Wellington, New Zealand – Presence, the remote file access app for Mac and iOS, has had its price reduced to $4.99 for a three month subscription, with a 14 day free trial. It previously had a one-off cost of $40. The Mac app has entered the App Store for the first time, and the iOS client has been updated with a fresh look for iOS 7.

Presence provides internet access to all of a Mac’s files from iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC – securely and from anywhere. Files and folders can also be shared with other people. This is ideal for sending large files or for giving someone access to part of your Mac. You can also look through your Mac’s camera from anywhere in the world.

Presence puts your Mac in the cloud rather than copying files elsewhere, making it a more flexible and private alternative to Dropbox and other cloud services.

What’s New:
Presence’s change to a subscription model has lowered the price of entry to $4.99, making the app accessible to more people. It previously required an outright purchase of $40 for a permanent licence.

When first installed, all features are free to try for 14 days. After this, an in-app purchase of a three month subscription is required to keep Presence fully-functional. This costs $4.99. Without the subscription, Presence is limited to browsing and taking photos through the Mac’s camera. The subscription does not auto-renew, but users are reminded to resubscribe before it expires.

Also new is Presence’s move to the Mac App Store; the Mac app was previously only available from the developer’s web site.

Existing users with permanent licences do not pay subscription charges. They should continue to use the web site version of the app rather than switching to the App Store version. These users are still fully supported and will continue to receive updates, but permanent licences are no longer for sale.

Finally, the iPhone and iPad client has been updated for iOS 7 with a fresh, uncluttered look.

Features and Use:
Presence lets a user access their Mac’s files from anywhere on the internet, using either the iPhone and iPad app, or by web browser from any Mac or PC. For web access, you get an easy to remember web address (URL). After logging in, you browse through your files much like you would on your Mac itself. Files can be viewed and downloaded, and you can even take photos through your Mac’s camera.

File sharing is the other main feature. This is a quick way to send files that are too large to email, but Presence also allows you to share whole folders for the receiver to browse at their leisure, downloading individual files as required. Shares are created either from the Mac itself – right from the Finder – or remotely using web access or the iOS app. Shares are sent as a web link, and are optionally password-protected.

A host of other features complete the picture, with Spotlight searches, Quick Look, email for smaller files and an image slideshow. Files can be uploaded to the Mac, even by people you share with (if you allow this).

The Presence iOS app can transfer files from the Mac to other apps on the device and back again, providing a gateway from other apps to the outside world (in apps that support this). Files can also be copied to the device for offline viewing.

Using Presence is fast, especially compared to screen sharing. Setup is easy and can be done by the ordinary user, requiring no special knowledge.

Presence is secure, using https – the same technology used for online banking and online shopping. It is also private compared to cloud services like Dropbox, as your files are not copied into the cloud to a third party server. Those concerned about online snooping may find this reassuring. Presence is not affected by the recent Heartbleed security vulnerability.

History:
Presence was first released in 2008, and changed its name from FarFinder to Presence in 2011.

System Requirements:
* OS X 10.9 or later
* 93.3 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Presence 3.0.1 (application) is free and available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Utilities category. A three month subscription is available for only $4.99 (USD).

Presence 3.0.1
Download from the Mac App Store
Screenshot
App icon (128)
App icon (256)

Dizzy Heights is run by Adrian Ross, an independent software developer based in Wellington, New Zealand. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2014 Dizzy Heights. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh and Mac OS X are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.