If you ever happened to lose your wallet, car keys, and phone at the same time, chances are losing your phone will hit you the hardest. Replacing your credit cards can be as easy as making a phone call, but recovering your misplaced or stolen phone might be a bit harder without the right tools.
Additionally, considering most smartphones are mobile data centers carrying around tons of important information, losing a smartphone can be catastrophic.
Back in 2012, major cell phone carriers in the U.S. agreed to set up a database for keeping track of stolen cell phones. Any cell phone with a renegade IMEI number would be shot down as soon as the "new" owner tried to use it on any of the networks. And in 2014, California unsuccessfully tried to pass a bill that would have seen stolen cell phones deactivated remotely. These measures were and still are a reflection of how much we value our beloved cell phones.
If the missing phone isn't an iCloud-secured iPhone, there usually isn't much you can do to recover your phone or at least protect your data. Or is there?
There are plenty of apps on both the Play Store and App Store that promise to secure your data and even track your phone if it happens to get into the wrong hands. Check out this sample of some of these apps.
1. Where's My Droid
This app is a real lifesaver when it comes to lost or misplaced phones. It allows you to link up with your phone via a web interface, which gives you remove control over your phone. You can send special text codes to make it ring or send GPS coordinates that will show you the location nearest to your phone. The paid version of this app lets you take pictures remotely (in the hopes of capturing the perp's face), wipe data, and lock the phone, rendering it useless.
2. SeekDroid
SeekDroid is another awesome anti-theft and phone tracking application that comes with a barrage of cool features for helping you recover your lost or misplaced phone. You can use it to wipe data and lock the phone remotely, send text messages, view the call log, and place a call to the phone.
The paid version gives you the ability to follow the movements of the phone, thanks to its GPS history tool.
One of the most outstanding features of SeekDroid is that it lets you access your missing phone even when the SIM card is removed.
3. Plan B
In the unfortunate event that you hadn't installed any phone-tracking app on your missing phone, Plan B will come in handy. Plan B uses GPS and cell towers to pinpoint the location of your smartphone and then sends this information to you via SMS or Gmail. Plan B can even access the GPS settings on your lost phone and send the location of the phone after every 10 minutes.
4. Antivirus Software
Apart from protecting your smartphone from malware and other forms of intrusion, most antivirus application can help you track or erase data from your missing smartphone. For some like Avast, the tracking feature is usually hidden, with users having to comb through the settings option to find it. Good options include AVG (free), Norton Mobile Security, and Kaspersky Mobile Security.
5. Android Device Manager
This little-known tool is a free app that is usually pre-installed on most Android phones. It is still available on the Google Play store for phones that don't come with it. The Android Device Manager is a simple but extremely useful tool for tracking, erasing data, and locking your missing smartphone. It links up with your Google account and can keep track of multiple Android phones registered to your Google account.
You can also use Android Device Manager to make the missing phone ring loudly, which is a lifesaver when you have misplaced it.
The Android Device Manager can be activated by navigating to your phone's settings, selecting device administrators, and selecting the "Android Device Manager" checkbox to activate it. Note that some android smartphones come with this option activated, so you can try it out even after your phone is gone.
The Takeaway
There is no worse feeling than the hopelessness, anger, and frustration that come with losing a phone. Shopping around for a new phone is stressful enough for some of us, and even though Google helps us to store contact information on the cloud, there is a good chance some newer contacts will still be lost.
When you do manage to locate your smartphone with any of these apps, ensure you inform the authorities for retrieval. This will save you from losing much more than your phone.