TrackItBack / Lost Laptop Guide

Lost Laptop at a Café, Airport or Office – What To Do

A missing laptop is more than a piece of hardware gone missing – it’s potentially years of work, personal files and saved logins. This guide focuses on two things: how to improve your chances of getting it back, and how to limit the damage if you never see it again.

The steps below apply to macOS, Windows and Chromebooks. The exact menus look different, but the logic is the same: remote access if you can, then containment.
First response

Step 1 – Confirm where it was last seen

Don’t waste time guessing. Reconstruct your last couple of hours with simple facts, not feelings.

  1. List the last 2–3 places you used the laptop. Café, airport gate, meeting room, coworking desk, taxi, train.
  2. Check your calendar and messages. Meetings, calls or chats often remind you where you were sitting.
  3. Ask staff. At cafés, airports and offices, laptops left on tables usually get picked up quickly by staff for safety.
If staff tell you they found a laptop, describe it clearly: size, color, brand, stickers, case, any distinctive marks. Don’t volunteer unnecessary details like passwords or serial numbers.

Step 2 – Use built-in tracking tools if they were enabled

Laptops are less likely than phones to have tracking turned on, but if you set it up in advance, this is the moment it pays off.

  • macOS: Use Apple’s Find My to see last known location and mark the Mac as lost.
  • Windows: Use Microsoft’s online account to locate and lock supported Windows devices.
  • Chromebooks: While there’s no classic GPS “find my Chromebook” for personal users, managed devices (schools, businesses) may have admin-side options.

If you never enabled any tracking or remote features, you won’t be able to magically switch them on now. Focus instead on cutting off access to your accounts.

Step 3 – Lock down your accounts and data

Assume the laptop may never come back. Your priority is making sure whoever has it can’t turn it into identity theft or blackmail.

High-value accounts to secure first

  • Email accounts – they reset passwords for almost everything.
  • Cloud storage – iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.
  • Work accounts – VPN, internal tools, shared drives.
  • Financial services – online banking, PayPal, trading apps, invoicing tools.
  • Password managers – if the vault is accessible on that device.

For each, change the password on another device and sign out active sessions or revoke device access if the option exists.

Step 4 – Understand your encryption and sign-in situation

How much damage someone can do with your laptop depends heavily on whether full-disk encryption and a strong sign-in password are enabled.

Scenario Risk level What to do
Full-disk encryption ON, strong password Lower – data is hard to access without password. Still change important account passwords and monitor, but focus more on location recovery and official reporting.
No encryption, weak or no password High – files and saved logins are at serious risk. Immediately change passwords, revoke sessions, notify work IT and consider the device completely compromised.
Work / school laptop with device management Moderate – IT may be able to lock or wipe remotely. Contact IT or security team urgently and follow their process.
If you’re reading this before anything is lost: turn on FileVault (macOS) or BitLocker / device encryption (Windows) now. Future you will be very grateful.

Step 5 – Treat work and corporate laptops as security incidents

If the laptop wasn’t really “yours” – it belongs to your employer, school or a client – the situation is more than just an inconvenience.

  • Tell your manager and IT or security team as soon as possible.
  • Be honest about what was on the laptop – email, files, VPN access, stored credentials.
  • Provide rough time, place and any tracking information you have.

Trying to “quietly fix it” yourself can backfire badly if sensitive data leaks later. Most organizations prefer early, accurate reports over silence.

Step 6 – File reports where it actually helps

Not every lost laptop needs three different reports. But there are cases where paperwork matters: insurance, corporate compliance, cross-border travel, or very sensitive work.

  • Police report: if the laptop was likely stolen or contained sensitive work / client data.
  • Transit / venue report: for airports, trains, buses, conferences and coworking spaces.
  • Insurance claim: if your home, travel or business insurance covers electronics.