TRACKING STOLEN MOBILE PHONE

cameramonkey

was listing to rte radio this morning. there was a guy who had his mobile stolen in Wales and it automatically text the gps coordinates of his phone to his wife's mobile.this was a few weeks after he had left wales. he put the gps info(his phone sent several txts) into google and found the house he called the police in wales and they recovered his phone.anyone know what app he could have been using. he said that he was using htc android phone

Professey Chin

Theres a few apps for this. Wavesecure is one. Wheres my Droid is popular too and I think free
I use Tasker to do it. Followed this guide to set it up

KoolKid

I think all Android phones 2.1 or higher have this feature as standard.

cameramonkey

koolkid wrote: »

I think all Android phones 2.1 or higher have this feature as standard.

how do you set this function up?

droidman

They look like very useful apps but the thought occurs to me that if somebody stole an android phone & knew what they were doing, could they not just switch it off and take the sim out and then hook it up to a pc and wipe it somehow so that it would not send anything anywhere once it came on?

cameramonkey

just looked at the galaxy manual.they have a system called mobile tracker which seems to do the job

cruizer22b

Very handy. Good video below. You can also dowload all your maps before you leave the country so you dont have to pay roaming charges for Nav.


"With the new HTCSense.com service, people can simply manage their mobile phone experience from their HTC phone or personal computer. For example, people can easily locate a missing phone by triggering the handset to ring loudly, even if it is set to silent, or to flag its location on a map.

If the phone’s been lost or stolen, users can remotely lock the phone, forward calls and texts to another phone, send a message to the phone to arrange its return or even remotely wipe all personal data from it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_3kLDD-tZs&feature=player_embedded

KoolKid

cameramonkey wrote: »

how do you set this function up?

Settings> location and security> mobile tracker.

heepie

I use http://preyproject.com/ I think is the best out there. It is also available for laptops where it uses the webcam to make a picture of the person using the laptop.

On the mobile phone it uses the gps the send the coordinates back to the server. Really good.

For the Android search for preyproject i think. You will need to create an account with preyproject.com but the service is free

longshanks

koolkid wrote: »

Settings> location and security> mobile tracker.

hi, i just set this up. when i did it then asked me to register with samsung. so i did that, but it doesn't have meteor in its list of operators.
if someone stole my phone and tried changing the card do samsung email me? or do the three numbers i entered recieve the relevant details?

Motjida

longshanks wrote: »

hi, i just set this up. when i did it then asked me to register with samsung. so i did that, but it doesn't have meteor in its list of operators.
if someone stole my phone and tried changing the card do samsung email me? or do the three numbers i entered recieve the relevant details?

I dunno what's up with Samsung on this one.

Apparently Mobile Tracking only works for phones with UK or Germany SIMs,
though you can still use the service (afaik) to lock and remote wipe your phone.

longshanks

Motjida wrote: »

I dunno what's up with Samsung on this one.

Apparently Mobile Tracking only works for phones with UK or Germany SIMs,
though you can still use the service (afaik) to lock and remote wipe your phone.

thanks for the quick reply. do you reckon i should just turn off the phones own tracker and download one of the other versions? a mate recommends an app called lost phone.

Motjida

longshanks wrote: »

thanks for the quick reply. do you reckon i should just turn off the phones own tracker and download one of the other versions? a mate recommends an app called lost phone.

I haven't looked too much into the remaining two features on samsungdive.com (Remote Wipe and Lock), they should work just fine, and I don't know whether or not the other programs offer those features too.

I'd hang on to the "stock" tracker and compliment it with one of the good Tracker apps out there.

cormie

Does anyone know which of the above methods would indeed work if the thief knew how to not be tracked?

bogman

cameramonkey wrote: »

was listing to rte radio this morning. there was a guy who had his mobile stolen in Wales and it automatically text the gps coordinates of his phone to his wife's mobile.this was a few weeks after he had left wales. he put the gps info(his phone sent several txts) into google and found the house he called the police in wales and they recovered his phone.anyone know what app he could have been using. he said that he was using htc android phone

I heard that interview, far as I remember he wrote the app himself and was going to make it available to the public, he mentioned a website he either had or was setting up informing people how to secure their devices, not heard any more about it since and trying without luck to find the name of his website

mickoneill30

bogman wrote: »

I heard that interview, far as I remember he wrote the app himself and was going to make it available to the public, he mentioned a website he either had or was setting up informing people how to secure their devices, not heard any more about it since and trying without luck to find the name of his website

That's a lucky coincidence . He wrote an app, had his phone stolen and then got interviewed on the radio where he could promote his app. What are the odds?

Are these apps easy to bypass? For example, wipe the phone to factory defaults or format a laptop. That'd probably assume the thief had some intelligence though.

Can these apps lock the phone or disable it. I'm not too bothered about the hardware, yes it's a major pain in the ass to get an expensive phone stolen but it's the data that is more important to me. Anybody who steals my phone has access to email accounts, Facebook, contacts and whatever else I've set up on the phone.
I see Wavesecure will remotely lock and wipe but what if the thief removes the SIM?

Edit: This looks pretty interesting
http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/tools/lost-phone_hhhm.html
Send a text to lock the phone. Handy if it disappears in a pub. You can have it locked as quick as it takes you to get somebody to send it a text. Still can't get over taking out the SIM but handy in a pinch.

kc66

Wavesecure is the best app Iv seen. You can remotely lock and wipe the phone. You can place a custom message on the screen. You can view its position on a map. Also has backup/restore capabilities. It can txt a designated number if a different sim is put in the phone and it tells you the number of the new sim.
There is a second app you install which prevents it being uninstalled without a code.

jor el

koolkid wrote: »

Settings> location and security> mobile tracker.

Setting doesn't appear on my LG GT540, Android 2.1.

Lookout does have a phone finder capability, where you can track your phone online.

Vanbis

kc66 wrote: »

Wavesecure is the best app Iv seen. You can remotely lock and wipe the phone. You can place a custom message on the screen. You can view its position on a map. Also has backup/restore capabilities. It can txt a designated number if a different sim is put in the phone and it tells you the number of the new sim.
There is a second app you install which prevents it being uninstalled without a code.

I just installed the App Wavesecure from the market that said it was free but it says it is only a 7 day trial?

Bob the Builder

I use Lookout Mobile Security but going to have a look into Tasker now because that seems to be just awesome.

Vanbis wrote: »

I just installed the App Wavesecure from the market that said it was free but it says it is only a 7 day trial?

Yeah, you gotta subscribe to the bloody service. But it is worth it.

kc66

I got it free when it was first released

madmoe

kc66 wrote: »

Wavesecure is the best app Iv seen. You can remotely lock and wipe the phone. You can place a custom message on the screen. You can view its position on a map. Also has backup/restore capabilities. It can txt a designated number if a different sim is put in the phone and it tells you the number of the new sim.
There is a second app you install which prevents it being uninstalled without a code.

Been using Wavesecure for ages on Nexus One, then Desire HD and up until last Saturday a HTC Sensation. I lost my HTC Sensation in a taxi on Saturday evening :-( Anyhow I had Wavesecure software on it and while it did track it for a while it then stopped working, around the same time I could not ring it anymore as well! I assumed then it was either turned off or the SIM taken out as there had been lots of charge in the battery. With Wavesecure I was able to lock the phone and display a message to return it along with my partner’s number.....suffice to say no one has called yet so I now feel it's a case of whoever found it wants to steal it!

Rang Vodafone this morning and barred the handset using the IMEI. It will be useless to anyone trying to use it here in Ireland on any network so at least that is something. They told me also should I get it back that the can lift the IMEI block and that was news to me!

I was reading online that if the thief knows what they are doing or brings it to someone that does and they do a hard reset it will remove the Wavsescure application :-( I am sure the people at Wavesecure have some record of the GPS ID on the phone, is it like a MAC address in that it is unique? Also, I can't remember explicitly setting up the software to send a text message if the SIM was changed, is this done by default with Wavesecure? Has anyone been using it and managed to get their phone back?

Cheers,
M

kc66

madmoe wrote: »

Been using Wavesecure for ages on Nexus One, then Desire HD and up until last Saturday a HTC Sensation. I lost my HTC Sensation in a taxi on Saturday evening :-( Anyhow I had Wavesecure software on it and while it did track it for a while it then stopped working, around the same time I could not ring it anymore as well! I assumed then it was either turned off or the SIM taken out as there had been lots of charge in the battery. With Wavesecure I was able to lock the phone and display a message to return it along with my partner’s number.....suffice to say no one has called yet so I now feel it's a case of whoever found it wants to steal it!

Rang Vodafone this morning and barred the handset using the IMEI. It will be useless to anyone trying to use it here in Ireland on any network so at least that is something. They told me also should I get it back that the can lift the IMEI block and that was news to me!

I was reading online that if the thief knows what they are doing or brings it to someone that does and they do a hard reset it will remove the Wavsescure application :-( I am sure the people at Wavesecure have some record of the GPS ID on the phone, is it like a MAC address in that it is unique? Also, I can't remember explicitly setting up the software to send a text message if the SIM was changed, is this done by default with Wavesecure? Has anyone been using it and managed to get their phone back?

Cheers,
M

Sickener. Yes its possible to completely over-write all software on the phone. Not much you can about that, but most people wouldn't know how to do it or even that it can be done. Although Im not sure if it can be done on the Sensation yet.
You can logon to the wavesecure website and see the number of the last sim card that was in it.

partyatmygaff

The whole premise on which most of these GPS tracking apps work is that most criminals aren't the brightest of people.