Prey is designed to keep your device connected to our servers. If a device appears as Offline in the Prey Panel even though the computer is turned on, it usually means that the Prey client has temporarily stopped communicating with our servers.
This can happen for several reasons, including the device being asleep, no user being logged in, network restrictions, or the Prey client running an outdated version.
Common reasons a device may appear offline
The computer is asleep, inactive, or has no logged-in user
When a computer enters sleep mode, the operating system may interrupt the Prey client's connection to our servers.
The client should reconnect when the computer becomes active again.
Make sure that:
- The computer is powered on.
- It has an active internet connection.
- The computer is no longer in sleep mode.
- A user is logged in and has an active session.
A firewall, proxy, antivirus, or security solution is blocking Prey
Prey runs at the system level, so corporate security policies may prevent the Prey client from reaching our servers.
This can happen when a firewall, antivirus, proxy, VPN, or other security solution blocks the client's network traffic.
For environments with outbound traffic restrictions, make sure that the required Prey destinations are allowed. Please refer to our guide on how to whitelist Prey in your security solution.
The Prey client is outdated
Prey clients normally update automatically. However, an update can be blocked or prevented by operating system or security restrictions, leaving the device running an outdated version.
Check the Prey client version shown in the device view in your Prey Panel.
If the device is running an outdated version, please follow our dedicated guides:
If the device is still offline
If you have checked the above and the device still does not reconnect, contact Prey Support from your Prey Panel and provide the device key—a 6-character alphanumeric code of the affected device.
You can find the device key in your browser's address bar when viewing the affected device in the Prey Panel.