Lost my Macbook pro with retina display. How do I find out if Find My iDevice is enabled on it?

Question

Someone just broke into my apartment today and stole my new MacBook Pro. When I go to icloud.com and click on Find my iPhone, on the Devices section, my MacBook is listed. When I click on it, it attempts to find it and says its offline. I don't know how to proceed. There's a good chance that it was stolen by a kid who lives within a 5 mile radius (from details I can't share).

1. How can I be sure that Find my iDevice was enabled on my MacBook? (I can't remember for the life of me if I had enabled or disabled it)

2. Maybe I'm just being naively hopeful but is there a way to not wipe out the drive and still prevent access? It's not likely to have been stolen by a security expert, to say the least. (wider neighborhood kid is what it looks like)

3. I've checked 'Notify when found' on the icloud.com/find page for my device. Does this mean I'll get an email? Do I have to be on icloud.find 24/7 to get a notification and the last location?

Answer 1

1. If you can see your MacBook Pro with Retina Display in iCloud, it has been enabled. The reason it is showing as offline is because it is either (1) shut down and not connected to internet, or (2) the device has, somehow, already been wiped, with the first option being much more likely in this situation. Computers are particularly vulnerable to this type of situation because they don't have a constant data connection like an iPhone, or data-enabled iPad, often would. The user must boot the laptop and connect to a wifi before Find My Mac will know anything about it's where-abouts or be able to perform any actions.

   The first, and main thing to do is to select the the "Lock", or "Erase" option. If it is a neighborhood kid and you think some noise might provide truth, you could always do the play sound feature. This plays an alert at maximum volume. You should probably use this sparingly, and only activate it, for example, if you are within earshot of it. Chances are the user could take quick actions to dampen the sound.

   As for the "Lock", or "Erase" option, it will do this as soon as the computer is connected to the internet. Obviously, if they never connect the computer to the internet before wiping it, then the Lock feature won't do any good, but at least if they do, it will help you.

2. Good news for you is you can erase your Mac and still be able to locate it with Find my Mac. (Another helpful Q&A on that).

3. And yes, you will get an email when any action occurs on your Mac - such as it being locked or found.