Android Lost (or how I recovered my wife's stolen phone)

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Saturday night we were out late at the Blue Moose in Topeka. Somewhere along the way, my wife left her phone there. We didn't realize it until Sunday afternoon. I send a dozen texts and we called it numerous times, to no avail. My wife called the restaurant twice and spoke to the day and night manager hoping someone had found it.

Before we had Sprint brick it, I discovered online that Sprint offers something called Family Locator which allows you to locate the phone via GPS without an app installed. We pinged it and discovered it was in an apartment building in SW Topeka. After a hour or so we decided to file a theft report, knowing it was likely a lost cause.

After we got back from doing so, I was messing around, hoping that they would move with it so we can isolate a location, but it never happened. I began doing some googling, and found Android Lost. Now, I knew there were tons of lost phone apps, but I was not aware there were any that could be installed remotely AFTER the phone is lost or stolen. I registered and the app installed itself.

The app is AMAZING. Among other things, it not only can locate the phone by GPS, it can record audio from the mic, take photos from the cameras, wipe content, make the phone ring or even say several pre-recorded messages. You can remotely transfer your photos off the phone. You can also use it to turn the ringer on, max the volume, and play a siren. All this can be done from a computer or via text messaging.

At 10:30 last night, armed with my laptop, smartphone, I left the house and called the police department, requesting an officer meet me at the location to attempt to locate the phone. About 15 minutes later, the first officer arrives. I explain the situation, and tell him I'd like to split up, each of us taking one floor in the 3 story building, listening for the siren. We cross the basement and first floor, nothing. We meet up and head down the 3rd floor, and I trigger the siren again. As soon as we walk past apartment 19, the siren wails. We look at each other and nod. We move down the hall, and the officer calls in his location. The report comes back the the location is flagged as a known trouble spot. He requests a second officer, and then shortly after also requests the supervisor come so protocol cannot be questioned as to why they were going to knock.

As I wait down the hall, the officers knock, and the tenant's boyfriend answers. He proclaims to not know why they are there. The officer asks him to have his gf (the tenant come to the door), and asks that I trigger the phone again. The siren goes off as the bf closes the door. After about 30 seconds, they ask me to trigger it again, this time they knock and announce entry, and open the door.

The gf arrives at the door, and the officer demands she retrieve the phone. She is still wearing her Blue Moose shirt, having shortly before gotten off work. She begins spinning a tale about how she found the phone, and tried calling some phone numbers (she didn't, the app will send you the last 10 numbers called, and the last 10 texts sent and rec'd). The officer tells her he basically doesn't believe her, and brings me the phone to identify. She has removed the the fairly recognizable case it was in, removed our son's photo as the background wallpaper, and removed the micro-SD card (probably thinking it was the SIM). So we got the phone back, sans the case and the contents of the memory card.

They ask if I want to pursue charges, and I tell them I'm happy to have the phone back, and that I intend to visit Blue Moose today to inform the manager of the situation. He said that was probably more effective justice than pressing charges for a misdemeanor.

Anyhow, long story short - if you have an Android phone, go NOW and download Android Lost. It is an awesome app, and may be the one thing that helps you recover your lost or stolen phone.

http://www.androidlost.com/