Prey: A Powerful Recovery Tool For Tracking Your Missing Laptop Or iOS Device
Basically you install a tiny agent in your PC or phone, which silently waits for a remote signal to wake up and work its magic.
This signal is sent either from the Internet or through an SMS message, and allows you to gather information regarding the device’s location, hardware and network status, and optionally trigger specific actions on it.
Recover What Is Rightfully Yours
You can quickly find out where your computer is located, who’s using it, and what he’s doing on it thanks to Prey’s powerful reports system.
By marking your device as missing, Prey will gather all the evidence you request and send it either to your Control Panel account or directly to your mailbox, depending on the reporting method you choose.
They Can Run But They Can’t Hide
Besides gathering information, you can also trigger actions remotely such as sounding a loud alarm or showing a message which will appear onscreen just in case you want the guy to know he’s being chased at.
You can also wipe your stored passwords for security, or even lock down your PC to prevent access. In other words, you’re in control. Next
There’s two ways in which you can send Prey the activation signal and get the reports.
1. Prey + Control Panel
– Recommended for most users. You monitor your devices on Prey’s web Control Panel, where you can watch new reports arrive and manage specific settings, such as changing the frequency for reports and actions. You can add up to three devices for free, and can optionally upgrade to a Pro Account in case you wish to bypass this limit.
2. Prey Standalone
– For advanced users who wish more control. In this case, reports fly directly to your inbox but you need to set up your SMTP settings, and more importantly, you must generate a valid web URL which will trigger Prey to wake up when deleted — otherwise Prey will keep sending reports on each interval! (For more information please check our FAQ).
Key Features
100% Geolocation Aware
– Prey uses either the device’s GPS or the nearest WiFi hotspots to triangulate and grab a fix on its location. It’s shockingly accurate.
Wifi Autoconnect
– If enabled, Prey will attempt to hook onto to the nearest open WiFi hotspot when no Internet connection is found.
Light As A Feather
– Prey has very few dependencies and doesn’t even leave a memory footprint until activated.
Know Your Enemy
-Take a picture of the thief with your laptop’s webcam so you know what he looks like and where he’s hiding. Powerful evidence.
Watch Their Movements
– Grab a screenshot of the active session – if you’re lucky you may catch the guy logged into his email or Facebook account!
Keep your data safe
– Hide your Outlook or Thunderbird data and optionally remove your stored passwords, so no one will be able to look into your stuff.
No unauthorized access
– Fully lock down your PC, making it unusable unless a specific password is entered. The guy won’t be able to do a thing!
Scan your hardware
– Get a complete list of your PC’s CPU, motherboard, RAM, and BIOS information. Works great when used with Active Mode.
Full Auto Updater
– Prey can check its current version and automagically fetch and update itself, so you don’t need to manually reinstall each time.
Prey for iOS: The Inner Workings
The developers say that when they began drawing sketches, trying to imagine what the iPhone client for Prey would look like, it sure looked easy-peasy. But when they actually put our hands into it, they bumped into a number of things they had to sort out to make Prey work the way thery wanted to, and of course, without breaking any of Apple’s rules. So it took longer than expected but the work is now done, and the wait finally over.
Prey is now available for iPhones and iPads at the App Store. Open source, for free, tested and ready to kick some burglar butt.
Heres a detailed explanation of how the iOS client actually works.
Keeping the bird watchful
The first thing that Prey does after being installed on a device, is to add a hook for iOS Significant Location Change (SLC) service. This provides a way for Prey to be woken up when needed, using the least possible amount of battery.
What the SLC service does, internally, is to instruct the phone or tablet to poke Prey every time it connects to a different cell antenna. Once Prey receives that poke, it will ask the Control Panel about its status, very much like the desktop and laptop version does using Cron or CronSVC.
What comes next, you already know: if the device is marked as missing, Prey will begin to send new reports. If it isnt, it will simply go back to sleep and wait until it is poked again, when the phone connects to another cell antenna.
So, the first difference with the laptop/desktop version is that on iOS the delay between reports and actions isnt a fixed, regular interval, but rather a semi random one which is triggered when phones move from one location to another. Pro users, however, do have On-Demand activation available in the Control Panel, that activates Prey in a glimpse without having to wait. Just as it works on PCs and Android devices.
Regardless of the way you sent the signal either pull (interval) or push (On-Demand) Prey will send reports until the device is unflagged as missing in the Control Panel.
The main reason why Prey uses the SLC listener from iOS is simple: if it didnt, it would need to be opened by the person holding the device in order to work. This way, Prey can run silently in the background, without giving any indication to the guy who took your phone that hes being chased.
The SLC service as well as support for background apps was added on iOS 4.0, so unfortunately Prey wont work on older versions of iOS. So if youre running an earlier version then it may be time to update!
Geo Module Accuracy
On iOS devices, Prey’s Geo module includes a accuracy option which defines the frequency it will poll iOS for a new geolocation fix. As you may imagine, more accuracy means more battery consumption, but also a higher level of precision about your phones current location.
We suggest you try different options, so you get a better idea of the level of accuracy and the delay between reports. This is important because when setting the accuracy to the lowest level, Prey may not get a new fix from the iOS in a while so reports may take longer to arrive than expected. In the end, it all depends on how fast the person holding the phone moves around.
Front-Facing Camera Support
If your iPhone or iPad has a front facing camera then youll be happy to know that Prey’s iOS client supports it. This is how it works.
As soon as you push the On-Demand button, a predefined message will be displayed on your device (like the one on the right). Once the thief moves the slider, Prey will take a picture using the built-in camera, while a random bank page is opened showing a Loading message. This way we can get the thiefs attention so that he looks right into the camera lens when the picture is taken.
Unfortunately, Apple only allows the use of the camera when the application is running on the foreground, so the webcam module won’t work if the application is sent to the background.
In other words, if youre not a Pro user youll need the app to be running in the foreground for the Webcam module to work (i.e. the user must tap the Prey icon on the phone, which is not likely to happen). If you are Pro, however, youll be able to send the On-Demand, push notification that, if opened, will raise the app to the foreground.
The bottom line is that if you want to take pictures remotely, you’ll probably want to upgrade to Pro.
Camouflage Mode
If you installed the app on your device then you probably saw an option called Camouflage Mode. When Camouflage is enabled, a random image is shown instead of the Prey logo when the apps icon is tapped by the user. This is just to trick the guy into thinking that Prey is a game and not the reason of his future arrest.
What you can and probably should do is to move the Prey icon into one of iOSs subfolders (like Utilities, which includes the Clock and Calculator). This way the thief won’t notice the application at a first glance.
For more information, visit:
http://preyproject.com/