Activation Lock for Mac
Activation Lock is designed to prevent others from using your Mac if it's lost or stolen.
About Activation Lock
Activation Lock helps keep your Mac secure, even if your Mac is lost or stolen, and can improve your chances of recovering it. With Activation Lock, your Apple Account password or device passcode is required before anyone can turn off Find My, erase your Mac, or reactivate and use your Mac. Even if you erase your Mac remotely, Activation Lock can continue to deter others from reactivating your Mac without your permission. All you need to do is keep Find My turned on and remember your Apple Account email or phone number and password.
How to enable Activation Lock
If your Mac meets the Activation Lock system requirements, turn on Find My to enable Activation Lock. It remains enabled as long as you keep Find My turned on.
From the Apple menu , choose System Settings.
Click your name in the sidebar, then click iCloud on the right.
Click the See All button (or Show More Apps button).
Click Find My Mac, then click the button to turn it on.
How to disable Activation Lock
To remove Activation Lock, turn off Find My:
From the Apple menu , choose System Settings.
Click your name in the sidebar, then click iCloud, on the right.
Click the See All button (or Show More Apps button).
Click Find My Mac, then click the button to turn it off. Enter your Apple Account password when prompted.
When a part from one product is used to repair another product, that part could be locked to someone else’s Apple Account. If your Mac with Apple silicon and macOS Tahoe 26 or later was previously repaired, or you’re not sure, use Repair Assistant to check for an unfinished repair.
System requirements for Activation Lock
Activation Lock is available on Mac computers with Apple silicon and Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip. Additional requirements:
On a Mac with Apple silicon, the security policy must be set to Full Security, the default setting.
On a Mac with the T2 chip, startup security must be set to Secure Boot and “Disallow booting from external or removable media," the default settings.
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