Our phones contain our whole world… at least for most of us. We cannot imagine our lives without this device. It is a non-judgmental best friend which is always available for entertainment, planning, socializing and is an effective source of killing boredom. Not only this, it stores all your precious data: music, videos, photos, apps, contacts and so much more.
So it’s completely understandable that when you lose your phone, you panic. If you don’t find it, not only will you use all your collected media but if it falls in the hands of the wrong person, they will have access to your online accounts! What to do? How to avoid the end of the world as you know it? That’s easy. Make sure you are fully equipped to battle the situation by using or installing one of the following apps:
Cerberus (Android)
Named after the three-headed dog of Greek mythology, it is a customizable app which has a plethora of ways to find your phone and lock itself down. There is the option of remote alarm trigger and options to start audio recording with the microphone if someone attempts to remove the SIM card or reset it. Not only this, there is tracking through GPS, SIM change alert and memory wipe. The most interesting part is that it will hide the app icon so that the app cannot be disabled or uninstalled. However, the free version lasts for a week and you have to buy the pro, which will enable you to track up to 5 devices.
Download Cerberus for Android from here
Where’s my Droid (Android)
This app also contains all possible ways to locate your phone. It allows you to send a code via an attention text which will make your phone ring (turning the volume back on if the phone is silent) and you can also find the GPS coordinates of your phone via text. You can also control your phone through a web based interface. The pro version even allows a snapshot of the perpetrator, or remote wipe your phone.
Download Where’s my Droid for Android from here
Plan B (Android)
This app is exactly what it sounds like: plan B. If you didn’t install a tracking app before your android phone was lost, this app is for you. It provides the location of your phone using GPS and cell towers and emails you on your Gmail mail box. It can even enable GPS on your phone so that you keep track of the changing location. Best of all, it’s free!
Download Plan B for Android from here
Find my iPhone (iOS)
This app gives you the ability to track your phone through another iOS device and gives you the option to pinpoint your phone on a map, protect the internal data, send a message or play a sound at full volume even if your iPhone was in silent mode. Finally, it allows you to remotely lock your device. Make sure that your iPhone has the latest upgrade, register on iCloud account with your Apple ID and install the app on your phone. Don’t forget to tap ‘Allow’ for ‘Find my iPhone’ app in the iCloud settings of your iPhone. This app will only work if the lost/stolen phone is connected to the internet.
Download Find my iPhone for iOS from here
Prey (cross platform)
This app allows you to keep track of multiple devices. It has a web portal, which allows you to access the options of sounding an alarm on your phone, send a message or make it lock itself down. It will also hide the app icon so that nobody else can uninstall the app from your phone. An additional option is disabling of the power button so the device cannot be switched off.
If you don’t want to install an app, you can use these tips:
Android Device Manager (Android)
This is an option provided by Google, with the ability to locate your phone on a map, lock it, and make it ring or totally wipe it. It has an app but another way is that you sign in to your Google account, and then type ‘Find my phone’ in Google search, which will then bring up a map of your phone’s current location.
If it asks you to sign in to your Google account again and initiates a verification process via text message, simply log on to the Android Device Manager site without going through the two step process verification. The requirement, however, is that your phone must be connected to internet and your Google account.
Use Dropbox (Android and iOS)
If you have Dropbox installed in your phone and the ‘camera upload’ feature has been activated, you can use this as the last resort. If someone takes a picture from your phone, the picture will automatically be uploaded to your Dropbox and you can not only see who it is but may guess the location from the background.
Apart from using all these apps and techniques, it would be wise to call or text your phone, change your passwords or contact your service provider to turn the phone off remotely.
the first thing snatchers do is remove batteries and shut down the phone. These apps are only useful if you lose your phone somewhere in your home :)
Exactly. But there are some phone that have built-in battery which cannot be removed. But again your phone must be connected to internet and lots of users don’t use 3G so again these apps are of no use in that case.
Even those phone with non removable batteries can be turned off with a click of a button
Author hasn’t mentioned avast anti theft that’s really awesome one, it’ll automatically turn on data connection & send details via sms as well, if you’re cell is rooted then it won’t go away due to factory reset, your phone would be safe until unless thief is expert at custom roms or so (rare cases).
what about Windows Phones????