# Lost / Stolen Phone apps: the best of the best



## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

I'd like to start a discussion of the various lost phone apps. Ideally I'd like to do a comprehensive comparison of the current competitors and make a full excel sheet for the various capabilities. Unfortunately I don't have the time to do that, so I'm going to ask folks to weigh in about their experiences.

I have searched around and asked other users which lost phone app is the best. Based on my reading and interactions I have compiled the following list. *If you want to recommend an app not on the list, please be VERY detailed. I feel that I've captured the best bets in my list and that hapharzdly recommending other apps could derail this thread.*
AndroidLost (Free)
avast! Mobile Security (Free)
Cerberus anti theft (Paid)
PhoneLocator Pro (Paid)
SeekDroid (Paid)
Where's My Droid (Free)
Sure there are others like Lookout, Lost Phone, etc, etc, etc but based on what I've seen, they do not have as much functionality as the ones listed above. I have also eliminated apps for lack of description, low ratings and lack of support. If you lose your phone (or have it stolen), you don't want the app that could save it being limited in functionality or not having proper support. You want an app with plentiful options designed specifically for that situation and you want it to do its job quickly and without hassle.

I'd love to get an in-depth discussion going here. What I'm talking about is much more than "This app is good. Try it, you'll love it." That type of a review is the stuff you put in the market comments. Here, we're looking for something more. Here is an example of the type of detail we're looking for:



> "This app allowed me to issue text commands from any phone OR from the website. Commands sent via text would be hidden so that if the phone was stolen they would not alert the thief. The app will send location information from GPS location, WIFI location or network location. It will text me the location AND email it to my registered email. When I tried to uninstall the app via normal methods, I could not. To do so I had to use Titanium Backup to force-uninstall and wipe the app's data. The sdcard and phone wipe function worked, albeit slowly. This app is missing a few features that other_app has, but it drains the battery less and has all the functions that I'd ever use."


Thanks in advance for your participation!


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

Thanks for doing this. I'm interested as I'm using Prey right now but it's designed primarily for PCs and phones seem to be an afterthought. A free account can track phones but only in intervals. Because of that reason alone I'm pretty interested in an alternative.


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## PonsAsinorem (Oct 10, 2011)

I vote for Cerberus. And here's an outstanding review of it.

http://www.rom-ulan.com/2012/06/app-review-cerberus-anti-theft-for.html?m=1


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## ArmanUV (Feb 1, 2012)

PonsAsinorem said:


> I vote for Cerberus. And here's an outstanding review of it.
> 
> http://www.rom-ulan....ft-for.html?m=1


+1.

I tried [background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]avast first. It was nice but I uninstalled it because of two reasons: [/background]

[background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]1. I didn't like the anti-virus/monitoring componenets of the app and there was no way to fully disable it. [/background]
[background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]2. Everytime I flashed a CM nightliy I had to go through the whole lengthy [/background]setup. 

I also tried where's my droid and seekdroid. They were OK but not ICS-optimized and I HATE apps that are'nt ICS optimized. 

Cerberus is dead-simple, easy to setup, has a good ICS interface and it has an important feature that I didn't find in avast : it can capture a photo when the password/pattern is entered wrong.


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## Natey2 (Jun 7, 2012)

I recently ordered Susteen Datapilot Mobile Defender: http://www.frys.com/product/6995557
Was free after rebate.
Edit 12/14/2012: still trying to get my $20 rebate from them. They acknowledged receipt, but give me excuses for the delay in sending the rebate check to me.

Link in Google Play: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yougetitback.androidapplication.susteen.mobile 
I'll post a review after I install it and try it out. The camera snapshot feature looked interesting. 
I currently use SeekDroid.

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using Tapatalk


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## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

Superb information so far guys, I really appreciate it. Just to let you know, I've posted identical threads in a couple other forums. The one has no responses and the other has 3 responses: one of the responses is a link to a hardly relevant article, one is a one word post and one is a user just trying to start a fight with me for posting ground rules. I'm extremely thankful for Rootzwiki. The members here are second to none and you guys have just demonstrated that once again. Thank you.

I will start running some of my own tests this coming week and post my results.


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## Natey2 (Jun 7, 2012)

+1! Rootzwiki is a great forum. I just wish it had better Tapatalk support. I couldn't see your last posting from Tapatalk; had to invoke the web browser. I hardly use PCs to read forums anymore.

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using Tapatalk


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## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

That's pretty strange... I'm posting from Tapatalk. *shrug*


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## Natey2 (Jun 7, 2012)

I'm using Tapatalk v1.13.5.1
I think once there are more than a certain number of messages in a thread here, only the first message displays in my Tapatalk.
What version are you using?

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using Tapatalk


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## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

I'm using version 2.1.3 (the most recent version). I recommend updating if at all possible.


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## MissionImprobable (Feb 12, 2012)

ArmanUV said:


> +1.
> 
> I tried [background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]avast first. It was nice but I uninstalled it because of two reasons: [/background]
> 
> ...


You can uninstall the anti-virus portion and the anti-theft will remain. It installs itself as a seperate app once it's setup.

As far as losing it after a flash the only thing you should lose is Anti-virus and all that. Anti-theft will remain as long as you gave it administrative permissions and allowed it to do the hard reset setup so that it won't be lost.

Perhaps not perfect, but definitely the best free app out there.


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## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

As I understand it, avast isn't the only app that will stay intact after a wipe. I believe the apps do this by integrating themselves into the ROM itself as a system app. You may be correct though, avast may be the only one who does this for free. That said, if it lacks the functionality of the other premium (but relatively cheap) apps, it may not be the true winner. Hopefully we'll determine the answer in this thread!


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## DarthG (Mar 18, 2012)

Still, the best way to keep your phone safe is to never lose it. Sad but true. None of the data wipes will work if thief is smart and turns off data, s/he could tape something over the front facing camera, and/or take out sim card/turn on airplane mode/disable gps to prevent tracking.
God forbid if a thief doesn't really care about selling your phone, they might be poor and decide to use it for themselves plus keep your personal info. So like I said, don't lose it.


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

kwest12 said:


> Still, the best way to keep your phone safe is to never lose it. Sad but true. None of the data wipes will work if thief is smart and turns off data, s/he could tape something over the front facing camera, and/or take out sim card/turn on airplane mode/disable gps to prevent tracking.
> God forbid if a thief doesn't really care about selling your phone, they might be poor and decide to use it for themselves plus keep your personal info. So like I said, don't lose it.


What the hell are they going to do with a phone that never connects to the internet? Using prey, if someone changes the SIM in my phone it sends a text to a buddy of mine, and he knows how to get a hold of me in other ways. Then I'll start tracking it.

(Though I'm still looking for a better alternative)


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## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

ERIFNOMI said:


> Prey does this. And most of us are rooted and could easily convert the app to a system app.
> 
> What the hell are they going to do with a phone that never connects to the internet? Using prey, if someone changes the SIM in my phone it sends a text to a buddy of mine, and he knows how to get a hold of me in other ways. Then I'll start tracking it.
> 
> (Though I'm still looking for a better alternative)


Quite a few of these apps have SIM protection. That feature is a mainstay of most lost phone apps at this point.


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## MissionImprobable (Feb 12, 2012)

Yeah, Avast, like pretty much all the other major anti-theft apps, will forward all sim info to specified devices if it is swapped out. It will also forward all texts made to and from the device if you wish and call also forward the call log.


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## DarthG (Mar 18, 2012)

Yeah but if someone was savvy enough they could wipe system and data and flash stock images/rom and there'd be no way to do anything about it. If you're really concerned about security you might want to take a look at encrypting your phone and unroot, lock bootloader.


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## kwest12 (Jul 15, 2011)

DarthG said:


> Yeah but if someone was savvy enough they could wipe system and data and flash stock images/rom and there'd be no way to do anything about it. If you're really concerned about security you might want to take a look at encrypting your phone and unroot, lock bootloader.


Very true. I was kinda wondering about encryption the other day. Is there a way to encrypt the phone AND the sdcard? This is actually one of the reasons I think phones without sdcards are a pretty smart play...


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## MissionImprobable (Feb 12, 2012)

I was hoping for some way to create a CWM password, but as there's no interface for typing that's not really possible. All the encryption I've seen is a bit lackluster but I'd love to hear more if there have been new developments.


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## ERIFNOMI (Jun 30, 2011)

MissionImprobable said:


> I was hoping for some way to create a CWM password, but as there's no interface for typing that's not really possible. All the encryption I've seen is a bit lackluster but I'd love to hear more if there have been new developments.


TWRP now has a keyboard. Maybe they'll get a PIN system working some day. They also claim to be able to do Nandroids of encrypted ROMs, but I haven't tried this.


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## MissionImprobable (Feb 12, 2012)

Thanks for the input. I contacted them, hope to get a response soon.


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## Natey2 (Jun 7, 2012)

I will not be using Datapilot Mobile-Defender. While it does manage to lock and locate the device, the feature I wanted (take snapshot using the FF camera) does not work; it takes snapshots from the Rear Facing camera of the device! Maybe it will work fine for devices that only have 1 camera which is front-facing.
After registration, I see an Expiry Date 1 year from registration. Does this require yearly renewal?








I've written to Support, but no reply yet...


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## Natey2 (Jun 7, 2012)

I tried Norton Anti-Theft. Works OK on a Nexus 7, but serious battery killer on my DroidX. Also, needs an annual subscription. I got it free after rebates.
I'm now trying Cerberus.


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