Apple Watch 'Lookout' App Helps Users Find a Misplaced iPhone

[leesweet]

You can turn off the contacts sync which I did, useless for those with corporate or iCloud sync.

So far I find it useful. When I walk downstairs I get a notification that I'm getting out of range of my watch on my phone. I'll have to try it the other way which is the important case.

The app on the watch has a meter that shows you how close you are to the phone which could be useful. Have to play with it some.

For the privacy aspects, I turned off all the stuff I don't care about: contacts, system check, monthly premium for special notifications, etc. Just the basic 'tell me when I separate the two devices' seems to actually work.

 

[Buran]

Why not just use the glance that's built into the watch to find your phone?

Just go to the Settings glance and it allows you to play the sonar sound even if the phone is on silent. Or if you press and hold the ping button on the glance it makes the flash pulsate.

I'm hard of hearing, so I always have to ask somebody to follow the pinging sound if I can't find the phone. (I don't have stereo hearing). This is definitely useful to know about, though if the phone's face up, it still won't help. But it's huge for people like me.

 

[NotTellinYou]

You can turn off the contacts sync which I did, useless for those with corporate or iCloud sync.

Yes you can but why should you have to! Why on earth do you think they have that strange, and lone backup feature, in a phone tracking app?

The developer has bet that most users will leave it on. This app's real purpose is to gather data, GPS and if possible your contacts. The fact this app. which "sort of works" to alert you when you walk away from your phone, SHOULD NOT need access to your "Contacts" or your GPS position. It only needs Bluetooth locally do it's job that's it! The rest of this data collection is NOT needed for the app's stated purpose. Heck, I can use Find My Phone to get GPS location.

Make no mistake this app is reliable at one thing and that's tracking you too bad it's not as reliable at tracking a phone! Too bad reviewers such as this aren't really looking at these things.

 

[bingeciren]

I tested this program for two days. While the idea and the concept is very good, unfortunately this program is an utter failure.

I always carry my phone in my pocket and yet I received at least 5 to 6 false alarms throughout the day that my phone was getting away from my watch. Meanwhile I got no warning when I intentionally walked away from my phone to test it.

In the end, the frequent false alarms were enough reason for me to delete the program.

Good intentions with bad results.