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Apps Lookout app

fischersd

fischersd

macrumors 603
Original poster
Oct 23, 2014
5,381
1,942
Port Moody, BC, Canada
Saw this posted over on Mashable this morning:
http://mashable.com/2016/03/08/lookout-new-apple-watch-app-scream/#5f3JC4LcHgqx

Loaded it up. Good to have another backup of my contacts (built into the app). The app is also free (premium version adds a few bells and whistles).

This will (hopefully) keep me from leaving my iPhone 6s at my friends homes / restaurants, etc. (tested it out - it does alert you when you're getting out of bluetooth range). The "rub" is you have to leave the app running on the iPhone.

Downside? I've had at least one "false positive". (got the notification on my watch that my iPhone is almost out of range and it's about 8" away on the coffee table??) :(

But, unless Apple makes this a native feature, I'm sold - anything to keep me from forgetting my phone (which I always do) :)
 
I installed it too. It definitely can give false positives, since it warns when it has a low Bluetooth signal. It may not be able to trigger a notification when actually out of range, so it notifies when it is almost out of range. After the notification, it will give the last location of the phone, and show a map, although if the watch doesn't have a connection to wifi or the phone, the map won't show anything. At times it seemed to have a hard time reconnecting and showing that the phone was back in range, so the first triggered alarm may be more reliable then the 2nd.

It may work better when it is not on a known wifi network. So it had more trouble at home. I wonder if it triggers the notification when the watch switches off Bluetooth and onto wifi and that is a reason for the false alarms.
 
michaelb5000 said:
It may work better when it is not on a known wifi network. So it had more trouble at home. I wonder if it triggers the notification when the watch switches off Bluetooth and onto wifi and that is a reason for the false alarms.
Click to expand...

Agreed - it's notifying when toggling between BT and wifi. Not desirable behaviour at all (and it's notifying me every time I go into my kitchen - only 10' away from the coffee table where my iPhone is sitting.

I'd rather have the behaviour that it notifies when I lose my connection to the iPhone (which Apple could easily do, just by adding a tap to their notification - but they haven't) :(

I'll suggest that to the developer of the app. Hopefully they're interested in making it better.

Edit: Feedback sent (and reply thanking me already received).
Removed the app from my watch for now. I'll give it another go when next they update - see if they augment the behaviour so it's more useful.
 
Last edited:
fischersd said:
Agreed - it's notifying when toggling between BT and wifi. Not desirable behaviour at all (and it's notifying me every time I go into my kitchen - only 10' away from the coffee table where my iPhone is sitting.

I'd rather have the behaviour that it notifies when I lose my connection to the iPhone (which Apple could easily do, just by adding a tap to their notification - but they haven't) :(

I'll suggest that to the developer of the app. Hopefully they're interested in making it better.

Edit: Feedback sent (and reply thanking me already received).
Removed the app from my watch for now. I'll give it another go when next they update - see if they augment the behaviour so it's more useful.
Click to expand...
Same for me. iPhone in pocket and I got notified. I removed it.
 
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FrisbeeK9 said:
Same for me. iPhone in pocket and I got notified. I removed it.
Click to expand...
Same for me too, after the 3. false alarm, I tried the Scream-button and nothing happened.. So even if the alarm was real, it wouldn't had helped me.. :(
So uninstall...
 
They updated the app today to add a slider for sensitivity. Turned it back on and will see if that helps and reduces false alarms. I still think the best option would be to start a count down time of 30 secs or 1 min, and to only give the notification if the watch doesn't reconnect during that time.

I left work last week and left my phone on my desk, and had to drive around the block to come back and pick it up. So the concept, if it works, would be nice to have running.
 
I have left the app installed even though of the false alarms. It did help me once so far so I am keeping it on and hoping for another update. This last update seems no different to me even with the notifocations set to fewer alerts. Someone else in this post I think gave a great suggestion. Make an option to only alert when the bluetooth disconnects from the iPhone.
 
No more false alarms on my Apple Watch, now my iPhone started with the false alarms, even with the sensitivity slider all the way down :/
 
dimzen said:
No more false alarms on my Apple Watch, now my iPhone started with the false alarms, even with the sensitivity slider all the way down :/
Click to expand...
Sorry are you saying it works as it should now then, with the 24th March update? No more false alarms? This with the slider set to what please?

Thanks
 
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they updated this app again this week. I don't really need this, and would like this feature baked into to the OS, but decided to try this again. It does seem to work better with each update. The slider for sensitivity helps. If I have my phone with me it doesn't usually go off, and if I leave my phone on my desk and walk down the hall and down the stairs, it does ring. For me it mainly has trouble with false alarms at home, when I am on my home wifi network. Bluetooth may work differently when both devices are on wifi. I would really need this to have geofence feature, or to only go off if the devices aren't sharing the same network.

The notification gives you two options, dismiss and scream. "sleep" might be an improvement to turn it off for an hour or so. I don't think I will use this generally, but I can see this as being useful if I was traveling in cabs and on planes, when I am in a situation were I really don't want to lose my phone.
 
Tried it again.
Last evening while watch on my arm and phone, Lookout came with 3 alarms, with the sensitivity on middle.
So I switch it to low, no more alarms.

This morning, I forgot my watch at home, no alarm on my phone :(
But after I got my watch again, it seem to work every time I forgot my phone at the desk.

So I don't trust it 100% yet.. :/
 
I want a version of the app that only deals with distances between the phone and watch... Not all the other fluff..
 
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Looks like "lookout" barely works anymore. I downloaded it, hoping it would notify me when I walked away from my phone... but now it does nothing...
 
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