Well lets assume your android device has been stolen! Good lord !! . Not to worry, this guide should hopefully help you recover it. Even if its a thief.
PS: This contents of this read may bear resemblance to the reddit thread i created
A about two weeks ago (17th April to be exact) one of my friend lost his Samsung GT-I9003 from his dorm room at 0200hrs. Today when i was scanning my latitude, i saw him position a few hundred meters from me. Problem is, we are on a university campus. 500+ students, staff, kitchen, cleaning - basically lot of people. I suggested we check Google Latitiude's location history and sure enough for the past 15 days, the phone's location is spread all over the campus.
Premise of the crime
Steps we have taken
How we found the phone
After Where is my Droid failed us, we started looking for other applications. We found this application called Android Lost. Unfortunately we hit a dead end when we realised that it needs to be activated by sending an SMS. Since we dont know the phone number, or that there is even any SIM card in the phone, that application also seemed useless.But turns out the developer of Android Lost has also made a nifty app called AndroidLost Jumpstart which is can trigger Android Lost without the need of an SMS.
According to the description
So we got android lost installed. Trust me, its a life saver. We got calls logs, sms, pictures, voice recordings. We tracked the person with the help of this.
Hope this helps anyone in the future!
PS: This contents of this read may bear resemblance to the reddit thread i created
A about two weeks ago (17th April to be exact) one of my friend lost his Samsung GT-I9003 from his dorm room at 0200hrs. Today when i was scanning my latitude, i saw him position a few hundred meters from me. Problem is, we are on a university campus. 500+ students, staff, kitchen, cleaning - basically lot of people. I suggested we check Google Latitiude's location history and sure enough for the past 15 days, the phone's location is spread all over the campus.
Premise of the crime
- The phone is ON and is connecting to the Wi-Fi.
- The phone is still tied to the primary gmail account and is thus reporting location.
- The SIM has been removed or changed since the original number is now switched off
- The person does not have good knowledge of using a smart phone (maybe helping staff)
Steps we have taken
- Since we assume it is in the possession of either a student or helping staff we don't want to startle him.
- Tried Plan-B on my phone. However the location it was reporting was the same as Google Latitude.
- The phone does have Where is my Droid installed but the web interface says invalid email ID. So that option is ruled out unless you have pre configured Where is my Droid previously.
How we found the phone
After Where is my Droid failed us, we started looking for other applications. We found this application called Android Lost. Unfortunately we hit a dead end when we realised that it needs to be activated by sending an SMS. Since we dont know the phone number, or that there is even any SIM card in the phone, that application also seemed useless.But turns out the developer of Android Lost has also made a nifty app called AndroidLost Jumpstart which is can trigger Android Lost without the need of an SMS.
According to the description
This app will wake up the registration process on the androidlost app when ever a phone call is made, an SMS received, battery is low, a package is added, removed or changed.
So we got android lost installed. Trust me, its a life saver. We got calls logs, sms, pictures, voice recordings. We tracked the person with the help of this.
Hope this helps anyone in the future!