Hello early adopters!
Many months ago one of our group lost his phone during a business road show. The phone was found--it was just misplaced--but it became apparent that often the most important need during the hours the phone is not in hand, is knowing who is calling and texting you. We were less concerned about losing sensitive data (it was very unlikley the phone was stolen), and more about staying in touch.
Talking about it later, we realized none of the phone locator apps address this need. There is a lot of emphasis on wiping the phone data, and taking "Stop, thief!" pictures etc but most phones that go missing are just misplaced, not stolen. Much blame must fall on the sofa cushions!
So we developed PhoneLeash (free, Android Market) and we are trying to have the right balance of features:
GPS locating
SMS/missed call forwarding to email or phone
Reply to SMS
Low battery alert
Remote ring
Privacy (no website tracking your phone)
Battery life -- after all you won't be using these features much of the time, so why have features that constantly drain your battery.
Unique feature - With PhoneLeash you can (remotely) reply to an SMS, and it goes out from your phone - the other side simply cannot tell the difference. While new and unique, we want to make sure we keep it simple to use. Speaking of simplicity, all of PhoneLeash fits in 1-2 spartan screens.
We've tested with Go SMS, Handcent to make sure PhoneLeash works with their default settings. PhoneLeash can also forward to HeyWire SMS numbers as well (seems to be in a small group of apps that can do this, thanks to another Android Forums user).
We found out that some tablets (such as Galaxy 8.9) do SMS but no telephony, so those are supported now as well.
If some of you could install the app (
www.tinyurl.com/phoneleashfree ) and let us know how we are doing, you'll be doing us a great service. And don't be shy in asking for more!
Thanks!
PVS, GearAndroid
www.gearandroid.com