A missing Mac is harder to track down if you never switched on Find My. Start in your Apple Account’s iCloud settings to enable it before you need it. Then allow location access, turn on offline finding, and check your setup from another device.
Turn on Find My Mac in System Settings
This enables Find My for your Mac using your Apple Account.
The iCloud settings may display See All or Show More Apps. Apple documents both labels as routes to Find My Mac, so use whichever appears on your Mac.
Open the Apple menu , then choose System Settings. If you’re signed out, click Sign in and enter your Apple Account credentials when prompted.
Click your name in the sidebar, then select iCloud. Click See All, or Show More Apps if that’s the label shown. Choose Find My Mac.
Click Turn On. Enter your Apple Account password if requested. Confirm with Turn On, then click Allow to grant location access.
Give Find My access to your location
Return to System Settings, then select Privacy & Security. Open Location Services and turn on Location Services.
Enable Find My in the app list. If Find My is missing from that list, click Details next to System Services. Turn on Find My Mac there. Keep the separate Find My Mac control in iCloud settings enabled too, because location permission alone doesn’t complete setup.
Enable offline finding with the Find My network
The Find My network adds offline finding where available. Set this up after turning on Find My Mac.
Open System Settings and select your name. Choose iCloud, then click See All, or Show More Apps if that’s the label shown.
Open Find My Mac and turn on Find My network. Click Done. If you still cannot locate your Mac, check that Find My Mac and its location permission are both enabled using the paths above.
Check your Mac from another device
This checks that your Mac is listed after setup; it cannot enable Find My remotely. Find My must already have been enabled on the Mac before it went missing. Signing in through a browser or opening the companion app does not complete that initial setup.
Open Find My on another Apple device signed in to your Apple Account. Select Devices, then choose your Mac to view its location information.
For the browser option, sign in to your Apple Account at iCloud.com/find. Select All Devices, then click your Mac.
Complete administrator approval on a shared Mac
An unanswered administrator prompt blocks setup on a shared Mac when authorization is required. Enter a Mac administrator’s name and password when requested, then click Allow to authorize Find My Mac.
For a Location Services authorization prompt, enter the administrator credentials. Click Unlock to authorize the change.
Only one local user can enable Find My Mac at a time. Enabling it for another user turns it off for the previous user, so agree on which account to use before switching it.
For an organization-owned Mac, ask its administrator whether user-linked Activation Lock is permitted. Permission through device management still requires you to enable Find My on the Mac with a personal Apple Account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to download anything to enable Find My Mac?
No download or installation is required. The setup controls are built into System Settings.
Can I use Find My with a work or school Apple Account?
Managed Apple Accounts cannot use Find My, even if the app appears. For an organization-owned Mac, ask your administrator about account eligibility and whether user-linked Activation Lock is permitted. Allowing Activation Lock through device management does not turn on Find My. You still need a personal Apple Account and must enable Find My on the Mac.
Does turning on Find My Mac also enable Activation Lock?
Yes, on eligible unsupervised Macs that meet Apple’s Activation Lock requirements. On a supervised organization-owned Mac, Activation Lock is disallowed by default, so its device management service has to allow user-linked Activation Lock first. These include Apple silicon or a T2 Security Chip, two-factor authentication, and the required startup-security settings. Those requirements apply to Activation Lock, not to basic Find My Mac on every Mac.