With the weather getting warmer and the nights getting lighter… summer is just around the corner! And it’s time to start getting ready for those summer adventures and summer holidays! But what happens if the dreaded nightmare occurs, and you lose your smartphone or even worse… it gets stolen? We’re here to explain what to do.
Is Life360 better than Find My phone?
Life360 is probably the most popular smartphone/family tracker app available. It allows friends and families to create a ‘circle’, where everyone’s locations are tracked. This includes recent journeys, the speed at which the device was travelling, and when the user was last logged in. There’s even an option to set ‘check-ins’ which means at certain places (maybe home, school, work?) your smartphone will get a notification when someone arrives at that destination, which is perfect if you want to check if a family member is at their required destination without going onto the Life360 app.
It’s important to consider that this app is that it works on Wifi. You don’t need an actual connection to the Wifi just as long as the option is on then the phone will connect to Life360. If your phone dies, is turned off or is connected to data and not Wifi, the location will freeze or be inaccurate.
What does the Cerberus app do?
Cerberus is a great Android protection app that offers plenty of safety features so that if someone attempts (or manages) to steal your phone, you have the correct tools to find out who took it/where the phone is now. Some of its best features include GPS Tracking, Theftie which takes photos of the phone user if they insert an incorrect passcode and Fake Shutdown which is a deceptive power-off menu that makes it look like the phone is dead/broken.
Other features include:
- Remote alarm
- Remote lock
- Geofences
- Smartwatch Integration
- Forced Unlock Help
This app is great because it helps to retrieve your phone and find the culprit if your phone unfortunately gets stolen whereas many of the other apps are for protection, not if the actual crime is carried out.
Is it safe to use Find Lost phone?
The Find Lost Phone app is brilliant because it helps users find their missing smartphone even when the device is offline. Usually, if a phone isn’t connected to the correct network it can mean the phone is ‘untraceable’ and can’t be located. With this app, you can still find your device from when it was last online based on its encrypted stored location.
Can I whistle to find my phone?
The next app on our list is a great concept. Maybe you’ve lost your smartphone in a very public setting, or you think the person who stole your phone is nearby and you don’t want other people knowing you’re searching for a missing smartphone. With Find My Phone Whistle, as the name suggests you simply make a whistle sound set up within the app, and if the phone detects this sound an alarm will sound.
Does the familo app work?
Finally, another great concept is Familio, very similar to Life360, the app is a GPS tracking system targeted towards families to help locate each other at all times. The reason this app stands out so much is because of 1 feature, the panic button. With this paid-add-on feature, the button once pressed will send an alert including your current location to your contacts so you can suddenly ask for assistance.
Can AirTag find a lost phone?
And finally, instead of apps that help you track your smartphone, we have a great suggestion. Tracking tags. Apple AirPods, Tile Trackers and Pebblebee Clips are all great examples of tracking tags. Using a keychain, these can be attached to your smartphone, keys, bag, suitcase and even pets so that if your device (or furry friend) wanders off, simply head to the app to relocate it.
Conclusion:
Losing a phone can be dangerous for many reasons, firstly it could leave you without any way to get home leaving you stranded. You may have to buy another one which is expensive and more importantly, you could have left your phone unlocked meaning all your valuable data is now vulnerable. To ensure this never happens to you, take a look at our previous blog where we discuss the best ways to keep your smartphone data safe.
