Lost / Stolen Phone apps: the best of the best

[kwest12]

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!

[JeffreyDeutsch]

Hello kwest12,

Perhaps you could start us off with a detailed brief for each of the apps you've recommended?

Cheers,

Jeff Deutsch