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What is the best app for tracking the iPhone in case it gets lost?

L

lukeman3000

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 20, 2007
122
0
I'm just looking for a reliable app, preferably without a monthy charge, that will simply show me the location of my phone on a map. It doesn't have to be uber-accurate -- the closer the better obviously, but if I know its last-known location in a general sense (a mile or less), it's likely I'll remember where it could have been lost that day.

I was looking at taptrace, and some others, but all the ones I've seen got mediocre reviews. iHound looks alright, but I don't like the whole monthly fee thing. Also, I'm not going to sign up for mobile me just to track my phone. Any suggestions?
 
Bumping this for you.
Most seem to rely on them opening the app, so I'm guesing with ios4.0 someone could make one that runs in the background. Would kill the battery though.
 
Krayzie116 said:
Don't you have to pay yearly for the mobile me for it to work?
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Yes. MobileMe is by far the most accurate on the iPhone though. I know Android had Mobile Defense which was amazingly great, and free. However, this is Apple. You can buy an individual license for an entire year on eBay, and it will only set you back about $40.
 
Goldinboy17 said:
Yes. MobileMe is by far the most accurate on the iPhone though. I know Android had Mobile Defense which was amazingly great, and free. However, this is Apple. You can buy an individual license for an entire year on eBay, and it will only set you back about $40.
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http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/

If you use an Exchange account, you can use the functionality there to do a remote wipe.

I use MobileMe mainly because of the Find My iPhone function. This way, between 10 wrong PIN guesses, and two ways to erase my phone should it get stolen or lost, I should be OK.

As for Android, I found WaveSecure a decent tool, but because Android only encrypts apps (and that only in 2.2), it is hard to find a way to erase data on the memory card. iPhones are more secure in this regard, although I don't know how much equipment it would take to disassemble the phone and dig through the flash memory to find any deleted, but un-wiped data. Likely way too much for almost anything but state secrets.
 
I have MobileMe as well.

However if I lose my iPhone I am fully convinced it will go from lost to stolen quite quick. I try to believe that the best in people can be pulled, though I don't stay naive about this. Now that I don't drink (and consequently) don't black out anymore, I don't see myself losing my iPhone. I use it often enough to know if it was gone, almost immediately.

Blonde Buddhist
 
satirev said:
so how do you track it if your phone gets stolen??? Does fonehome have a website or how does that work?
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It has a website apparently.

I was going through the reviews and it seems great. The only issue that people mention is that battery gets drained, but the developer may have fixed it.
 
fonehome

I downloaded this app and thus far it works really well.

You log into the website and can track your phone. It even gives you a status on the battery.


I will update this thread later on with information on how it drains the battery.
 
When I lost my 3G and tried to locate it with mobile me, it kept saying it couldn't locate my phone. SO much for that. I did get the phone returned though.
 
Goldinboy17 said:
I know Android had Mobile Defense which was amazingly great, and free.
Click to expand...

Going slightly off-topic, Microsoft have My Phone available for W6.x (and the forthcoming WP7 monstrosity) which also offers to find and optionally erase a lost phone. Free upfront and for a small number of tracking/erasing requests, makes MobileMe look expensive :rolleyes:
 
tirk said:
Going slightly off-topic, Microsoft have My Phone available for W6.x (and the forthcoming WP7 monstrosity) which also offers to find and optionally erase a lost phone. Free upfront and for a small number of tracking/erasing requests, makes MobileMe look expensive :rolleyes:
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True, but MobileMe is much more than just a tracking tool..that's just a bonus feature IMO
 
MobileMe is the only thing that'll do this well, as far as I know. It's about $120 a year, you also get 10GB of online storage, 10GB of e-mail, and wireless syncing.
 
MythicFrost said:
MobileMe is the only thing that'll do this well, as far as I know. It's about $120 a year, you also get 10GB of online storage, 10GB of e-mail, and wireless syncing.
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Thats quite expensive, over here in the UK you can pick it up for about £28 which equates to about $43
 
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