Can A Laptop Be Tracked If Its Off? 3+ Methods

Losing precious belongings can be quite devastating, especially if you have unrecoverable data present on them.

Such data can be both in the form of digital or physical form and once it is stolen or lost by any chance, no amount of money can bring it back.

However, one good thing about digital data is that, unlike physical data, it leaves some form of digital footprint which can be tracked, if you are actually lucky enough.

Although The method of recovery or tracing might differ from one device to another such as a smartphone or a laptop, nonetheless, it is not impossible to do so.

But, the prospect of successful location tracking methods drastically decreases if your device such as a laptop isn’t by any chance turned on. 

The reason and logic behind tracking powered-off laptops is that tracking electronic devices solely relies on a stable internet connection and without electricity running through an electronic device, things might seem a little bit woeful.

And if you are an individual that has found themselves in such a dire situation and has their gaze onto the million dollar question “Can a laptop be tracked if its off”, my article on this topic may sound a little comforting to your stressed ears.

Can A Laptop Be Tracked If It’s Off?

Losing your laptop is the worst thing that can happen to anybody but don’t worry, all hope is not yet lost, here are some ways you can get your beloved laptop back that you have bought with your hard-earned cash.

Although it may sound obvious, let me inform you beforehand some of these methods may or may not be as favorable in your situation, which is why I insist you read all the methods mentioned below.

1. Through Airtags

Sometimes in order to keep your precious belongings safe is to have some sort of security measure beforehand, one of these countermeasures includes buying Airtags.

Airtags is a proprietary name given to small button-sized tracking chips by the infamous Smartphone Company, Apple. 

These button-sized chips are powered by small lithium cells and can be easily placed or stuck to any surface and can be quite subtle.

These nifty yet compact tracking chips ping the current location of themselves and whatever it is attached to, however, they do cost a pretty penny and require you to buy and stick them onto any surface of your laptop beforehand.

Moreover, these airbags also require you to pair them with your smartphone, so it can ping its location to you onto your cell phone.

Nonetheless, they are very effective and surprisingly have praiseworthy range and precision and successfully manage to give you its pinpoint device location with ease.

2. Through Computrace Agent

Straight out of Sci Fi movies, the Computrace Agent is a super effective and highly potent tracing software that ensures your belongings remain with you by keeping the intruders and potential theft at bay.

It is basically LoJack for laptops that embeds itself in the bios of your laptops. The tracking agent is made by a company called Absolute Software, and the best part is that it supports a massive range of laptops.

However, the only downside is that it can be a little expensive and is a subscription-based special software, which means it only works for a certain time period and may need renewal after your subscription expires.

But, I believe as long as you get your laptop and your precious data back, no countermeasure is too expensive.

3. Through iCloud 

The best part about Apple Devices such as a MacBook is that it has top-notch security remedies to ensure no data breaches take place, however, if your MacBook itself gets lost or stolen, you can track it through your iCloud.

Prior to doing so, you should enable your “Find My Mac” settings in your Macbook. In this way, you can view its location by visiting the ICloud.com website and logging in with your credentials.

This will show the last known location of your MacBook which will give you a rough idea of where your MacBook has been so that you further investigate and look for it and recover it successfully.

Although I agree this method might not be as effective as the one mentioned above, it might still sort you out.

4. Johnny Law

Johnny Law, or in simpler terms the police might help you get your laptop back and as cheesy and obvious it may sound, they are quite effective and all you have to do is report your laptop as stolen and hand over information such as your laptop mac address.

This will give the police a heads up for your stolen laptop if by any chance it does show up on their network database of stolen devices.

Due to security concerns, their work methods and the technology used are a tad bit confidential, however, trust me, they are one of the best leads for you in order to find your laptop.

Bottom Line – Can a Laptop Be Tracked If Its Off

These are some of the most well-known methods you can use to track your laptop and get it back in your hands safely. Although losing it in the first place might sound a little bit harrowing, your efforts might not be in vain after all because all hope is not yet lost and there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope this article has been quite helpful and you may have found your answers regarding can a laptop be tracked if it’s off or not, feel free to ping me in the comment section below if you have any questions.