You've left your MacBook Air behind ... even though the MacBook has been powered down for a day.

[The Cockney Rebel]

Lovely feature, don't get me wrong, but does this sound right to you?

Is the MacBook Air consuming power & sending out a signal, even though it's completely powered down?

Not a moan, or a rant, just an enquiry.

Wishing you all well.

 

[iJest]

It says that when I have my MacBook right next to me in a laptop bag while I'm driving. I think it just sends out information on the last known device location so that if you leave that location, it lets you know. It can be annoying, sure, but it's saved me a few times when I left my laptop behind somewhere. So I'll deal with the minor annoyances over peace of mind that I didn't leave my tech behind.

So I don't think the laptop itself has some power-reserve mode for sending out location information, because like I said, it's given me this notification while it's literally right next to me, it just saves the last location data the last time it was powered on.

The newer iPhones, however, can still send out GPS location data even when the phone is turned "off" ... so these devices do have a power-reserve for GPS coordinates in case your phone is stolen or lost. They will probably implement these in newer laptops (if they haven't already, I haven't been keeping track).

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

It says that when I have my MacBook right next to me in a laptop bag while I'm driving. I think it just sends out information on the last known device location so that if you leave that location, it lets you know. It can be annoying, sure, but it's saved me a few times when I left my laptop behind somewhere. So I'll deal with the minor annoyances over peace of mind that I didn't leave my tech behind.

So I don't think the laptop itself has some power-reserve mode for sending out location information, because like I said, it's given me this notification while it's literally right next to me, it just saves the last location data the last time it was powered on.

The newer iPhones, however, can still send out GPS location data even when the phone is turned "off" ... so these devices do have a power-reserve for GPS coordinates in case your phone is stolen or lost. They will probably implement these in newer laptops (if they haven't already, I haven't been keeping track).

Thanks for that.

Makes perfect sense.

Cheers.

 

[iJest]

Thanks for that.

Makes perfect sense.

Cheers.

No problem. If it does bug you, when the notification pops up, you can tell it to remember the location as a safe location and it won't notify you anymore. I don't do this, though, as sometimes I forget my tech at home. 😅

You can also turn it off entirely, but I don't recommend that.

 

[nnc]

I don't have a MacBook Air, but I got a similar message on my Watch shortly after I powered down my iPhone. I had stopped at a rest stop. I realized the phone was overheating (from navigating with Google Maps with the screen staying lit, and mounted on the dashboard, in the sun), so I shut it off. Shortly after getting back on the road, I got the message on my watch. It knew that its location was separated from the last known location of my phone. If I had actually left the phone behind, I could have gone back. I thought this was a cool feature.

Edited after reading the above replies! Thanks! By the way, my Watch is GPS only, so I know that works!