One of the most muscular features added years ago to macOS and Io was observe My iPhone — and iPad and Mac . The iCloud - connected service lets you cut through an accidentally misplaced item and potentially recover a stolen one .
With the table service active on a equipment , you could use determine My for macOS , iOS , or iPadOS or via iCloud.com to erase your reckoner , phone , or tablet or to queue an erasure signal for the next time the twist is on the cyberspace .
iPhones and iPads with a Secure Enclave and Macs with FileVault enabled plainly delete the encryption keys for storage . This render the data point irretrievable . ( It does n’t dissemble your local or iCloud backups , so do n’t worry . ) On a Mac with a T2 Security Chip or M1 Apple silicon , saucer encryption isalwaysenabled even if FileVault is n’t , allowing Secure Enclave to destroy the phonograph recording encryption describe instantly even with FileVault handicap .
Pre - unassailable Enclave iPhones and iPads and Macs that foredate the T2 Security chipandhave FileVault disabled take longer to erase data file , as each byte of data has to be overwrite .
If you ’re not trusted whether your iPhone , iPad , or Intel Mac has a Secure Enclave , confer with the list Apple provides here . you may influence if FileVault is enable by going to the Security & Privacy preference pane ’s FileVault pill .
How to erase a device
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Apple ’s tweaked the process slenderly for its aboriginal apps but left iCloud.com virtually untouched for year .
In macOS , iOS , or iPadOS , launch the Find My app . Tap theDevicestab and then tap your computer hardware . ( If you have Family Sharing enable , you may also see the devices of family fellow member . ) On an iPhone or iPad , tapErase This Deviceand follow the prompting . On a Mac , right - click the gadget and selectErase This gadget .
With iCloud.com , sign in to your account and click the Find iPhone link — no “ My ” in there . Enter your iCloud password again if prompted . Click the All Devicesmenu and select your hardware :
If the twist is connected to the net via whatever method acting it has at its disposal — Wi - Fi , cellular , tethering , a … dial - up modem — erasure begins at once after the Mac receive the signaling relayed via Apple ’s server . In the case noted above , the campaign or flash storage almost instantly becomes unretrievable .
The erase program line is queued by Apple , so if the twist ever is shortly back on the net , it erase itself . Once your gadget start wiping its information , finding its location via Find My is no longer possible .
For devices that ne’er - do - wells have taken offline or put in a metal box , they may never return online to receive an erase command . But for iPhones , iPads , and Macs with a Secure Enclave , the store data point ca n’t be interacted with unless someone also obtained the password . ( For a running Mac , there might be cracks that ferment , but it ’s unlikely ; if powered down and FileVault is enabled , efficaciously unsufferable . )
It can be wipe , which firmly hit your data — and then Activation Lock kicking , a part of Find My . ( Macshave a few additional requirements . ) Activation Lock prevents an erased gimmick from being set up again without knowing the iCloud password associated with the account that turned on regain My on it .
deplorable groups have seemingly figured out elbow room to bypass Activation Lock in at least some cases , but those methods still need wipe out the equipment , so your data remain inaccessible .
A future of remote erasure?
I can imagine a future in which the Find My web could be used to trigger erasure , too . Right now , the organization is used completely as a passive relay race : an AirTag tracker and most Apple devices can broadcast their view over Bluetooth in a carefully encrypted manner . Nearby Macs , iPhones , and iPads with chance My internet enable relay race this data point via Apple so you could get updates about locating without the party relay it knowing who you are or which gimmick is transmitting .
But AirTags repoint the way to a potential two - manner process . If Apple determines an AirTag has been travel with you and you ’re not the owner of it , you ’re presented with a dialog on an iPhone or iPad that lets you play a phone . That command is slip away via Bluetooth .
The COVID-19 exposure telling organization point to a more complicated system that preserves secrecy and yet could be turned to gimmick expunction , too . In Apple and Google ’s joint apprisal scheme , your smartphone recorded all especially formatted Bluetooth signaling around you and retained for those a full point of time ; this is quite similar to the signals emit for the Find My web by Apple devices .
If someone who had been near you receive a COVID diagnosing and enrol a code into their smartphone provided by their healthcare supplier , the write in code Bluetooth Idaho associated would then be upload to a database thatalldevices in your region or rural area on a regular basis downloaded and compared to stored IDs .
Now , believe this : what if you could account your gimmick as steal and that you wanted it erased . That signaling would then be distributed in inscribe form across all Apple ironware in your sphere or an expanded region . If any of those machine picked up an write in code Bluetooth sign that match , they could transfer a similarly cypher expunging instruction . stealer seek to disable all the tuner on a gadget , but Bluetooth is often grueling to block than Wi - Fi or cellular .
The safe-conduct around this would have to be strong , but it ’s not far - fetched — just far - accomplish !
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