Prey for Mac – Review

Apple’s current notebook line is among the most impressive the company has ever released. From the extreme portability of the MacBook Air, to the portable powerhouse of the i7 MacBook Pro, Apple’s notebooks have become so advanced that they deliver a desktop caliber experience without compromise. Unfortunately with the rising prevalence of notebook Macs, the rate of computer related theft has increased as well. While several anti-theft solutions have emerged to assist users in tracking down lost or stolen machines, they typically require a subscription fee of some sort. Though services such as LoJack and MacTrak more than justify their respective subscription rates, unfortunately they aren’t always an affordable option for students on a budget.

Recently, friend and fellow Small Dogger Allen Evans recommended an excellent open source and free alternative he discovered on Simply Mac for protecting your Mac against theft. The service is called Prey and it is a free anti-theft utility for OS X and a variety of other operating systems. Combining a series of powerful features, Prey allows users to remotely track missing machines, capture images of a thief via webcam, and manage personal data on the machine’s hard drive. With a few clicks users can lock down their machines entirely, conceal personal data, and triangulate a thief’s position over WiFi. Prey also features a set of alerts that can be used to catch a potential thief off guard. Users can remotely trigger an alarm or display a message on their missing machine’s screen.

To gain access to these features, users simply have to create a Prey account, download (direct link) the software and enable it on their machine. Should a computer go missing, users only need to login to their account and report the machine as lost or stolen.

Though I’ve installed Prey on my MacBook Pro, I thankfully haven’t had to put it to the test. Though I can’t vouch for it based on personal experience, user feedback–or at least that highlighted on the company’s site–seems positive. My immediate concern was for my own privacy (what does the company do with reports and images generated while trying to track down a machine) but the FAQs page assures that all data is kept confidential. Though it may not be backed with the same guarantees as certain paid anti-theft clients, Prey is an excellent option when you consider it is entirely free.

Lifehacker has put together a short YouTube video highlighting some of Prey’s top features in action here