This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple retail store genius who answers all your questions about working at an Apple Store. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.
This week our Genius dishes on how to make sure technicians don’t snoop through your personal data when you bring your Mac into the Genius Bar to get fixed. We also talk about the most polite ways to explain to a genius that you’re not an idiot, as well as other secrets the Genius Bar staff won’t tell you.
Got a question you want an inside scoop on? Send us your questions and the answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.
A: I don’t think technicians are accessing people’s data as often as the internet confessions make it sound. Sure, there have been abuses, just as with any other company, people can’t always be trusted to follow policy or respect privacy.
For me and my coworkers, it’s never been a question. We have far too many other repairs and tasks to bother with anybody’s personal data, aside from the many practices and procedures of the store that prevent such abuses like requiring more than one technician in the Genius Room while doing repairs.
If you don’t like the idea of your data possibly being accessed while it’s in for service, you may want to create a Time Machine backup of your Mac and erase its contents for service. For very sensitive information, one might go as far to zero all the data on the disk multiple times, but no one in the Genius Room is going to try to recover data on a disk. Then again, I don’t know what you might be trying to hide.
To erase and reinstall OS X, create a Time Machine or other backup of your preferences on an external hard drive and check to make sure the contents are intact. Afterwards, restart your Mac and hold down the “Command + R” keys to boot to the recovery disk. Then you can go to disk utility and select your startup disk and erase it. Once erased, you can reinstall Mac OS X and set up the Mac so your technician can boot it up. Once service is complete, restore your data to your Mac using Migration Assistant or your method of choice.
Q: What is the least douchey way to explain to an Apple Genius that I know a fair bit about computers to skip past the dumbed-down troubleshooting, questions and explanations?
A: I love it when people come in and they can explain the problem clearly. Tell your technician what troubleshooting steps you have taken to reproduce or fix the issue. Explaining the issue clearly and describing proper steps for determining the need for service tells me you know what you’re talking about. It also helps speed up the process. There may be some required procedures — as in any other warranty or paid service — but hopefully your explanation has answered most of these and will make the process quicker.
Q: What are some of craziest things you seen while working on someone’s computer?
A: I actually haven’t seen anything that ridiculous…There are so many customers to help that most geniuses don’t have time to run through your iPhone or MacBook and see all your naked selfies — but that hasn’t stopped some customer’s private stuff from just popping up. One time I was helping a mom and her 17-year-old son who had a problem with his iPhone.
I had the kid unlock the iPhone and then proceeded to troubleshoot his Wi-Fi issue. Keep in mind that I always make sure to keep the customer’s screen visible to them so they can see what I’m doing on their device. So I opened up Safari to run some diagnostics and the first thing that came up was a big porn site with huge images of the some of the best, most vile debauchery the world has to offer. I closed the tab as quickly as I could, but the damage was done. His mom saw it and just exploded — launching into a loud, anti-porn rant right there in the store.
That was awkward.
