Find My "lost mode” not working properly

TidBITS Talk
1

I just tried putting my Mac into “Lost Mode” because I wanted to check how the custom message is displayed on my Mac in case I ever need to use it. It didn’t behave at all as I expected, and I’m wondering if it’s broken for others too. I’m running macOS Sonoma 14.0.

When you mark a device as lost using the Find My app, you’re given the option to display a custom messages on that device. But this message never showed on my Mac. Instead, it restarted a couple times and then booted directly into the Recovery Assistant app.

At this point the only path forward was to reactivate my Mac with my password. But my custom custom message never displayed anywhere. So if my Mac had truly been lost, there would be no way for me to provide contact details for someone to get in touch with me.

Has anyone else tested Lost Mode on their Mac? Am I missing something or is the feature broken?

2

I haven’t tested Lost Mode, but regarding the need to provide contact details, you might consider putting an “asset tag” sticker with a contact phone number or other information on your Mac.

For example, a US source:

3

That’s a good idea, thanks. Sometimes I forget to think about simple low tech solutions :slight_smile:

4

I just stick a return address label on mine.

You probably already have many sheets of them (quite a lot of charities like to include them with donation solicitations).