Remove a lost or stolen Mac

Removing a computer takes it off your account. It can’t sync any more, and your other Macs change the account key, so the removed computer’s copy of the old key opens nothing written from then on. Do it as soon as you notice a Mac is lost or stolen, and when you sell or retire one.

You remove a computer from another Mac on your account. If you have no other Mac, use your Recovery Kit on a new one: that signs out every other computer at once.

Remove a computer

1. On a Mac you still have, open Settings › Cloud and find Devices. Each computer shows when it was added, when it was last seen and its approximate country.

2. Click Remove… next to the computer.

3. Read the confirmation, Remove “MacBook Air” from Cloud?: “It can’t sync any more, and its key to your Cloud data is replaced. Its own copies of your data stay on it.” Click Remove.

The computer disappears from Devices on all your Macs. Computers you remove can’t sync again until they sign in and are approved. If you find it again, sign in on it and approve it like a new Mac.

Computers it added go with it

A thief with your Mac could approve a computer of their own before you notice. So when you remove a computer, Cloak Proxy also lists any computers that it approved (and any those approved in turn), and removes them in the same step unless you keep them. Keep one only if you approved it yourself and still have it.

If the computer you’re removing made your current Recovery Kit, Cloak Proxy makes a new kit as part of the removal and asks you to save it. Your old kit stops working.

What happens when you remove a computer

1. Your Mac signs the removal onto your account’s list of computers. The list is signed and chained, so the server can’t undo or hide the removal without your other Macs noticing.
2. The removal records how far through the change log your Mac had checked. Anything the removed computer uploads after that point is ignored by every Mac.
3. The server stops accepting changes from the removed computer.
4. Your Mac makes a new account key and shares it only with the computers you still have and with your Recovery Kit. Everything stays readable for them, and nothing new is readable with the old key.

Your other Macs check the removal against each other. If one of them can’t confirm it, it pauses uploads and may ask you Did you do this? Answer Yes, I did this if you made the removal yourself.

Removing a computer can't take back what it already has

The removed computer keeps its own copies of everything it synced before, and anyone who can sign in to it can read them. Removal stops it getting anything new. If secret values synced to it (you ticked Secret variable values), or it held API keys and tokens of its own, change those credentials where they’re issued. Revoke any share links it made: they show in your other Macs’ lists as “not made on this Mac (no key here)”.

If you get a message

Message	What to do
Another computer’s latest changes reached Subcloak while this one was being removed. Try again.	The computer you’re removing uploaded something at the same moment. Click Remove… again.
This account’s device list changed while this was being saved. Try again.	Another computer changed the list first. Try again.
A computer was removed and the account key hasn’t changed yet. Try again in a moment.	A key change is still being finished. Wait a moment and try again.
Too many changes to this account’s computers in the last hour. Try again in … minutes.	Wait, then try again.
… keeps changing this account’s device list, so … couldn’t finish.	A computer keeps changing the list. If you don’t recognize it, or it was lost or stolen, contact support. Until then it can hold up changes to your devices.
Subcloak’s change log doesn’t match the one this Mac checked …	Nothing was changed. The server may be showing your computers different histories. Contact support, and don’t remove or add computers until it’s sorted out.

These messages appear under Devices. A red Check your account’s computers row at the top of This Mac means the last one, or that this Mac is being removed.

If this Mac is the one being removed

If another computer starts removing the Mac you’re using, Settings › Cloud says: Another computer on your account started removing this Mac. If that wasn’t you, use your Recovery Kit. While that’s under way, this Mac can’t upload or change your computers.

If you didn’t start it, someone may have another of your computers. On this Mac, use your Recovery Kit: it signs out every other computer and gives this one a new account key.

Remove this Mac

To take the Mac you’re using off your account, sign out of Personal Cloud on it. The account’s only computer stays on the list when it signs out, so the Recovery Kit can still get the account back.

Related

Recovery KitGet back in when you've lost every Mac.

Review changes from another MacThe Did you do this? prompt.

Add another MacApprove a replacement Mac.

Security and privacyHow removal protects your data.