New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 Adds 'Find My Mac'

Tuesday June 7, 2011 11:34 am PDT by Eric Slivka

Alongside yesterday's announcements related to OS X Lion, Apple pushed out a fourth developer preview version of the next-generation operation system set to make its public launch next month. Among the new features in this build of Lion is "Find My Mac", a feature similar to the one already in use for iOS devices.

Evidence for Find My Mac functionality in Lion had been building, but the actual service is now finally showing its face. One user has provided screenshots of the system in action, showing first of all how Find My Mac can be enabled in System Preferences, revealing that feature allows users to lock the screen of a lost machine while allowing guest access only to Safari in order to help facilitate recovery of the machine.

The user also reveals how his MacBook Air could be located using the Find My iPhone app on his iPhone, offering the option to simply to play a sound or send a message to whoever may have found the machine or remotely lock or even wipe the machine.

And finally, the user shows what happens to a machine once remote lock has been initiated, displaying a gray screen with boxes to input the security code to unlock the machine.

OS X Lion is set to debut sometime next month as a Mac App Store exclusive priced at $29.99. The full suite of iCloud features is not set to debut until this fall alongside iOS 5, but some features such as purchased music/app/book histories are already rolling out and Find My Mac will presumably follow suit next month.

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Dr McKay

41 months ago

who loses a mac?

When the thief takes it off you.

Rating: 18 Votes

TallGuy1970

41 months ago

Finding my mac is one thing. Actually getting police interested enough is another.

Case in point - http://thisguyhasmymacbook.tumblr.com/

This guy gave the police all the information they needed to find the person who stole his laptop. The police did nothing until this guy's story went viral and was picked up by the national media. One call from Good Morning America and guess what? Police miraculously arrested the laptop thief.

Rating: 14 Votes

jsw

41 months ago

Can I ask how MR was able to secure exemption from the NDA?

You assume they signed an NDA. Why would they need to?

Rating: 13 Votes

Aduntu

41 months ago

The user providing the screenshots -- assuming they are a registered developer -- is subject to the developer NDA, not MacRumors.

Rating: 11 Votes

G4er?

41 months ago

"Find My Mac"

I've been looking for my Mac for years but Apple still won't build it! :D

Rating: 10 Votes

frjonah

41 months ago

Can I ask how MR was able to secure exemption from the NDA?

...or maybe it's because this article was posted by the MacRumors Bot. Artificial Intelligence can't be bound by an NDA :)

Rating: 9 Votes

Doctor Q

41 months ago

What if my guest thief prefers Firefox or Chrome? :p

Seriously, allowing guest access is a nice feature because sometimes the people who find lost computers are trying to return them, not steal them or their data.

You can already do something similar yourself, by setting up a guest login and putting a file with your "if lost" contact information on that account's desktop.

Rating: 7 Votes

Small White Car

41 months ago

how would this work? wouldn't a laptop need either gps, cellular data, or be located within a public wifi area in order to be found? no current mac has gps antennas, do they?

Many wifi networks know where they are. My wifi-only iPad can be found using 'find my iPhone' because it knows what network it's on. It's not exact but it's good enough to realize "oh, I accidentally left it at my mom's house when I left."

And really, the map function isn't all that important most of the time. When another family member has been using my iPad I usually have no clue what room it's in. I could wander around the house or I can just use the 'find' feature to make it play a sound.

It's super useful and I'll love it when I can do this with the Macbook too.

Apple should at least terminate "developer accounts" of those who violate the terms they agreed. In the past Apple would really have made an example of some people.

Ok, you figure out who captured those screen-shots and I'm sure Apple would love to hear from you.

Rating: 6 Votes

taxiapple

41 months ago

who loses a mac?

Maybe you don't lose it, maybe someone might take it.

I think it is a great feature.

Rating: 6 Votes

neuropsychguy

41 months ago

It would be really cool if there was a button to retrieve files before doing the remote wipe.

That's the idea behind iCloud (or, at least it's going that way) and other backups (Time Machine). Ideally you shouldn't lose very much.

Rating: 5 Votes