Prey for Mobile Devices will request all the necessary permissions at the moment of installation; however, in order to correctly track and execute security actions on your device, certain manufacturers require additional permissions to be granted manually. If your device is not on this list, and you see connection issues, please check our articles on connectivity issues.
Android
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- Access the native Security app
- Navigate to the “Manage apps” section
- Select “Prey” from the list, and toggle the Autostart option to On.
- Allow Prey to display popups while running in the background.
- Go back to the main screen of the Security app and select “Battery Settings”.
- Make sure the option No Restrictions is selected.
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- Access the native Optimizer app.
- Navigate to the Battery section.
- Select App launch.
- In the list, toggle Prey’s “Manage manually” option to On and then select it.
- Toggle Auto-launch, Secondary launch and Run in background On.
Additional considerations
- Location services must be always on, with the highest possible accuracy (usually a combination of Wi-fi triangulation and native GPS capabilities).
- Power-saving modes and any other automatic battery saving measures must be turned off at all times.
- The app must be able to always run in the background and not be subject to any battery optimization measure. You can review a list by manufacturer and model here.
- If you’re having issues with uninstallation or with the functionality of the Prey for Android client, please check this dedicated articles on known issues for Android and how to uninstall Prey.
iOS
Even if Prey is available on the App Store, Prey for iOS capabilities are heavily limited due to the OS. We do not recommend to install Prey on iOS devices, unless you are absolutely sure you are not going to close the app under any circumstance.
Prey for iOS requires the app to be running in the background at all times in order to correctly fetch location data and push security actions. While there’s no sure-fire way to prevent any user from closing the app, whenever an action is requested from the client Prey will push a notification that can be interacted with in order to wake the app up.
Keep in mind that, in order for Prey to work correctly, any battery optimization measure must be turned off.
The permissions that need to be set for Prey to work in optimal conditions are as follows:
- Location: Always enabled.
- Camera: Enabled.
- Notifications: Tap on them and enable everything.
- Background App Refresh: Enabled. Prey will check your device's information constantly, as long as it's connected to the internet, even if locked.
You can review these permissions by entering the Settings app and tapping on Prey.