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Lost / Stolen Phone apps: the best of the best

Seems a little odd for you to be laying down ground rules that you yourself can't be bothered with. Why are the ones you listed the best of the best? Why do others like Lookout fall short?

And, who, by he way, are"we?"

Not much of a discussion. ;) :rolleyes:

To save ppl time, I've omitted all of the background research I've done. To get to this point I've done about 3 to 5 hours of searching and reading. I've read other's independent reviews, articles, market descriptions, developer websites and in-market reviews.

I've laid down ground rules because I'm interested in having a focused, detailed discussion about the apps I've identified as the best of the best. I have no interest in rehashing information I already know and I'm hoping by eliminating discussion of other apps I'm saving other ppl time too.

Still, I've given users the opportunity to discuss other apps outside of those I've listed, but only if they have a very good reason, which I've requested they describe.

I also have no need for voting. If I want votes I can post a poll. Voting or mentioning your favorite app tells me nothing about the quality of that app. There are plenty of instances that the most used product is certainly not the best product.

Lookout was eliminated because it doesn't appear to have anywhere near as many lost/stolen recovery features as the other apps I've listed. I've looked at the description on market, the Lookout website and in reviews like the one that the user posted in the comment immediately above you. The developers of Lookout are quite verbal and like to show off their features publicly whenever they get a chance. The conspicuous lack of info about these features indicates to me that it doesn't have that many lost/stolen phone features. This makes sense because Lookout is a malware app before anything else.

The "we" I used was the proverbial we that people sometimes use to as a novelty. I'm not referring to a team of people, I'm just screwing around with the English language. In other words, it's just me.

Hope this answers your questions sufficiently.
 
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I think this is a great idea for a thread especially as I am currently looking for the best stolen phone app I can. Having had a phone stolen in the past and not having this kind of app I can't stress enough how useful this is. Plus it will help making muggers think twice if they know they can be tracked.

Please read the BBC article to see just how useful this can be: BBC News - Inside a knife-point mugging

I for one would appreciate a full write up of each of these apps.
 
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I had Lookout on my phone (still do) but decided to give Avast a try since it seems to "have it all". Can't use the Anti-Theft feature. It won't activate because of a Verizon program called Verizon Remote Diagnostics. Avast suggests you uninstall it and leads you thru the steps to do so. It won't uninstall. So, kwest12 have you tried Avast Anti-Theft on your phone and does it work? All my findings on line say the app can't be uninstalled. Verizon says it can't be uninstalled and I certainly can't find a way to do it. I'm open for suggestions tho!
Monica/Droid Razr w/ ICE
 
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I haven't tried avast out yet personally but perhaps I can still be of some help. If you're rooted, it might be possible to hunt down and manually remove the Verizon Remote Diagnostics.

If I were you I'd Google how to manually remove Verizon Remote Diagnostics. It could be as simple as freezing that app with Titanium Backup (or installing it), but it also could require some head hunting and deletions with Root Explorer. Either way, if you're going to try and remove the Verizon Remote Diagnostics app using root-only methods BE SURE TO MAKE A FULL BACKUP BEFORE DOING ANYTHING!
 
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Hummm, I don't think I'm ready to start rooting my phone yet. This is my first smartphone and it's just one month old :eek:
Freeze...ok, I looked that up and found a list but so far, I don't know how to "freeze an app. I'm still looking but if you'd like to tell me, that would be great :)
***updated*** ICS leak apps to freeze list

The list was on a Droid 4 forum. VRD is listed. The others are:Android live wallpapers
Backup assistant plus (shows up twice)
Backup assistant+
Backup assistant+ contacts client
Backup assistant+ media
Browser (installed chrome beta)
Com.Android.wallpaper.holospire
Demo mode
Device setup
Email
Epmserviceapp
Exchange services
Flashremoval
Forest wallpaper
Guided tours
Help center
Home screen tips
Ipsec VPNs
Last FM authenticator
Magic smoke wallpapers
Mobile hotspot
MOG music
Motocast
Motocast ID
Motoprint
MotoSignature app
MotVPNService
Music store
Music visualization wallpapers
My Motocast
Netflix
NFL mobile
Photo bucket authenticator
Programming menu
Setup wizard
Slacker radio
Social location
Social sharing
Text messaging
V CAST Tones
Vehicle mode
Verizon remote diagnostics
Verizon video
Videosurf
Voicemail (using Google voice)
Vpndialogs
VZ Navigator
ZumoService
 
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Firstly, my comment is that all the free app named have no remote enabling of GPS. This means that the mapping will have big flaws. I saw AVG has this functionality but not much else.

But really i have a question: If I am a thief really...i don't waste time uninstalling app that are hidden (which anyway is easy using titanium something). neither i am interested in going through messages to access data... who cares! At most I can find naked bodies... I would just reset the phone on the manufacturer setting and automatically wipe off everything and sell it on gumtree! Is there any app that would survive that??
 
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Firstly, my comment is that all the free app named have no remote enabling of GPS. This means that the mapping will have big flaws. I saw AVG has this functionality but not much else.

But really i have a question: If I am a thief really...i don't waste time uninstalling app that are hidden (which anyway is easy using titanium something). neither i am interested in going through messages to access data... who cares! At most I can find naked bodies... I would just reset the phone on the manufacturer setting and automatically wipe off everything and sell it on gumtree! Is there any app that would survive that??

That's certainly true, however there are many thieves who will not even think about doing that. They'll steal it most likely to sell on and so it may take a day or so for that to happen. Secondly these apps are also there to locate lost phones as well.
 
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Firstly, my comment is that all the free app named have no remote enabling of GPS. This means that the mapping will have big flaws. I saw AVG has this functionality but not much else.

But really i have a question: If I am a thief really...i don't waste time uninstalling app that are hidden (which anyway is easy using titanium something). neither i am interested in going through messages to access data... who cares! At most I can find naked bodies... I would just reset the phone on the manufacturer setting and automatically wipe off everything and sell it on gumtree! Is there any app that would survive that??

Avast anti-theft provide you to work in stealth mode and it cant be uninstalled easily. Moreover it also survive in hard reset.
 
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Avast anti-theft is best. It is free and provide almost all (or more) features than cerberus. Features like Stealth Mode, Call/SMS forwarding etc. Specially avast anti-theft can survives on hard resets(dont know about ceberus)

I also use Androidlost for particularly on/off wifi, gps and gprs. Because Avast initially tried to communicate through Wifi, where as If I want to only/direcly communicate through gprs, then I use Androidlost to enable gprs and then use commands of Avast. This workaround give me more control to manually apply different options to track my phone, other than the default setting which i done on Avast anti-theft.
 
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GREAT thread. I think, this is a basic flaw in Android itself. If iOS can integrate GPS location in its OS, why android can not? So although I have installed Prey and Where is my Droid on my phone, I am not really counting on them. I have noted my IMEI number and have kept it at various places. If my phone gets stolen, I will report it to police with IMEI number so that phone will never work in the country. It is bricked by the carriers. So little solace is, if I can not have it, neither the thief can.

How many folks find their lost/stolen phones really? Anyone has statistics?
 
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I have rooted Thunderbolt. I had already installed Where's My Droid and the Asurion Verizon "Mobile Recovery" before I discovered this thread.

I installed Avast! and I am very impressed. It has a lot of additional features like the anti-virus, providing a summary of apps that you have let identify you, letting you hide the name of it, etc.

I created and n online account and it told me there was an error with the anti-theft installation I tried to enable the anti-theft. I tired to enable it and it told me that the SMS messaging conflicts with "Mobile Recovery"

I haven't actually tried to locate my phone with any of these.

I used to have WaveSecure (when it was free and before it was purchased by McAfee) and it did show me my phone's location.

Which of these will allow you to turn on GPS or locate your phone by tower triangulation, or better yet just report the last known location as my battery does not last that long.

I am inclined to uninstall "Mobile Recovery" - any thoughts?
 
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I'm currently evaluating Cerberus. Overall it's a great app, but it does have one serious flaw which I describe here:
Evaluation of Cerberus anti-theft app

I would be interested to hear if this has become an issue for others.
Pete

Hmm. Read your evaluation. That problem pretty much negates any stealthiness. I agree: major flaw! And until dealt with it means that Cerberus can't be an option for me.

Let's have a look at Avast.
 
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Firstly, my comment is that all the free app named have no remote enabling of GPS. This means that the mapping will have big flaws. I saw AVG has this functionality but not much else.

But really i have a question: If I am a thief really...i don't waste time uninstalling app that are hidden (which anyway is easy using titanium something). neither i am interested in going through messages to access data... who cares! At most I can find naked bodies... I would just reset the phone on the manufacturer setting and automatically wipe off everything and sell it on gumtree! Is there any app that would survive that??
Cerberus can be installed as a system app if you are rooted in which case it is claimed that it will survive a wipe or reset to factory defaults. I have it installed as a system app, but have not verified that feature. As mentioned, however, Cerberus has a major flaw IMHO as described here:
http://androidforums.com/android-applications/620330-evaluation-cerberus-anti-theft-app.html

This feature is described here (see 5th entry):
https://www.cerberusapp.com/help.php

Pete
 
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