A while back, I read about Seek Droid, a simple phone locating app, on Lifehacker.
I finally got around to buying it ($0.99), mainly as a way to test buying apps using the new Android Market, and I’m impressed.
There’s no magic with Seek Droid, or the now free iOS version, Find My iPhone/iPad. Basically, all these apps do is a) locate the device and b) make it inoperable and/or wipe it remotely.
Seek Droid has a few other features. It can hide itself, i.e. make itself inaccessible on the device, send an alarm with a message. I tested the alarm, and wow, is it loud. Seek Droid can also access your recent call list.
What’s cool, and a bit unsettling, is the GPS granularity provided to Seek Droid. Makes sense, but wow, it’s accurate. Take this as a friendly reminder to check the permissions each Android app is required to show you before it installs itself.
I shouldn’t have to explain why apps like Seek Droid are worth the cost. We carry way too much personal (and work) data on our smartphones to risk their loss, and losing a phone is so easy. I’m not talking so much about identity theft or espionage, since most technology theft results in immediate resale.
I’m talking about the accidents that happen to all of us with phones, e.g. the slip out in the car, the leave behind, the under a bunch of papers. Seek Droid, and its ilk, do a great job helping you recover from those panic-filled moments.
Anyway, you should have a recovery plan in place before something like that happens, and on Android, Seek Droid works really well.
As an aside, the new Android Market is a good experience, a bit spartan, but it works well. Install or purchase an app, and it magically appears on your phone. No fuss, no mess, no iTunes.
After years of tethering to iTunes, it’s awesome to have a central repository of your apps in the sky. Buy a new Android phone or apply a new mod, and your apps restore like magic when you sign in with your Google credentials.
The integration with Google Checkout is nice too, giving that underused app new relevance.
Anyone out there tried it yet? Comments?
Great tool and GPS is indeed accurate. Although …. it sets my device at my neighbors house. How do I explain that to my girlfriend? I don’t drink that much coffee with the neighbors wife 🙂
Ha, nice. I didn’t actually drill all the way down to the street level to see how accurate it was. I should definitely do that, given your use case 🙂 Need to prepare excuses.
Wipe it remotely… wipe it remotely… wipe it remotely… drunken Bulgarian hackers… Iranian centrifuges… India government and Blackberry…
Definitely a good feature to have.
Will the app properly work when the phone is no longer connected to the internet (3G / WiFi) ?
No, but how could it? Even so, a smartphone is pretty useless off 3G/wifi, right?