Lost your phone ? what to do?

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blakamin

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#973218 23-Jan-2014 21:52

nicnzl: Using Tasker, I set up my phone to send an SMS to a Twitter account with the phones GPS and cell site location when the battery reaches 5%. This was mainly so if I lost the phone, I could get the latest location before the battery died (Has come in handy once already).

It would be handy if I could get the Tasker profile onto the root of the phone so if it was reset, it would remain on the device. Anyone know if this is possible?

I use lookout and it has "signal flare". If the battery goes below 15% it takes a photo and sends it to me with the location. It also remote wipes, including SD card if needed. I *think* it survives a factory reset, but I'm not sure. I know it has hidden settings so it's can't be uninstalled.

I also have my phone on me constantly. I'm so OCD, I've never lost a wallet, car keys or a phone... and I'm 42!

sonyxperiageek

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#973290 24-Jan-2014 00:03

garvani: I have a nexus 5 with cerebus installed and an app called smart lockscreen protector enabled with a pattern lock. The smart lockscreen app makes it impossible to get the power toggle menu open while it is on the lockscreen, also if you get the lockscreen pattern wrong 3 times it takes a picture of the offender and emails it to me. Because there is no removable battery it is basically impossible to turn off until the battery runs out, and i get around 2 days on a charge.

So if i lose it i have a decent chance of tracking it down before someone can eject the sim. I havn't lost a phone in a number of years so hopefully i don't have to put it into practice ;)

Check out Cerebus if you havn't already, lots of great features and really cheap too.

Can't you/they hold down the power button until it does a hard shutdown?

Sony

timmmay

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#973321 24-Jan-2014 08:10

Wipe it using cerberus or android device manager, claim insurance.

nicnzl: Using Tasker, I set up my phone to send an SMS to a Twitter account with the phones GPS and cell site location when the battery reaches 5%. This was mainly so if I lost the phone, I could get the latest location before the battery died (Has come in handy once already).

It would be handy if I could get the Tasker profile onto the root of the phone so if it was reset, it would remain on the device. Anyone know if this is possible?

Whenever I've needed apps designed for tracking phones, they have always failed on me, hence the use of Tasker.

But if worse comes to worse (it has twice), I buy a new phone, kick myself for not backing up my music better, and move on with life.

Care to share that script? Especially if it turns on location services since I generally have them turned off. I have tasker but haven't used it much as Llama does a lot of what I want a lot more simply.

garvani

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#973343 24-Jan-2014 08:57

sonyxperiageek:
Can't you/they hold down the power button until it does a hard shutdown?

Nope!! Thats the beauty of that smart lockscreen app, it makes it impossible to bring up the power menu and also nullifies holding down the button. Your only hope is ejecting the sim which isn't that easy to do on the spot!

jonovw

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#973353 24-Jan-2014 09:18

garvani:
sonyxperiageek:
Can't you/they hold down the power button until it does a hard shutdown?

Nope!! Thats the beauty of that smart lockscreen app, it makes it impossible to bring up the power menu and also nullifies holding down the button. Your only hope is ejecting the sim which isn't that easy to do on the spot!

Can confirm on my Moto G and Nexus 7 that even with Smart Lockscreen Protector you can still hold down the power button for 10 seconds to force power it off

Acer Chromebook C720, Nexus 7 2013, Moto G

garvani

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#973356 24-Jan-2014 09:23

jonovw: Can confirm on my Moto G and Nexus 7 that even with Smart Lockscreen Protector you can still hold down the power button for 10 seconds to force power it off

Touché.... It appears i wasn't holding it down long enough, my s3 turned off within a few seconds of holding down the power button, nexus 5 is literally 10seconds. Bugger!

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sonyxperiageek

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#973377 24-Jan-2014 10:18

Lol :)

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stenknz

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#973393 24-Jan-2014 10:28

Hmm never really thought if my home and contents insurance would cover a lost phone. I sure hope so, cause if I'm going to lose one thing it will be my phone and they are not cheap these days.

Contents insurance should cover you if you lose you phone right?

Sten

timmmay

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#973396 24-Jan-2014 10:36

Yes, but the excess may cancel out any benefit - I set my excess at $1000. I got phone insurance from Telecom when I got my S4, $15/month or so from memory. Worth it to me, for now.

stenknz

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#973401 24-Jan-2014 10:46

timmmay: Yes, but the excess may cancel out any benefit - I set my excess at $1000. I got phone insurance from Telecom when I got my S4, $15/month or so from memory. Worth it to me, for now.

Good point. Pretty sure ours is set to $250-$300 from memory. Phones worth around $900 so I'm ok with the excess for now.

Sten

nicnzl

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#973403 24-Jan-2014 10:46

timmmay: Wipe it using cerberus or android device manager, claim insurance.

nicnzl: Using Tasker, I set up my phone to send an SMS to a Twitter account with the phones GPS and cell site location when the battery reaches 5%. This was mainly so if I lost the phone, I could get the latest location before the battery died (Has come in handy once already).

It would be handy if I could get the Tasker profile onto the root of the phone so if it was reset, it would remain on the device. Anyone know if this is possible?

Whenever I've needed apps designed for tracking phones, they have always failed on me, hence the use of Tasker.

But if worse comes to worse (it has twice), I buy a new phone, kick myself for not backing up my music better, and move on with life.

Care to share that script? Especially if it turns on location services since I generally have them turned off. I have tasker but haven't used it much as Llama does a lot of what I want a lot more simply.

Here’s a brief overview the steps I used to create this profile.

It uses SMS to send tweets as opposed to a data connection because my data isn’t always turned on. My GPS is constantly on, so I don’t have a step to enable it. I think there is an option to do so but it may require root. The task sends two tweets, one for GPS with co-ordinates (which I paste into maps), accuracy of location (in metres) and time since location taken (which is in seconds). And another for cell tower location (as a backup).

First step is to create a private twitter account and set it up to receive tweets via sms.

Create a new Tasker task (name it whatever), add:

Step 1: Misc > Get Location - using GPS (I use a timeout of 100 seconds)
Step 2: Variables > Variable Set – Name: %LOCATIONN To: %LOCN
Step 3: Variables > Variable Set –Name: %LOCATION To: %LOC
Step 4: Variables > Variable Set –Name: %GPSACC To: %LOCACC
Step 5: Variables > Variable Set –Name: %GPSTIME To: %TIMES - %LOCTMS
Step 6: Variables > Variable Set –Name: %NETACC To: %LOCNACC
Step 7: Variables > Variable Set –Name: %NETTIME To: %TIMES – LOCNTMS
Step 8: Phone > Send SMS – Number: 8987 Message: “GPS: %LOCATION ACC: %GPSACC TIME: %GPSTIME”
Step 9: Phone > Send SMS – Number: 8987 Message: “Cell Tower: %LOCATIONN ACC: %NETACC TIME: %NETTIME”

Next create a new Tasker profile:

State > Power > Battery Level – From: 4 To: 5
Add the previously created task to it.

I also have another profile which I turn on when heading to the pub, it sends out a location tweet every 15 minutes between 10pm and 6am.

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