Best security for stolen/lost Android phone?

MarkDavis · 2 Jan 2012 at 20:11

Basically, I'm after something that locks the phone down, tracks it, wipes it etc, in the event that its stolen or gets lost.

Presumably the lock screen pattern thingy is insufficient?

A couple of people have recommended Prey and Avast, but I've no experience of either.

Is there a particular app that is head and shoulders above everything else? What would people recommend?

Psycho Sonny · 2 Jan 2012 at 20:22

i would have that having a sim lock pin and a phone lock pin would have been sufficient enough.

but if the person knows how to flash another ROM, then he/she could easily put another ROM on there and stick another sim in making any software solution useless.

can you lock the sd card using a pin?

that may be worth looking into, tbh, the best solution is keeping a hold of the IMEI number somewhere safe and then reporting that if you ever lose it.

is there a reason why you want to be able to remotely wipe it?

Kreeeee · 2 Jan 2012 at 20:29

Psycho Sonny said:
is there a reason why you want to be able to remotely wipe it?

Think about what's stored on your phone...

Emails, passwords (browser saved passwords, gmail, service provider/banking apps), text messages, contacts, address, calendars (ooh, you're on holiday for a week, perfect time to rob you).

I work in computer forensics, and the information you can get from someone's phone is incredible!

Glaucus · 2 Jan 2012 at 20:34

Kreeeee said:
Think about what's stored on your phone...

Emails, passwords (browser saved passwords, gmail, service provider/banking apps), text messages, contacts, address, calendars (ooh, you're on holiday for a week, perfect time to rob you).

I work in computer forensics, and the information you can get from someone's phone is incredible!

This IMO, it is essential for a smart phone. Luckily iPhones come with find iPhone as standards. There must be identical apps for android.

Also set the lock screen to 5 incorrect and it wipes phone.

Richie · 2 Jan 2012 at 20:51

Cerberus

Costs £2.50 after a 6 day trial and lets you do a HUGE amount of stuff on a phone (even more if it is rooted):

Track phone
Get device info
Lock with code
Unlock
Start alarm sound with message
Display message without alarm
Get call log
Get SMS log
Have the mobile phone a number
Record 5 mins of audio covertly (emailed to you)
Take a screen shot (emailed to you)
Take a picture using either cameras (emailed to you)
Take a picture if wrong code is entered
If someone puts a new SIM in then it will email you the new number
If someone starts it in Airplane mode or with no SIM in then it will contact you by email and send details to upto 3 phone numbers of your choice
Wipe phone memory
Wipe SD Card

If you are rooted you can enable GPS even if it is disabled by person with phone and you can integrate it into the ROM of the phone so it survives a factory reset. It can also be installed in a hidden manner so you cannot see it on the phone at all.

Review - http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...faithfully-guards-all-your-devices-with-ease/

I have it and it rocks

Psycho Sonny · 2 Jan 2012 at 21:05

Kreeeee said:
Think about what's stored on your phone...

Emails, passwords (browser saved passwords, gmail, service provider/banking apps), text messages, contacts, address, calendars (ooh, you're on holiday for a week, perfect time to rob you).

I work in computer forensics, and the information you can get from someone's phone is incredible!

i suppose, but i dont use any of those things on my phone, i have no data and i use internet on my PC, laptop, tablet, etc.

so the only thing they could look at would be text messages (useless), contacts (also useless).

i suppose if i had data and an android phone, etc there would be a lot more to be worried about.

benjo · 2 Jan 2012 at 21:22

Cerebus is excellent. Never needed to use it properly, but I've tested it enough and it works great. I've got it set up to take a picture when someone enters the code in wrong, caught a few friends out

TheftAware is/was good, but I'm not sure what it's like since it's been acquired by Avast. It had the option to lock adb.

Bigj2134 · 2 Jan 2012 at 21:24

I've installed Prey on my HTC Desire, fortunately I haven't had to use it yet but it seems similar to Cerberus but it's free.

benjo · 2 Jan 2012 at 21:27

When I used Prey with my Desire, it never got an accurate GPS lock. Haven't tried it on my GS2 though.

Kreeeee · 2 Jan 2012 at 21:34

Glaucus said:
This IMO, it is essential for a smart phone. Luckily iPhones come with find iPhone as standards. There must be identical apps for android.

Also set the lock screen to 5 incorrect and it wipes phone.

Absolutely essential, it should always be the first thing you sort out on a new phone, especially if the OS is a bit of a wet flannel like Android is and doesn't natively support full storage encryption.

El Jimben · 2 Jan 2012 at 23:40

If you've got a HTC phone then you can use HTC sense.

Richie · 3 Jan 2012 at 06:52

Bigj2134 said:
I've installed Prey on my HTC Desire, fortunately I haven't had to use it yet but it seems similar to Cerberus but it's free.

I had Prey on my phone but it doesn't do as much as Cerberus can. For £2.50 for a lifetime subscription covering upto 5 devices, it's a no brainer TBH.

grudas · 3 Jan 2012 at 06:58

im using theftavare at the moment.. seems to work as much as i've tested it..

Glaucus · 7 Jan 2012 at 13:37

With Cerberus CI take it you can remote delete and stuff from a pc?
And would it work with wifi only tablets?

Grrrrr · 7 Jan 2012 at 14:19

If you like switching and swapping ROMS and such like, does that interfere with Cerberus?

nikzGfx · 7 Jan 2012 at 14:56

I use PhoneLocator Pro.

http://phonelocatorpro.com/full-feature-list/

Similar to the other posted above.

Richie · 7 Jan 2012 at 16:22

Glaucus said:
With Cerberus CI take it you can remote delete and stuff from a pc?
And would it work with wifi only tablets?

You can do it from a PC (easiest way) by going to www.cerberusapp.com and logging in.

Not sure if it can do it over WiFi but I have tried sending commands while connected to my wireless at home on my phone and they all work fine albeit I haven't tried the deleting yet for obvious reason but I have no doubts it will work.

Edit: I have just tried it with airplane mode active and wireless on. Cerberus commands still work. They are routed through the Google network so as long as you have a connection of some sort then they should go through i.e. wireless only tablets should work fine

Grrrrr said:
If you like switching and swapping ROMS and such like, does that interfere with Cerberus?

I would think you would need to reinstall it if you change ROM's or, like all the other apps, use Titanium Backup to restore it.