    – Jacek Kolasa
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 17:16
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Of course they can access. They can potentially access even if you delete your synced data, because your data might end up being stored in system logs, cache, hidden folders, and even deleted data can be recovered with special software.

I myself recently stumbled upon my old work emails from two years ago on my personal Mac. This is despite my work login has been disabled for two years. But I haven’t used Outlook on my personal Mac since then, I recently opened it and it restored all my work emails from some archived folder.

Don’t share your personal folders either. Create a shareable folder from your work account and share it with your personal account if you need to access work files from home.

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