If someone steals my phone and replaces the SIM will I be able to track them with Prey or Cerberus the same way I am able to do it with a Verizon Phone. Does Cerberus need a rooted phone to do all the things it did on the GNex?
If someone steals my phone and replaces the SIM will I be able to track them with Prey or Cerberus the same way I am able to do it with a Verizon Phone. Does Cerberus need a rooted phone to do all the things it did on the GNex?
Well on te GNex I would be able to take pictures of the perk and control the access the person had to the phone.That depends on what else they do. If they pull the sim outside wifi range Prey and Cerberus can't do anything. If they reflash the ROM or do a factory reset (if you didn't root your phone) Prey and Cerberus are gone and they can't send out anything, not even when your phone goes back online.
If a thief really wants to replace the sim without you finding out there's nothing you can do about it.
Of course no security app can survive a re-flash, but for root users, Avast's mobile security app (which is a free secondary add-on to the main Avast antivirus program):There are still plenty of ways to knock out avast, though. It won't survive a reflash, it doesn't break through firewalls or permission managers like LBE, and apps like Titanium can find and wipe Avast, even in stealth mode. A smart thief can easily kill any anti-theft app, including avast.
2) Can't be deleted-- not even using Titanium Backup (contrary to your assertion). I just tried.
I don't have the pro version of Titanium Backup. The free version doesn't seem to have Chuck Norris mode, and it failed to delete Avast Anti-theft. TBU-free sees it (with my made-up fake app name), gives me the option to uninstall it, and acts like it's uninstalling it, but it fails without an error message.I didn't even have to take avast out of the device admin list to let titanium zap it. I just tapped the uninstall button in titanium and a few seconds later avast antitheft was gone.
Are you sure you tried all the different titanium settings, like chuck norris mode etc.?
I have a rooted device. Can I get additional features? Yes! If you have rooted your device you can integrate Cerberus into your ROM and get two additional features: complete uninstall protection (Cerberus will even survive a wipe/factory reset) and GPS auto-enabling even on Android 2.3.3 and later. To have these features uninstall Cerberus, then download cerberus.zip, put it on the sd card and install it from recovery. Cerberus is also available on ROM Manager.
If that method doesn't work, you can manually install Cerberus in /system/app this way:
- Uninstall Cerberus from your device
- Download Cerberus.apk and put the file on your sd card
- Open a terminal emulator and execute:
su
mount -o remount,rw /system
cp /sdcard/Cerberus.apk /system/app/
chmod 644 /system/app/Cerberus.apk
- Now Cerberus should be installed in /system/app. Try to open the app, log in and see if it works.
So your requirements for a thief to delete Avast Anti-theft are:...
Got any data to support that claim or is that just your guess?...The vast majority of thiefs will force a stolen phone offline before the owner can kick his anti-theft app out of bed.
This potentially assumes that the thief has access to airplane-mode or that the battery can be removed and that he manages to flash the phone without starting it into a mode that allows it to communicate. Though pulling the SIM card on a GSM (not CDMA) phone would be effective as long as the thief stays off of WiFi. This also assumes that the thief is tech savvy and considers it worthwhile to spend the time to research and implement a flashing methodology-- and not just some average-Joe thief or some schmuck who finds a lost phone and decides to keep it. That's a lot of assumptions.A thief just needs to push the power button, or pull the battery, or switch off wifi and cell service (airplane mode, pull the sim). Once your phone is offline the thief has all the time in the world to grab a beer, sit back, relax, and google for ways to wipe out everything without risking getting caught.
Could you provide some specific data to support that claim so we can know what a "little-over-zero" is? Or is that just your guess?With anti-theft apps your chances of catching the thief increase from about zero to a little over zero, no more than that.
Both Cerebus and the Avast Anti-theft app get installed into the System/App folder and are therefore relatively immune to standard removal techniques (including a factory reset), though as Diabo points out, of course no app can survive a re-flash and certain tools like TBU-Pro may be able to uninstall them.Here is what I found at Cerebus website...
Thanks. Why do you like it better than Avast?I just started using "TrustGo" on my Nexus 7 (no sim), and it tracks very well. I am happier with it than Avast. Hope to never need it, but just had my Optimus stolen with no security on it so now I'm paranoid.
Got any data to support that claim or is that just your guess?
From a quick'n'dirty Google search... An i for an i: Lost phones, tablets leading to rise of arrests for not returning them
Both Cerebus and the Avast Anti-theft app get installed into the System/App folder and are therefore relatively immune to standard removal techniques (including a factory reset), though as Diabo points out, of course no app can survive a re-flash and certain tools like TBU-Pro may be able to uninstall them.
For 2 years I've been using the free version of Titanium Backup and haven't ever felt the desire to upgrade to the pro version. I've looked at the pro-version features and there's not much of interest to me. But I realize that lots of people buy TBU-Pro so it's a personal choice of the tradeoffs for cost-benefit & risk-reward.So, would you then consider this fact a good reason to NOT install TBU-Pro on ones phone? It's an awfully useful app...
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