phone locked by mistake with LOST PHONE app

[odracir78]

Hi there!, I have such a problem, installed "lost phone" in order to be able to recover my phone if it got lost or stolen.
Within the app, when configuring my code, it was easy for me to think I would remember the default code (it was LOST###### or something like that, can't remember exactly what those numbers are, damn!!! )
Then I clicked on TEST LOCK.
From then on, I have a useless Desire
There is a white screen that prompts me to LOG IN (with the code), in order to use the phone. It let's me do nothing but have access to the notification bar, and use the power button.
Already tried rebooting, taking battery off and turned on again, with and w/o memory card. Nothing has worked.

Does anyone figures out something? I think it would be VERY helpfull if someone installs the app and post here (or in a PM) the default code of the app. It should be the word LOST and 6 numbers, I think.

Thanks in advance, guys!

 

[Rokcet Scientist]

Hi there!, I have such a problem, installed "lost phone" in order to be able to recover my phone if it got lost or stolen.
Within the app, when configuring my code, it was easy for me to think I would remember the default code (it was LOST###### or something like that, can't remember exactly what those numbers are, damn!!! )
Then I clicked on TEST LOCK.
From then on, I have a useless Desire
There is a white screen that prompts me to LOG IN (with the code), in order to use the phone. It let's me do nothing but have access to the notification bar, and use the power button.
Already tried rebooting, taking battery off and turned on again, with and w/o memory card. Nothing has worked.

Does anyone figures out something? I think it would be VERY helpfull if someone installs the app and post here (or in a PM) the default code of the app. It should be the word LOST and 6 numbers, I think.

Thanks in advance, guys!

If I had stolen a phone and found it was locked remotely by its owner this is exactly the m.o. I would be temped to use: ask nice unsuspecting folks to help with a workaround.
At the same time, though, I would be very worried about that obviously well secured and protected phone broadcasting its, and by default my geographical location to its owner and/or the cops...

 

[wayrad]

I'd try asking the developer. If you purchased the app, they should have a record of it and will hopefully know that the phone belongs to you.

 

[howetechnical]

Looks like there's a lesson to be learned here. Don't steal android phones, they're not as helpless as iPhone.

Seriously, you sound like you stole the phone.

 

[odracir78]

wooww!!, well, first of all, thank your guys for your quick answers!, really! Kind of funny about that gps location for the cops, but when setting up the app, this morning, did not get to the GPS settings, yet.
I know it sounds like I've stolen the phone, but I didn't. I know you are thinking "yeah! right!", but think about it the other way. It really happened to me this morning, 8:30am, still in bed, I was kind of sleep but as every day, first thing I do is play around a little bit with my HTC Desire, which I got for about 3 months now. Played a little bit with the 2 games I installed yesterday: Air Hockey Deluxe, and Air hockey EM (hope they could melt so there would be an excellent hockey game!)... so!, you can check I have another post from november, suggesting some guy a solution in order to set up imap yahoo mail on the default mail app. What else can I say to probe I did not stole the phone? Telcel, the leader company for mobiles, only has 2 old HTC models, and it has been about a month since they introduced Android to their store with Samsung Galaxy S, so, It can be said that here in Mexico there are less than a hundred HTC Desires, so there is no one to stole it from!, I mean, is nearly impossible!, every people I say I have an HTC they say WHAT?, AN IPHONE? you know what I mean?, here in Mexico, only android entusiasts like me would know Android even exists!, what can I say about HTC brand? I know my english skills are not that good, but what kind of thief would know what an HTC Desire is, how does it works, what Android is?, what androidforums.com is?, and even tough, have an internet connection and an account in this forum? Sadly, in my country, average people is not that "sofisticated". thiefs are even less.
Still, I know it is pretty hard to believe me, that was my half awake-half asleep mistake and have to pay for that, but it is only that, a kind of newbbie stupid mistake.
Lost Phone App is a free one, from gadgetsprojects.com (found out later that webpage is no longer available, damn again!) but you can check app here Lost Phone - Android app on AppBrain. Already tried emailed lostphone@gadgetprojects.com but without any lucky yet.

There is an option in the app to set up 3 numbers from friends, in order to send them a temporal password to unlock the device (I know that because I installed the app in my cel). As I was just checking the app, I did not enter any personal code for unlocking, but leave the default one, and didn't enter any of those numbers yet, so in the white screen that pops up now that is locked, there isn't any number to send that temp password.

That is why I am not trying to inquiry how to break this app, only thing I am asking is if someone could install this app and tell me the default code (If I stole the phone, that someone owner would be stupid for not to put in any friend's number or leave the default password if he meant this app for real, don't you think?)

Thanks again for reading.

 

[odracir78]

well, after a day of crying and not being able to use my HCT Desire, got another android phone, installed the app, made the same steps I did to configure my device, and suddenly, whooooaaa!!!, my memory flashed the password I created in the morning. I am happy again!!, haha, ... in case you guys were worried about it!

case closed, problem solved, thanks again for reading, see you in some other posts!!
PS: Lost Phone app is a good one, to lock and track your lost/stolen device

 

[TheCowGod]

After reading your whole story, i believed you and was about to install the app. One thing I could recommend is you post the default code in your last post so someone else having the same problem will know the answer when this thread is dug up by google...

 

[odracir78]

Thank you, TheCowGod!
When viewing the app config screen again, I realized what I did. When you first open the app, the first screen asks for a password. That poped up my kind of logical way of thinking, so the password in my memory flashed back. What I was remembering (LOST######), was the default coded word in order to enable the app when the phone is lost. Not useful at all.
Thanks again!

 

[CureMS]

I just went through the same thing. Got a second phone and tried swapping SIMs. I didn't remember doing any setup whatsoever in LostPhone and couldn't remember setting a password.

Now my concern about the program is the fact that it is the only program in the market by this developer and I can't find anything about the program or the dev. (I'll be happy to retract this if anyone can point me in the right direction.)

Seems like a great program, but ...

 

[odracir78]

sorry to hear that! I went trough the same feeling, to bad this happened to someone else too

 

[CptGemini]

Lookout mobile security is better but the feature that lets you lock your phone down is a premium feature you have to subscribe to but you can get a free trial of it. You just login to the website on your computer and lock it down from there.

 

[emwmswg]

Hi there!, I have such a problem, installed "lost phone" in order to be able to recover my phone if it got lost or stolen.
Within the app, when configuring my code, it was easy for me to think I would remember the default code (it was LOST###### or something like that, can't remember exactly what those numbers are, damn!!! )
Then I clicked on TEST LOCK.
From then on, I have a useless Desire
There is a white screen that prompts me to LOG IN (with the code), in order to use the phone. It let's me do nothing but have access to the notification bar, and use the power button.
Already tried rebooting, taking battery off and turned on again, with and w/o memory card. Nothing has worked.

Does anyone figures out something? I think it would be VERY helpfull if someone installs the app and post here (or in a PM) the default code of the app. It should be the word LOST and 6 numbers, I think.

Thanks in advance, guys!

Hello odracir78 and others, I have the same sad story - I checked LOST PHONE put in a password *before* inserted buddies and numbers and tried TEST LOCK. NOW I HAVE A USELESS NexusOne. I am sure I remembered the password but the APP says 'wrong'... The kbd is small so in theory I could have managed to put in the password wrongly twice - but I am so sure I know the password - but no...

No Buddies or Phone number were inserted - so i am ****ed. Of course it sounds AGAIN that I stole the phone like odracir78. Also odracir78 strange recovery of his password seems a bit odd? But I know that it happen as he says it did - because I did the same myself!!! Furthermore I can submit data about the purchase transaction from Google regarding the NexusOne if somebody is in doubt. I guess you could fake that as well - but who would make such much work for a phone?

1. LOST APP is dangerous - it should not lock the phone when no buddies or numbers are inserted, as I did...
2. The menu choice "Test Lock" should come with a confirmation dialogue that explains that this is not a 'test' but a real lock of the phone. If you do not remember the password or have no numbers or buddies inserted into the app - your phone is lost. Now I get a screen with three buttons marked "Empty" where a temporary password could be sent to.
3. Can anybody HELP me to contact the developers? I am Swedish so I am pretty close to Norway, if they actually were from there...
4. This long sad story however points on that this actually is quite a good applications - no access to developers, no way to get it back - perfect if I was a thief. BUT I AM NOT

/Mats Erik

 

[emwmswg]

Lookout mobile security is better but the feature that lets you lock your phone down is a premium feature you have to subscribe to but you can get a free trial of it. You just login to the website on your computer and lock it down from there.

Yes, of course you should have a possibility to login on a website to lock it and unlock from there as well. LOST PHONE is way to dangerous now - and I saw also that another poor soul got it locked yesterday. As me he didn't put in the correct setup infor before trying Test Lock.
/Mats Erik

 

[CureMS]

I kept trying any of the passwords I might have used when I first opened the program and finally got one to work. I don't know if it has a max number of tries but I figured it didn't matter by that point. Problem I had was that sometimes the first letter I type doesn't "take" so it wasn't coming up with the right password.

All I can say is keep trying, and if you get in, do the first thing I did - uninstall. I'll also be commenting on every site I found that offers it. Good luck.

 

[emwmswg]

At last! I was about to root the phone in order to have it back,. But figured out that i have must used a slighly different password twice by mistake. The kbd is small and you do not see if there are any errors. One letter was wrong and after many attemps i got it right. UNINSTALL!
/Mats Erik
-Norrbaggar varna mer flr f

 

[odracir78]

Wow, I don't feel that "lonely" anymore! Lol. Great you guys could remember exact password. Lessons here are: 1) thiefs, don't you ever try to steal an Android phone, lock phone apps really lock phones, lol. 2) we have to test really carefully every app we install.

Happy new year, everybody!

 

[Dutchie]

I have the same problem, but it was caused differently. For some reason I had to reset my phone to the factory settings. After doing this, it showed up dat the locking settings like buddy name and number and my password were gone. This happened without my notice. Today I changed my simm card for a test. The app locked the phone. After reinstalling the original simm, the password did not work anymore and now I am stuck! So whenever you reset your phone, beware of the fact that essential settings are lost and you are vunerible to lock yourself in. I hope to find my way out like Odracir78 did.....

 

[disgruntled181]

.

 

[disgruntled181]

I just had the same experience with my Droid 2 Global. I had partially set up Lost Phone but didn't enter any buddys into the program. And I changed the code Lost#####whatever to just LOST thinking that the program would only respond to case sensitive, single word text commands. Boy was I wrong. My g/f texted me "help me I got lost". I never even saw the text, just the lost phone screen telling me to login. Well something was screwy with my password cause it wouldn't work. And it's the same one I use for other things, I even tried others with no sucess. Something was wrong.

Anyway, I noticed that I could access the home screen for short periods of time hitting back or home and even longer when I restarted. My goal was to get to the uninstall app and remove Lost Phone before it regained control.
I was victorious after shutting down, pulling the SIM card and restarting. The delay was long enough to get to my uninstall app target L/P and Nuke it. I am happy to report my phone is working just fine now.

 

[Dutchie]

Hi disgruntled181, thanks for your reply. I also tried to use the time gap but it appeared to be too short to remove the application. Instead I found a way to kill Lost Phone. With this work around, Lost Phone has lost its protection in full and does not make sense to use anyway! This is how it works (on my HTC Legend):
Boot the device in fastboot mode. To enter fastboot mode, power up the device (or reboot it) while holding down the BACK key. Hold the BACK key down until the bootloader screen is visible and shows "FASTBOOT". The device is now in fastboot mode and is ready to receive fastboot commands. One of these commands is Clear User Data. Once you execute this command, all 3rd party apps will be erased including Lost Phone Power off your phone and start it up again and the phone is yours again. You have to configure your phone again as if it was new and reinstall your 3rd party apps, but for me this was a pleasure to do: finally released of this terrible Lost Phone app.

 

[disgruntled181]

Great Dutchie! Now there are two avenues for the unfortunate but unfortunately it's not looking good for Lost Phones security.

 

[koffinson]

but i got another prob... i has change my simcard... n now.. i cant type a password to unlock that application... it juz flicker all da time.... reboot so many time.. n still flicker (cant use n type a password)... i try to uninstall it.. but i already make it as protected application (so i need to type password also to unprotect it - but same prob... password request box flicker n my keyboard juz going up n down so many time) 2 days... n im still searching a solution... somebody plz help me... im using galaxy tab p1000.....

 

[PVS]

Hi all - I am the developer of a lost phone app (yet another, I know!) called PhoneLeash. After looking at all such apps out there I feel there is far too much emphasis on the "nuclear options" especially remote data wipe. I think its reasonable to assume that phones are misplaced more often than they are stolen, so why all that firepower and almost exclusive emphasis on "stop thief" features?

And the permissions all these apps want! Admin rights ought to be a big deal - meant for IT admins setting up your corporate phone - not something downloaded off the Net. On top of that all your private info has to go through some website - why? (related discussion here)

(As to the "I locked myself out" frustrations that are being discussed in this thread, please see (participate) in this poll.)

On the other hand, none of the well-known phone finder apps attempt to keep you productive with call and SMS forwarding from your lost phone (with PhoneLeash we may have gone to the point where its viewed more as an SMS forwarder oh well )

Your thoughts, feedback will really help with the app's direction, as has happened elsewhere on the forum.

Thank you!

 

[nacky2M]

Hi All and many thanks to disgruntled181.
I have had Lost Phone installed (Samsung Galaxy S) for quite a long time and I know very well the password (I have used it many times). This morning the phone crashed and the lost phone screen came out on restarting. But it didn't accept the password (continued to respond wrong password!) . Looking for a solution, I reached this forum and tried to do the same as disgruntled181. Hitting the home button I could reach the home screen for very short periods. Doing this a few times I was able to lunch the "Active Application" app and, after a few attempts (long push of the home screen button to see the "Active Application" screen again) i could kill Lost Phone. Then I immediately remove the app. I suspect that Lost phone was also responsible for some crashes and very long times when restarting. I hope this would help other guys having the same issue. Of course, with such an easy workaround, the app is usless from a security point of view.

 

[waqastahir99]

hey just hard reset your android just google how to (your device name) hard reset