The info-graphic “Lost and Found: The Challenges of Finding Your Lost or Stolen Phone” (click the link and then click again to enlarge) from Lookout Mobile Security provides an interesting view of how mobile devices are lost and the chances of recovery. While this infographic applies to the USA, the information below applies here in Costa Rica. I personally think they should expand the swimming pool category to include dropping your phone into rivers and lakes. I know a fisherman who lost two phones in a river while fishing, and a river rafter that lost his phone while going through some rapids. I almost lost a phone while driving an ATV. If I hadn’t felt the phone bounce of my leg, I would never had found it. Have you ever misplaced a mobile device? Did you find it?

In the last article, we covered how you can secure the information on your mobile device should it be lost or stolen. In this article, we are going to look at actions that you can take after your mobile device goes missing. This article only applies to GSM phones and tablets, as Wi-Fi tablets lack the necessary hardware features required by anti-theft apps. In addition, the ability to locate, and track, your mobile device requires that it have GPS capability.

Anti-theft apps offer a lot of different features. In my opinion, the most important features are remote lock, remote locate, remote memory wipe, remote siren, and SIM card change notification. Remote lock, remote memory wipe, and remote siren involve sending a text message to the phone. A remote lock message forces anyone who finds the mobile device to enter the Lock passcode (the previous article discussed Lock passcodes). Sending a remote memory wipe message erases all information in the mobile device’s internal storage. Besides being annoying, a remote siren message makes it easy to find a mobile device that is just misplaced. A remote microSD card erase message is nice, but do not depend on this feature as a substitute for file and data encryption. Even if the mobile device is not accessible, the microSD card can be easily removed from the device, and inserted into a computer.

The following table discusses the features for five of the many anti-theft apps available on the Android Market. Anti-virus apps, such as avast! Mobile Security and Lookout Security & Anti-virus, include anti-theft features. Where is My Droid Pro, Missing Droid Pro, and Android Lost are only for anti-theft. Android Lost has many more features than listed in the table below.

Android Anti-theft Apps

Feature	avast! Mobile	Lookout Security	Wheres My Droid Pro	Missing Droid	Android Lost
Remote Lock	X	X	X	X	X
Remote Locate	X	X	X	X	X
Remote Memory Wipe	X	X	X	X	X
Remote microSD Wipe			X		X
Remote Siren	X	X			X
SIM Card Change Notification	X		X		X
Contacts Backup		X
Remote Ring			X	X	X
Remote WiFi Control					X
Cost	Free			$1 USD	Free

If you have an iPhone, you can check the iPhone Store for similar apps. If you own a Nokia phone, the Ovi Store is where you go to find your anti-theft apps.

If your mobile device is lost, the goal is to quickly secure the mobile device using remote lock, and then locate the device using either the remote siren, or remote locate. If you cannot locate the mobile device, then you should consider remote memory wipe. Once you get a SIM card changed notification (usually via an email), you may be able to track the mobile device, but not remotely control it.

I keep having this vision of losing a phone while exploring the beautiful forests of Costa Rica. A monkey finds the phone, and starts on a journey across the forest. On Google Maps, you see your phone moving across the forest. I wonder if a monkey could randomly dial a number. Would this be called monkey dialing?