Track Missing Devices in Real Time With Senturo Missing Mode

For most schools, keeping track of devices gets more difficult every day. Laptops and tablets don’t stay on campus. They go home with students, travel between classrooms, and wander over to wherever the learning is happening. Your school IT team no longer has physical control over those devices, but you’re not alone. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 88% of U.S. public schools had a 1:1 computing program during the 2024–25 school year, and, among those schools, 46% allowed students to take school-issued devices home on school days and weekends.

So when one of your devices goes missing, knowing where it was last seen isn’t always enough.

That’s where Senturo Missing Mode comes in handy. Under normal monitoring, Senturo will ping a laptop’s location to your team every 10 minutes. But when you switch to Senturo Missing Mode, that’s when the fun really starts. Once it’s activated, your team will get live location updates every 60 seconds, as long as the device is online.

Do you have to be hovering over the “switch it” button 24/7, in case a laptop is reported missing? Only if you like that kind of thing. Yes, you can switch to Missing Mode manually, or you can let Senturo Security Policy Automations kick off the recovery process automatically for you when your predefined conditions are met.

What Happens When Missing Mode Is On?

Once Missing Mode is active, you get a clear picture of what’s happening with (or to) the missing device, including things like:

• Current or most recently reported location, so you can see where the device was a minute ago.
• Location history, so you can see where it’s been and if it’s moving. Senturo can keep location histories for up to 24 months, depending on the retention period you’ve specified. 
• IP address and network information: Is it connected to an unexpected network?
• Recent device activity, for more context.
• Most recently signed-in user, where that’s supported.
• Screenshots are available on supported Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS devices when configured.
• A log of recovery actions and administrative activity, so you can keep track of what recovery actions have already been taken, which will give you an idea of what you need to do next. 

Taken together, this information can help you be more informed about the next action to take than if you relied on a single last-known location.

How to Manually Activate Missing Mode in Senturo

So, what does it actually look like when a device goes missing? Activating Missing Mode manually is super straightforward.

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When an employee, student, other user, or a member of your helpdesk reports a device as lost, stolen, or unreturned, any authorized administrator can activate Missing Mode directly in Senturo using these steps:

Device → Management → Device Status → Missing Mode

Once the device receives the status change and communicates with Senturo, live recovery tracking begins.

How To Activate Senturo Missing Mode Automatically

What if Senturo could spot the warning signs before someone actually reports a device missing? You don’t always know a device is missing the moment it actually goes missing. With Senturo Security Policy Automations, you can set the recovery process in motion automatically when a device behaves in a way that suggests something might be wrong, based on conditions that you’ve predefined.

At the moment, you can define:

• Authorized/Unauthorized areas. Using Geofence parameters, you can automate Missing Mode when a device leaves an authorized area or enters an unauthorized one. 
• Approved IP ranges with IP Fencing.
• The length of a check-in period: Senturo Agent Phone Home will trip an alert when the device stops checking in for the period you’ve configured.

Why Tracking and Security Actions Work Together

Finding a missing device is only part of the recovery process. Once you know where a device is, the next question is deciding what to do with that information, and that may depend on the situation. If your priority is getting the device back, then location tracking is important. But if the device contains sensitive data, then securing it and preventing access to that data becomes a priority.

That’s why Senturo separates location tracking from security actions, while allowing them to work together. Senturo’s main security actions that work alongside Missing Mode are:

• Senturo Lock, which restricts access to the device data, and 
• Senturo Wipe, which removes supported files, while still allowing you to track the device.

Note that Senturo Lock can only be activated if you’ve already switched to Missing Mode. 

How to Build an Automated Recovery Workflow

Once you’ve automated Missing Mode using the geofencing, etc. conditions, it’s easy to extend that automated workflow for the whole recovery process by chaining several Senturo Security Policy Automation actions together. For example:

Device leaves geofence → Set Missing Mode → Pull current location → Apply Senturo Lock → Notify IT

Instead of simply generating an alert for your IT team when a device leaves an authorized area, the policy can begin collecting current recovery information and securing the device as part of a single workflow. The subsequent reduction in response time gives you more chance to recover the device in situations where it’s been stolen.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does Senturo Missing Mode do?

Senturo Missing Mode switches a device from routine monitoring to almost-live, every-60-second recovery tracking so you can follow its location more closely.

How often does Senturo Missing Mode update a device's location?

Missing Mode checks for updated location information every 60 seconds while the device is online and communicating with Senturo.

Can Senturo activate Missing Mode automatically?

Yes. Senturo can activate Missing Mode when a device crosses a geofence, connects from an unapproved network, or stops checking in for a defined period.

Does Missing Mode lock the device?

No. That’s the job of Senturo Lock. Missing Mode starts live tracking and must be active before Senturo Lock can be applied. Senturo Lock then restricts access to the device.

Can Senturo track a device in Missing Mode if it is offline?

No. If a device is powered off or disconnected, it can’t send location information to Senturo, but you can still review previously reported information, such as its last known location, its location history, and the recent network the device connected to. But as soon as the device reconnects, it will resume reporting and any queued recovery actions will be deployed.

Which device management platforms can Senturo work with?

Senturo works alongside Microsoft Intune, Jamf Pro, Google Admin, Cisco Meraki, and Incident IQ.