Android Lost is a free application for Android phones that can find your stolen mobile phone.
Losing a cell phone due to theft is an unpleasant experience. Phones are now inherently personal, as they guard our deepest secrets and personal information. Losing them means violating personal data and endless hours restoring it to a new device. Plus the financial damage.
Of course on phones there is a built-in application to look for it and you may find it again, but it is aimed at ignorant thieves rather than professionals. A "correct" thief, as soon as a mobile phone is used, will take out the sim and do a factory reset, that is, it will restore it to its factory settings.
The built-in solution in Android phones "find my device" (Find a device), also requires you to be connected to the internet and have Gps enabled. So in most cases it is probably useless, leave it as it is now famous and thieves know what to do to avoid it.
Detecting a mobile phone with special third-party applications has a higher chance of success than Google tools. One such solution is the “Android Lost”That we present to you today.
This program will use the sms of your sim card to:
- let you know where he is,
- to activate the alarm siren,
- take a picture of their environment from the camera,
- send a message to the thief from the screen,
- erase your data on your device and sd card,
- to lock the device,
- to turn on wi-fi,
It does not require you to be connected to the internet. Your sim should only have a signal. Because essentially with Android Lost you lock the device internally, giving the application administrator rights, if the thief changes sim it will do all the above with the new sim. If you make your phone root and set the Android Lost app as System app, then it will continue to work and notify you even after the factory settings are reset.
The free version offers many features that similar paid applications do not even provide. But let's see what you need to do to secure your smartphone.
Basic moves
In order to avoid the occasional thieves in the first place and not to provoke any ignorant person to steal from you, it would be good to have activated the basic fuses of your phone. Insurance that will protect you from the prying eyes of thieves and your friends.
Do yourself a favor and turn on authentication with password, fingerprint and keep it active Pin in sim. Do not use face recognition on your Android device, as it can easily be violated with a photo of you.
Also do not keep the pin in the case of your phone. !!
Preparation before theft
As a third-party solution, Android Lost does not pre-exist on your phone. It must before they steal it from you to have it fully installed on your mobile phone.
Step 1: In the first place Go to the Google Store and install the application on your mobile. There is a case of the antivirus that you have to tell you that it is a virus. No, proceed without fear.
Step 2: He will ask you for various permits, do not be afraid of them and grant them all. In the last tab, click "Register" to connect the application to Google servers to get a key. It will then connect to the Android Lost server and send it the key along with your email address.
All this is done in the background. You should not make any move and if all goes well, you should see a pop-up message on the screen labeled "Registration completed". It may take 5-10 minutes to complete this process.
Step 3: Enter a browser and go to Android Lost website. Log in to the service by clicking on "Sign in" and on the next tab enter your email and password to connect via Google (or just give the approval to log in if your credentials already exist in the browser).
You will see a pop-up message which congratulates you because your phone is now connected to Android Lost and that you can use the control functions (Congratulations! Your email account is now connected to your phone and you can use the controls).
Step 4: Go to your mobile, open the application and give it administrator rights, by clicking on the relevant indicator (Request Administrator rights). You will be in another tab where you will have to declare "Activate this application". Possibly warn you of the danger of this action and ask for re-confirmation. Do it.
Caution: This is an action that can not be done remotely from the website and you should do it in advance, ie before you are stolen. If you want to delete the application completely at a later time you must remove the administrator privileges first to delete it.
Close the application and just forget it. Wish you would not have to remember it exists. In case you have multiple phones with the same Google email, the same job will be done for each phone and you will only use one account on the Android Lost website.
If you are stolen
Familiarize yourself with Android Lost by playing with it while you still have the phone in your hands, because when you lose it you will need to do the following from your friend's mobile phone which will be unknown to you as a working environment. So make the following moves in advance, as if your cell phone has been stolen. You will do the same when the cursed hour comes.
Step 1: Open it Android Lost website. Do not be satisfied with the convenience of the link by simply clicking on it, but see the url and keep it in your memory. Connect to your mobile phone by pressing "Sign in".
If you have registered multiple phones, select the phone that was stolen from the list.
Remember that you are on a third party mobile or pc and you should remember your email and password.
Look at a nice vicious circle now. Those of you who have enabled 2-step verification on your Google Account have definitely set it to have the phone as a second step. That means you need your phone to verify that the person trying to connect your Google data to your friend's phone is you. But you do not have the phone !!! They stole it from you. Alternatively you could set up 2FA with a list of printable backup numbers, but do not carry them with you.
This is probably where the dilemma arises… what to preserve? Phone or Goolge account?
We assume the first, so we go to the following steps.
Step 2: Click on the phone with the gear (located next to your phone name) and check the "Check for a new SIM card when booting phone". If the thief changes the SIM card, Android Lost has the ability to send you an SMS from its new card. The sms will be delivered to the phone number you indicate, such as your friend. Enter the phone number below in the "SMS notification number" field and click the SET NUMBER button.
With the phone that uses the phone number that you have just stated, you can send sms to your stolen phone with security commands, which we will see below.
Step 3: You can also tell him to send you an email, by ticking "Send email" and in addition to a second email, maybe that of your friend.
The emails will inform you of the moves you made while it was off and not responding. At the same time they will inform you immediately when your mobile phone is turned on again, regardless of whether it has your own sim inside or another one. Finally they will inform you what the outcome of your orders is.
Step 4: SMS commands
SMS commands from a friendly smartphone are the most useful, as we can find out where our device is and whether it is not connected to the internet, or if your Google account has been deactivated on your phone. They are possible, whether they have changed the SIM or not.
Go to the "SMS" section on the application website. You will see a huge list of commands that include all kinds of locking, deactivation and notifications.
The most useful are:
- androidlost gps = Locate your location and update by sms. However, the gps must be turned on in advance on your phone.
- androidlost wifi start = Turn on Wi-Fi
- androidlost recordsound 30 = Record 30 seconds of what is happening in the environment where the stolen device is located
- androidlost alarm 5 = A loud alarm sounds for five seconds
- androidlost lock 1234 = Locks the mobile with the code 1234. Of course do not enter 1234, put something more difficult.
- androidlost erasesdcard = Deletes all data on the SD card
- androidlost status = Sends the status of the mobile at that time
- androidlost message Hi there! Call 55523424 to get the reward = Sends a message to the thief. Put your imagination to work on what the message will say.
We must emphasize again that all these actions need to be done immediately in order to have a chance to find your cell phone again. Therefore, you should have tried them before stealing.
Step 5: Audio and camera with internet
In addition to SMS commands that do not require an internet connection, in Android Lost there are also functions that will be activated when the phone is connected in any way to the internet. Commands for these functions can be given in advance, but you need to be vigilant as the thief can open the phone at any time.
These commands are made from the "Controls" field and then by clicking on "Mobile". There are the following possibilities:
- Sound Recording = Enable recording. Set the recording seconds, click on "Record high quality sound" and then on "Record"
- Front camera = Activate the front camera. Click on "Take picture" to take a photo from the front camera
- Rear camera = Rear camera activation. Click on "Take picture" to take a photo from the rear camera
Hopefully you will see the thief's face or hear some conversation with his name. The application takes photos with a locked screen, without being noticed by the person holding it.
Step 6: Locating an internet site
From "Controls" go to "Basic" and then click on "Send location" and when your mobile is connected to the internet its exact location will appear in your browser.
If the application does not find the gps off, the network location will be sent. If GPS and network are off, the last known location will be sent. If no location is found after 5 minutes, it will try to scan nearby WIFI networks and use them to determine a location.
Step 7: Alarm and Flash activation
Again from "Controls"> "Basic" in the Alarms field set the alarm time in seconds and click the "ALARM" button. If the device is still near you you will hear it. The sound will sound even if the cell phone is muted.
This feature, as you understand it, is useful even if you just lost your cell phone somewhere at home. Of course you can call it but if you do not have a second phone, Android Lost will untie your hands. If the device was connected to a Bluetooth headset, you can turn it off (controls> status> bluetooth) so that the sound can be detected. You can also turn on the flash if needed.
Step 8: Leave a message for the thief
From the website of the application you can send whatever messages you want. These will simply appear on the screen of the lost cell phone, regardless of whether the screen is locked.
Go to Controls> Messages, write your message and press the SEND button. (In a Xiaomi, however, we are still waiting for the message to come !!)
Conditions to find your phone again
To be able to locate your stolen phone you need to have GPS enabled on it, but the key is to be very fast.
If you do not manage to activate the SMS and SIM change functions and the thief removes the card in front of you, while keeping the device permanently inactive and without SIM, it will be very difficult to locate it.
On the other hand, if you are completely unlucky and fall into a circuit that lives off of it, things will not go well for you. He knows the tricks as well as you, and he will make sure immediately after the theft to remove the card, to have the phone constantly closed, to restore the factory settings and if he sees that it is root to pass the official version again. In the end he will "sell" the device in another country.
Selling in another country protects him from blocking the IMEI number, which is the serial number of the phone and which can be blocked by the providers of your country, at your request (you are required to go to the police first and report the theft ). The device will automatically become useless for your country but will work fine in a foreign country.
There are thieves who live off blackmail, who will contact you and ask you for money as a reward that they "found" on the street, or took it from the thief who "hunted" at the risk of their lives or άλλο anything imaginable. In this case, we recommend that you do not give up unscathed and activate the features of Android Lost.
Finally, there are various thieves who will sell your cell phone, through stores or in bazaars. Especially if it is found in a shop window, then we are talking about professionals and only if it is indelibly marked can you recognize it and claim it. If you naturally fall on it.