Guard Mode: an alarm if someone moves your Mac

Leaving your MacBook at a café table? Turn on Guard Mode and walk away. If someone lifts, tilts or moves it, or unplugs the charger, it sounds a loud alarm.

Turn it on

1. Open Settings › MacBook, then find the Guard Mode card. Click Turn On. You can also click Guard my Mac in the menu.
2. TapNoise waits about 5 seconds so you can walk away. The menu then shows Guarding your Mac.

On a Mac without a motion sensor, the menu says Charger alarm only.

Stop it

Only the owner can stop Guard Mode. Touch ID or your password asks you to confirm.

• In Settings, click Turn Off….
• In the menu, click Stop guarding….
• On the alarm screen, click I’m the owner. Stop the alarm.

Its limits

• Force Quit, or closing the lid, can still stop it.
• A Mac without a motion sensor can’t feel a lift or a tilt. It sounds the charger alarm only.
• A Mac with no login password can’t ask for Touch ID or a password, so it doesn’t ask.
• Guard Mode is one of the features that need a license.

For the sensors each Mac has, see system requirements.