Activation Lock must be removed on a Mac before it is sold, passed on, or purchased second-hand.
What Is Activation Lock?
Activation Lock is a safeguard that locks your Mac to your Apple ID.
Justin Duino / How-To Geek
If you haven’t manually disabled Find My, Activation Lock is enabled on your gadget.
The feature prevents your Mac from being used by someone else for as long as Activation Lock is enabled.
The safeguard persists even after the Mac has been formatted and macOS reinstalled.
Apple
If you cannot remember your Apple ID password, you’re free to recover it atiforgot.apple.com.
Which Mac Models Use Activation Lock?
Future models will also include the feature since Apple now has total control over itssystem-on-chipdesign.
Apple
The feature is also present on many pre-Apple Silicon models.
If it’s your Mac, that’s likely your Apple ID password.
You’ll need to input your Apple ID password to confirm this.
This could be on the web atiCloud.com/findor aniPhoneoriPadwith the Find My app linked to the same account.
From here, use the “Remove from Account” button to remove the Mac from your iCloud account.
If you go this route, all data on the machine will be erased as part of the process.
Related:Buying a Used Mac or MacBook?
Selling Your Mac?
Remove Activation Lock First
The same advice about removing Activation Lock applies to sellers.
When youerase your Mac, Apple should provide a login prompt to remove Activation Lock.
If your Mac is missing, Activation Lock was successfully disabled.
Related:How to Set Up Your New Mac
