Lost your Android phone? Here’s how to track down and retrieve it

Sometimes you lose your phone. You freak out. You start interrogating your friends in dark rooms and cutting the bottoms out of wicker chairs, but things don’t need to be that way. If only there was a way to find your smart phone once it became lost. Oh wait, there is. Some of these methods can also be used to track people, but please don’t do that unless they’re your kids. Seriously. We have enough tracking going on by companies and governments. In any case though, here are the best ways to track an Android phone or tablet.

Android Device Manager (Free)

 

Features:

• Track your phone through GPS
• Wipe phone’s memory remotely with computer
• Make phone ring loudly, remotely
• Lock someone out of using your phone, remotely

Android Device Manager is built into all Android phones and allows you to do almost anything you want, assuming your GPS is activated (this program won’t work if GPS is off at the time that you try to track the phone). First, go to the Web interface. If your phone is linked to your Gmail account and you’re already logged in, then it should automatically track your phone. Depending on what you’ve set up ahead of time, you can remotely lock it, wipe it, or set off an alarm (your phone rings at full volume for five minutes, even when muted). We put scared everyone in the DT offices when we tried this feature because Google labels it “ring your device,” which sounds innocent enough. (It’s not.)
When we tested out the tracker the location was off by about 60 feet off. Considering that we’re located on the 10th floor of a skyscraper, we considered this pretty good. Just don’t go knocking down the doors of innocents as you pursue your phone. Locking your device works well, and if you don’t want to wipe its memory completely, you can set a new password from your computer, effectively locking out anyone from accessing the phone.
Be aware that if you leave your Gmail account open on a computer, someone could potentially use it to track the location of your phone, or you could nefariously do the same to others (you weirdo). Most importantly, be sure to set up all your options before you lose the phone, so you can use any of the features the Device Manager offers when you need them.

Where’s My Droid? (Free, or $4 for Pro)

 

Features:

• See GPS location of your phone on Google Maps
• Make phone ring loudly by texting it a custom code word/phrase
• Receive notification via email if SIM card is changed
• Hide texts from whoever has your phone by texting it the custom code word/phrase for this
• Make a custom list of who can text the phone the custom word/phrase to activate features

Pro Features:

• Secretly take pictures with phone’s camera or activate flash
• Lock the phone from being used via text or computer
• Wipe the phone’s memory via text or computer

WMD for short. We found ‘em. This app is similar to the Device Manager, but with more features. With this app – which you will have to have installed before you lose your phone – you can do things like text the phone a code word to find it or activate a spy camera. With the texting feature, you can set up a list of people that can text the phone the secret word to make it ring loudly, get the GPS location, activate the camera, and more. You can also set up a list of people who you want to block from this remote access.
Certain features, like taking a picture or activating the camera flash, require you to have the paid version. With the free version you will mostly be using the GPS and loud ring features.
With the paid version you can also wipe or lock the phone using a secret word that was specifically made for activating that feature. This app seems to work well and it’s nice having the extra features. You can’t really use this one in creepy ways unless you text someone in your proximity in order to find them (assuming they haven’t black-listed your number).

Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus (Free, or $2/mo for Premium)

Features:

• Protect device from viruses, malware, and spyware
• Locate phone with GPS via your computer
• Remotely lock phone from user via computer
• Firewall

Premium Features:

• Lock certain apps from being used
• Set a certain area the phone is allowed before it will lock, alarm, or send its location to your computer.
• Remotely send texts from the phone using your computer
• Remotely retrieve data from your phone
• Remotely use camera

Alas! Oh, wait, no. Avast! This program is basically an all-in-one bundle: Not only does this program offer anti-theft and phone location services, but it is a great program for protecting your phone from viruses, malware, and spyware. It even includes a firewall. Like the programs discussed above, Avast includes remote lock, wipe, and alarm features. You can also use it to remotely locate the phone with GPS. A nice feature it has is a notification that will be sent to you when someone changes out the SIM card in your phone.
The premium plan includes features such as: remotely locking apps, locking the password after three wrong guesses, remote camera usage, backup features, and remotely sending texts from the phone with your computer. It’s not without it’s headaches though. The program requires that you set it up for administrator access to reach it from the Web. You must set up the anti-theft feature as the device administrator, and the anti-theft feature remains hidden unless you enter a pin to view it. While it can be wise to hide this feature from a stranger, it can also be annoying.

StealthGenie ($8/mo – $16/mo)

Platinum Features: ($16/month)

• Access call history from computer                
• Record calls
• Read incoming/outgoing texts
• See Skype conversations
• Read emails done on phone
• See phone address book
• See phone’s video/photos
• See internet usage
• Locate phone
• Wipe/lock/backup phone
• SIM change notification
• And more…

This app is “a blessing for people who are sick of being lied to and cheated on,” according to its website. We feel kind of weird recommending it, but this is one of the best options out there if you need something that can give you all the information you would ever want to know about what’s going on with your phone … or someone else’s. Yes, this could be useful for parents in emergency situations, stalkers, and paranoid lovers. You can monitor calls, read incoming and outgoing texts, track location (including the ability to find out if the phone has entered certain locations you don’t want it to), read phone emails, spy on instant messages, view pictures, monitor Internet usage, see the calendar – pretty much everything. You can even bug a phone, having it record outside noise continuously.
The only reason we can imagine this being useful, outside of spying, is if someone has been kidnapped or you’re pulling out all the stops to locate the person who stole your phone, which may not end in a legal interaction. You can even use this program to monitor a Blackberry phone, which some people still use, apparently.
Keep in mind, you can’t just log onto StealthGenie’s website and start tracking someone. The app has to be downloaded to the phone you want to track. Theoretically, you could do this while someone is sleeping or away from their phone for a while. Or you could be honest and tell the person you’re installing it, and that they’re grounded if they uninstall it. If you’re going to sneak around though, at least be smart enough to hide the shortcut to the app. Long live overbearing parents and people with trust issues!