best anti theft app for android

kala85

For those in the know on this forum , could somebody please recommend the best anti theft app for android, firstly to prevent it getting stolen and then secondly to enable me to trace and track it. I would normally have my GPS turned off on my phone to save the battery. If somebody stole my phone could they just do a factory reset. Is there anything I can do to stop them doing this??

Thank you

nacimroc

I use "AutomateIt". You can send it a text and it will send back GPS location and battery life. It can do a few other things aswell, like enable GPS when you open maps, speak text when you get a text, enable bluetooth when plugged into holder etc etc.

Nolimits

If you're rooted then avast. It becomes almost impossible to get rid of, even surviving a factory reset

Bluefrog

Nothing you can do to stop them resetting it as far as I know. Still think its worth having something like this running though - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prey&hl=en - nice thing about this is you can manage laptops and tablets too with it.

alanc2003

I have Cerberus, great app. Well worth the 3quid. Can't be deleted without the password, many other features if ur rooted

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

+1 for cerberus.

Nolimits

Bluefrog wrote: »

Nothing you can do to stop them resetting it as far as I know. Still think its worth having something like this running though - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prey&hl=en - nice thing about this is you can manage laptops and tablets too with it.

As I posted above, if you have root permissions, and you allow the app root permission it will survive a factory reset. Also the anti theft portion is hidden in the app drawer, they wouldn't even know it was there, as I discovered myself when I had to get a new sim card and got a load of frantic calls to the house phone about my phone being robbed.

Squeeonline

meh, factory resets just delete the apps and personal data. A really good anti theft "app" would be built into the ROM so only flashing a new rom would remove it. Most people aren't able for that (although simple instructions can usually be found on xda.)

Nolimits

Squeeonline wrote: »

meh, factory resets just delete the apps and personal data. A really good anti theft "app" would be built into the ROM so only flashing a new rom would remove it. Most people aren't able for that (although simple instructions can usually be found on xda.)

Most people aren't geeks like us, the average scumbag who steals your phone would probably be very proud of themselves if they thought to do a factory reset.

Squeeonline

also all of these are useless if the thief takes the battery out as soon as it's stolen and wipes it before connecting it to the internet again.

An anti theft chip inside would be nice, self powered or something. Lo-jack?


Of course, there's always plan B https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout.labs.planb

lecker Hendl

Out of curiosity, does anyone know how I might track my phone with my IMEI number?

My problem is I bought the phone off my friend, so it's not registered in my name for starters.

Secondly, I had it stolen off me in Germany. I don't expect to see the phone ever again but I don't want someone using it. If it's being used by another network I'm not sure if there's anything I can do with the IMEI number to block it?