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Lost Mode Support

  • Last Updated April 3, 2026

Topic

This article explains how to configure Lost Mode support for your Apple or Android devices enrolled in NinjaOne Mobile Device Management (MDM).

Environment

  • NinjaOne Mobile Device Management
  • Apple iOS and iPadOS
  • Android OS

Description

Lost Mode support for NinjaOne MDM empowers you to lock a device when it has been reported lost or stolen. You can also define a message and contact information to display on the device.

Connecting Lost Mode support with geolocation settings is not required, but it will permit you to retrieve the location of a lost device. Refer to NinjaOne Mobile Device Management (MDM): Location Tracking for more information.

Index

Select a category to learn more:

Activate Lost Mode for Your Devices

NinjaOne only supports Lost Mode for company-owned or supervised devices. Refer to NinjaOne Apple MDM: Understanding "Supervised" vs "Unsupervised" to understand the requirements for a supervised mobile device.

  1. To activate lost mode, navigate to the Location tracking tab on the device dashboard.
  2. Click Actions and select Lost mode → Enable lost mode.
mdm_enable lost mode.png
Figure 1: Activate lost mode for a device in NinjaOne
  1. Enter contact information for your lost device and then click Enable lost mode.
  2. Alternatively, you can find the lost device in the Global Search and perform the action from there. Select Lost mode → Enable lost mode.
mdm_search_take action.png
Figure 2: Perform an action on the device from NinjaOne Global Search

Add Custom Messaging for Lost Mode

You can add a custom message to the device screen when you activate lost mode. In the Enable lost mode dialog, enter your instructions into the Custom message text field.

mdm_enable lost mode_custom message.png
Figure 3: Add custom messaging for a device in lost mode

What Happens During Lost Mode?

When you activate lost mode for a device, the device's location will be immediately reported on the device dashboard in NinjaOne. For Apple devices, the device location command will trigger every five minutes, and for Android devices, this data is provided in the usage logs. You can also manually request the current location for an iOS device from the Location tracking tab.

android_device info_lost mode and tracking data.png
Figure 4: View lost mode data on the device dashboard

Lost Mode will be visible in NinjaOne when a device meets the following criteria:

  • The technician has the Update device permission.
  • The device is supervised or company-owned.

The following events will create a dashboard activity in NinjaOne:

  • Lost Mode created
  • Lost Mode creation success or failure
  • Lost Mode alarm action created
  • Lost Mode alarm action success or failure
  • Lost Mode location request
  • Lost Mode location request success or failure
  • Lost Mode deactivated
  • Lost Mode deactivated success or failure

Search For Devices with Lost Mode Active

To quickly find all devices with Lost Mode active in NinjaOne, use the MDM – Lost mode active search filter on the Devices search page.

devices_search lost mode active.png
Figure 5: Find devices with lost mode active in NinjaOne

Deactivate Lost Mode

To deactivate lost mode, perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the Location tracking tab on the device dashboard.
  2. Click Actions and select Lost mode → Disable lost mode.
  3. Alternatively, you can find the lost device in the Global Search and perform the action from there. Select Lost mode → Disable lost mode.

Additional Resources

Refer to NinjaOne MDM: Resource Catalog to learn more about NinjaOne MDM. Refer to the following external resources for assistance with your device management.

FAQ

Next Steps