How to Use Scheduled Automations

Available for

✗ Prey Tracking
✗ Prey Protection
✔︎ Prey Full Suite

Prey automations allow fleet Managers to schedule Prey actions on their devices, such as the Lock, Alert, and Alarm, to be executed upon a specific trigger, like a specific date, time, or change in conditions. For instance, a curfew lock can be set from Monday to Friday at 6 pm to deter out-of-hours device usage.

How do Automations Work?

Automations were designed to save you time by streamlining actions you would otherwise have to execute manually. By setting up automation rules, you can trust that an event will trigger an action.

Which events can trigger an automation?

You can select one of the following time rule-based options:

Exact time: Set an action with a specific date and execution time.
Repeat in time: Set one to be executed on specific days and hours, recurrently or in a date range.

Or you can select one of the following events:

Low battery: Activate a reaction when the device’s OS detects that the battery power level is low.
Hardware changes: Trigger a response when Prey detects a change of hardware in a device. Hardware changes are any hardware component changes that occur since the last connection with Prey, specifically, System, Motherboard, CPU, RAM or Network Interfaces.
Stop Charging: Detect when a device has been unplugged from its power source and react to it.
Start Charging: Detect when a device has been plugged to its power source and react to it.
Device not connected to Prey: Triggers an action when a pre-defined number of days have passed with the device not checking-in to the Prey servers.

Due to limitations placed by Apple on iOS devices, only time rule-based options and the low battery event are available for iOS. Device not connected to Prey is not available for mobile devices.

How to Create Automations

First of all, select the Automations tab from your panel menu.

Afterwards, name your automation in the field marked below. Something that is easy for you to remember why it was created is always a good advice.

Next, select the rule that you would like to trigger the automation. Click on the drop-down list to chose the event that applies to the purpose of your automation, as per the following screenshot:

Available Triggers

Exact time

Click on the Date field, and a calendar will appear that will allow you to choose the date in which you want your automation to run. Do the same for the Hour field, for the time when you want the action to be triggered.

Repeat in time

For actions that will repeat in time, select the days of the week in which you want the action to be executed, and the time at which it will be triggered. You may also set an optional date to stop executing the automation in the Until field.

Low battery, Hardware Changes, Start Charging, Stop Charging

For these events, you can optionally add a time rule to execute the action; to do that, just click on the Add Time Rule button as seen below:

Afterwards, select the type of rule you'd like to add. You can use From - To to select a date range (for instance, from March 1st to March 20th) or Days and Time Range for the automation to be repeated in time (for instance, every Monday from 6pm to 7pm) with an optional date in which the automation will run for the last time.

Device not connected to Prey

For this trigger, all you have to do is enter the number of days you want to go by after the device stopped connecting to the Prey servers before the action will be executed.

Once you're done setting-up how your automation will behave, it's time to select the action you would like to run when it's triggered, in the section highlighted below:

You can send a Message, sound an Alarm for 30 seconds, Lock the device behind a custom password (not available for iOS), or Mark as Missing, which will start gathering location and device data to generate missing reports. Once you're happy with the configuration, it's time to add the devices that you want to be affected by this automation.

You can select individual devices by clicking on the blue Select button, or add all of the devices in your account by clicking the toggle on top of the device list. You can also search specific devices by entering the device's name in the search field. Afterwards, just click Save Automation, and the automation will be set up in the selected devices once they're online.

Reviewing your Automations

You can review all the automations in the main screen of the Automations tab.

On the highlighted section, you will be able to see all your created automations. If you click on an automation, you'll be able to review its details and delete it if needed. Let's see that information in further detail.

Keep in mind that automations cannot be modified. If you need to change the devices that will be affected, modify the actions that will execute, or alter the trigger, you will have to delete the automation and create a new one.

1. Automation name: Here you can find the name you've chosen for your automation.
2. Delete button: This button will delete the automation, and remove it from all devices being affected by it.
2. Automation details: In this section, you can find the event that will trigger the automation, whether it will repeat in time or not, and when it will end. You'll also be able to see any details on the action that will be executed.
4. Device list: The device list will show you all the devices that have been added to the automation, along with devices that are currently waiting for the trigger, and devices that still need to connect to the internet in order to be added.

Once the last instance of a recurring automation executes, it will no longer be in the Active section, and will be moved to the Archived section. If you wish to delete an archived automation, just follow the same directions as for an active automation.

We're sure Automations can help you save a lot of time in contrast to manual tasks, so just give them a try! If you need any assistance in setting them up, or require any help whatsoever, drop us a line to help@preyproject.com and our support team will be more than happy to help you!