[General Topics] Meteor0id:
My phone was recently stolen. Pickpocketed to be precise. This is the first time such thing happened to me, and I was confronted with a period of worrying what the thief might do with all my accounts, all my pictures, all my personal information. It happened in a crowded place with camera's everywhere, so I felt quite frustrated when I realized even such measures won't help me prevent the theft nor help me recover my phone.

Naturally, I went looking for apps which to install on my new phone, to try and make as sure as I can this will never happens again. I quickly discovered there aren't many useful apps out there.

See, when the thief stole my phone, the very first thing he did was switch it off. At that point there was nothing left I could do to erase or locate my device. I am not entirely sure what he might have done with my phone later, but I suspect he will sell it to someone with the technical know how to change the identifiable codes (IMEI), or he might take the thing apart en sell the parts.

I wondered, if I were a talented programmer, what app would I want to make? Would there be anything I could do to prevent theft or make it more likely to recover my phone? I came up with ideas for 4 separate apps, each tackling the issue in a different manner:

- Attempt to turn phone off alarm

[phone in progress of being stolen]

Overwrites the default action for the power button. When someone tries to turn the phone off or tires to restart the phone, the phone will ask for identification and raise a very loud alarm if it is not provided within 10 seconds. The phone refuses to restart or turn off without identification.

The alarm can be prevented or switched of only by proving your identity to the phone (log in using fingerprint or password).

A thief might try to grab my phone and quickly turn it off to prevent me from playing a loud alarm or locating it using GPS. If he attempt to turn off the phone he gets this unpleasant surprise: an alarm starts sounding instead, and he has no fast way of switching it off. Even if he makes a run for it, the phone might play a voice yelling "This phone is being stolen!". Good luck staying unnoticed.

Additional: the alarms can also be triggered by a text message to the phone. In case you suspect the phone is still near you but the thief has not attempted to switch it off.

- Stealthy remote access and locator app, persistent over factory reset

[phone has been stolen and is not close-by]

An app to which a user can be remotely logged in to, to: locate the device using it's GPS, take pictures using the camera (without flash), erase all userfiles, or encrypt all userfiles in the background, download files from the phone, view recently used wifi ssids, view current IMEI and SIM card information, record video, record audio, take screenshot, view carrier information, log GPS locations, view call log.

All in stealth.

This app can be used to spy on anyone who stole your phone, and also to prevent him from getting access to your files. The core principle is that even a factory reset will not uninstall the app. It installs in such a way that it will either persist though a factory reset, or it will get reinstalled along with a factory reset. And because the app stays stealthy, the thief will likely have no clue this app is installed. The thief will expect the phone to be safe to handle and untraceable after resetting and re-configuring it, but if the phone is turned on and connected to any kind of network it can reveal his identity and location though uploading information the the owner of the phone.

This app is intended to be used stealthily to catch the thief, it is not meant to raise any alarm on the phone such as flashing lights or loud sounds, as that would only hint the thief that the owner is still in control of the phone.

Obviously the owner of the phone should keep his data usage to a minimum to prevent the thief from noticing high data usage.

Edit: An additional idea: Maybe also an option to call emergency services with an automated or preset message. Emergency services can take direct action to catch the thief, and they can locate the phone rather precisely in real time using Android Emergency Location Service (ELS) and Advanced Mobile Location (AML). In most countries it is perfectly legal use of the emergency line to catch a thief in the short period the phone is on-line.

- Phone out of range alarm app

[Phone is in progress of getting stolen]

Depends on a small hardware device with transmits a signal continuously. The phone checks if the transmitter is still in range. If the small hardware transmitter is no longer in proximity, the phone will assume it is stolen and raise a warning asking the owner to quickly identify himself. If that does not happen within 10 seconds, a very loud alarm will start playing on the phone.

The alarm can be prevented or switched of only by proving your identity to the phone (log in using fingerprint or password).

Another plus, if the transmitter is in your backpack, the phone will alert you when your backpack is being stolen. Just don't let them both get stolen, or keep the transmitter in a pocket on your body.

We will have to find some way to accurately estimate distance. The range at which the alarm gets triggered should be around 5 meters to be effective (cause any pickpocket is going to get away from you fast)

- Show me where you are app (only for lost phones, not for stolen phones)

[phone lost somewhere nearby and is hard to locate]

By sending a certain text message to you phone the lights and screen and the notification led will start flashing on and off, and the phone will play a loud sound over the speakers.

Ideal if the phone fell into a pit or in some hard to reach place. Only playing a sound it can still be hard to find the phone, so the combination of (synchronized!) sound and light makes it easier to locate the phone.

Meant only for a phone lost somewhere nearby, not for stolen phones, as it would only hint a thief that the phone has a security app on it and he would simply turn it off and factory reset the phone.

------

I have seen apps which can do some of these things, but non that do quite what I intended them to do. They are either to easy to switch off, or lack the necessary features to make the difference.

I deliberately want to steer clear of an all-in-one app. Each app should be designed for a specific situation, and do its job well just for that situation. All these apps can be installed side to side on a phone, and are completely independent of each-other.

I am hoping to find some people willing to help me develop these apps. I myself don't have the experience to write these apps. I do think that if it can be done, many people would benefit. Don't we all just absolutely hate pickpockets and thieves?