Mac App Review – Hidden
As time goes on, we rely more and more on portability. Laptops, iPhones, iPads (soon) have a common presence around the community, though this increases the chance of them being stolen.
If you are a MobileMe user, then Find My iPhone is a essential tool for your iPhone. Though, what about your laptop, is their an option for that? As the FBI have reported, 97% of stolen computers are never recovered. There are a couple of apps out there right now, but can set you back with a burden in your pocket, with most having annual fees included.
So taking this into account, the some guys from Flipcode Ltd over in Britian have come up with a brand new app, Hidden. Hidden can track your laptop’s location, plus provide you with photos from the iSight’s camera and more. How much do you ask? A one off fee of $20 per laptop. Not much to have a ‘just-in-case’ policy for your laptop.
Read on as we look further at what Hidden has to offer.
Setting up
Tracking Control Panel
This could not be any easier. Once you have signed up, you input your laptop’s serial number and get a small file to download to install on your laptop. The small application runs in the background and is very non-CPU-hungry. The only place where you can see that Hidden is running is in Activity Monitor and you can only uninstall it by deleting a file located at a secret location with the administrator password. Once installed, go onto the Hidden website and check whether the laptop has registered correctly. If so, you’re done!
My laptop has been stolen!
Collecting Information
This is where Hidden really shines. All you do is go to your Tracking Control Panel on the Hidden website and mark your laptop as ‘Stolen’. Then Hidden goes straight away to your laptop (if it is on and connected to the internet), and starts collecting information about it. Within a few minutes, you will be able to see a estimated location on Google Maps (with lattitude/longitude and accuracy, usually to around 100m), a screenshot, a photo from the iSight but also Packets, which include the IP address, a traceroute and a ifconfig. Sometimes this can take a while to do, but patience is the key!
Retrieved Information
Until you change the status of your laptop to ‘Not Stolen’ again, Hidden will retrieve new information every so often. This provides an updated location if they have moved, plus a new screenshot, iSight photo and a new Packet. This information then can be passed onto your ISP and the Police. It also should be noted that when the status is ‘Not Stolen’, that no information is collected from your laptop. Also on their website, they state that people who frequently change their laptop’s status to ‘Stolen’ will be banned. This is so their servers are free enough for people who actually need it.
Interface
The only real interface is on their website, as that is where all the tracking is done. Though saying this, their website has been designed with looks and simplicity in mind. It is extremely easy to use and presents all the information neatly.
Conclusion
Hidden is a extremely simple, yet powerful app which gives you peace of mind just in case your laptop is stolen. The online interface is nicely designed and information collected from your laptop is useful and can significantly help you to retrieve your laptop. Often though, the time to retrieve information can be slow, but this would be the limitations of the software. Though, Hidden performs extremely well and has not once played up while reviewing it . The information retrieved currently is small compared with other apps, but is sufficient enough to help substantially in getting your laptop back. Though, the app has just been released and the developers have promised more features in the near future.
But of course, one of the strongest selling features of Hidden is it’s superb price. At only $20 per laptop for it’s lifetime, it’s something which you can do once and just forget about it until you should need it in the future. Plus, if you are currently with another service and make the move, you can get 10% off. I highly recommended this app if you currently don’t use something like this or are not happy with the one that you are using now. With promise of more features soon, I look forward to the future of Hidden.
If you have any further questions about Hidden, have a opinion or sign up, please leave a comment below!
Version reviewed: 1.0
Price: $20 for lifetime of one computer
Developer: Flipcode Ltd
Size: 1.1MB
Hidden Website
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