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Has anyone heard of this - https://www.mobiledefense.com/ ? It's so if your phone is lost/stolen you can get on the computer and see where it is. You can also do other things like lock it remotely. However it doesn't seem like you can activate the GPS remotely, so it's not that useful because you'd have to keep GPS turned on all the time, which drains the battery too much. Has anyone used this, is there a way to activate GPS remotely that I'm missing? Or is there another app that can activate it remotely?
I've been using this app for over a year. It works great and you can activate the GPS remotely. It does this by sending a txt message to the phone that allows you to control the program on the phone via the web interface.
Correction, GPS is not always active, it only becomes active once the application is activated, meaning you are not emitting a GPS signal at all times, only when you start to track it does it do that so it does not take up battery.
So far, you can make Mobile Defense a system application by moving it into the system memory as a system application. This will prevent uninstall and, if not already the feature to remotely activate the GPS after its been disabled.
SolemnWishing said:
So far, you can make Mobile Defense a system application by moving it into the system memory as a system application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do that?
And you're right about the GPS not constantly being activated, I tried it out, it's pretty nice.
I had Mobile Defense, then i switched to Wave Secure. MUCH better. Its still there even tho you wipe the phone, and backs up your contacts, messages, and pictures, all ONLINE for free. Can't beat that!
mautai916 said:
I had Mobile Defense, then i switched to Wave Secure. MUCH better. Its still there even tho you wipe the phone, and backs up your contacts, messages, and pictures, all ONLINE for free. Can't beat that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll look into this. I'm die hard mobile defense, but i wipe so damn much i don't have it half the time.
Mobile Defense vs Wave Secure
I can't seem to find a way to get WaveSecure to kick on my GPS. Device tracking is pretty much useless and hasn't been able to lock onto my location all day.
Although it is super sweet for backing up almost everything on your Android phone. Which is something I don't believe MobileDefense does.
I still like MobileDefense for tracking my phone because it has the ability to turn on GPS remotely via a SMS. Don't forget you can active a car alarm sound remotely as well.
I can't wait to get a Dell Mini 5 and hope one of these companies add anti-theft device lock with auto snap shots with E-Mail back up!
I want to create an "un-steal-able" phone.
Of course this is impossible, but I want to make it as difficult as possible for thieves to get away with it, and as easy as possible for me to find it.
Assumptions:
Phone has available call and text messaging service.
Phone has internet capabilities and "permanent" Internet access. (We will consider 2G, 3G, or 4G cellular access with a data plan to be permanent. Depending on an open WiFi network to be available at all times is unreliable).
Phone is on and has some charge in its battery. (If the phone is off, we can't do anything).
Phone has an accurate GPS receiver.
Requirements:
Software that relays GPS coordinates via an Internet connection. As a backup for when there is no cellular data signal, software that relay GPS coordinates via SMS
Software cannot be disabled or removed without authentication.
GPS on phone cannot be turned off without authentication (alternative: remote activation of GPS receiver via Internet or SMS)
Cellular data and/or WiFi cannot be turned off without authentication (alternative: remote activation of cellular data via SMS)
Where GPS signal can be used for macro location (within 10 to 30 meters), there must be some method of micro location (within a few feet).
Phone cannot be powered off via any button press, on-screen menu, or removal of battery
Phone cannot be wiped by on-screen menu or by computer cable connection
Now I have approached this solution from two starting points: the iPhone running iOS, or an Android-based smartphone. Both have different advantages and technical details. Let's look at how we can meet each of these requirements one by one.
iOS solution:
Unfortunately, if your iPhone is not jailbroken, your choices are not so great. But FindMyiPhone does do the basic job of relaying GPS coordinates. For a jailbroken iPhone, iCaughtu seems to be the best of the bunch from the research I have done and gives you a bunch of cool anti-theft features.
and
Using the options under Settings -> General -> Restrictions, you can disallow users from deleting apps AND from turning off location services. Of course, you can accomplish something similar by simple setting a password to access your phone. Unfortunately I haven't yet seen any program that allows you to remotely activate the GPS receiver on an iPhone.
Unfortunately I don't think there is anyway to prevent a thief from disabling your cellular connection other than setting a password on the whole phone. This has its advantages and disadvantages.* Similarly, I don't see any way to remotely activate the Cellular Data on an iPhone via SMS.
This is where things start to get more complex and we need to start thinking of actually modding the phone. So far the best RF tracking solution I have found (in terms of size, cost, and effectiveness) is a cheap chinese-made product that I picked up in Asia and cannot find a link to. This one is very similar http://www.amazon.com/Loc8tor-LTD-Loc8torLite-LOC8TOR-Lite/dp/B0012GMDC4/ but the reviews are meh. It is RF-based but does not really give any directional information. Once you are close to the RF transmitter (using the GPS coordinates), you can use the RF receiver to basically play a little game of hot and cold and walk in different directions all while watching if the signal gets stronger or weaker. I've done two real world field test with the similar device and was able to successfully find a purposely concealed bag in a slum twice.
But how do we get this into the phone? If you disassemble the transmitter, it is a very small circuit board, but most phones these days are already packed to the brim. Additionally, these units need power, so you would need to solder it into the phone's power system.
For the iPhone, concerns about a battery-based shutdown are reduced by its "sealed" battery compartment. Of course, with the right tools, someone can get to the battery. But this is not likely to happen quickly and will likely occur in a specific home or shop, from which we can get coordinate data. We only need to delay the thieves long enough to track them. The bad news is that preventing an iPhone from being shutdown via button press is much more difficult. Even with a lockscreen password, anyone can turn off an iPhone with a long power/sleep button press. I found a mod on Cydia that required a password before any shutdown, but it seemed it was only compatible with iOS 5 and I am running iOS 6.
This is the most challenging problem, as the most common method for any experienced phone thief to avoid detection is simply to power off the phone (or disable internet/3G) and as quickly as possible get to a computer and perform a complete wipe using any number of computer programs. A password on the phone can prevent access to the menu options for resetting factory default, but very little can prevent a thief from physically connecting the phone to a computer and wiping it.
Again I turn to physical modding. Would it be possible to modify the iPhone connector in such a way that the pins for power and charging would still work, but the pins for a data connection would require a specially modified cable to conect to the computer? Once my phone is through its initial setup and/or, most anything I need to do as far as data can be accomplished via WiFi. If needed, I would keep my special data cable at my home only and never take it out. But losing the ability to charge from any iPhone cable would be too debilitating to daily usage.
So I ask the experts: how can I improve on or solve these ideas? Is there software out there that I don't know about, either on the App Store or the Cydia Store? Are there ways to remotely control the iPhone's wireless and GPS functions via text? There should be. Any ideas on incorporating a tiny RF transmitter into the iPhone? Is there any way to prevent an iPhone from being shut down via the sleep button? Is there anyway to sabotage the lightning connector in an intelligent way to prevent a computer-based wipe?
*Advantages and Disadvantage of a phone-wide password. Honestly, I would rather not have a lockscreen password on my phone. I'm not a privacy freak and I don't care if a thief sees my pictures of e-mails or Facebook. If my phone is stolen, I'm hoping it is stolen by an idiot and that they WON'T try to wipe the phone. None of my solutions are foolproof. Everything in here is about delaying the thief long enough to track them. If an idiot steals a phone without a password, he MIGHT just use it as is. But if an idiot steals a phone and can't doing ANYTHING with it, he is going to take it to someone who will be smart enough to wipe it MUCH SOONER. Of course, the disadvantage is a loss of privacy, but iCaughtu has a cool solution for that too.
Android solution:
Android phones are much easier to root, and software solutions exist that will work reasonably well even for nonrooted phones. The best software I have seen is Avast! Anti-theft (part of Mobile Security), AndroidLost, and Cerebrus. All of these can report GPS coordinates, and with Avast! at least, you can also see coordinate history online and actually follow the path of your phone through the minutes, hours, and/or days. AndroidLost can report GPS coordinates online OR via SMS!
,
and
Avast! cannot be removed without a pin code. It can also prevent the user from during off Cellular Data and GPS. AndroidLost can be used to activate WiFi, Cellular Data and/or GPS via internet command OR via SMS. There are a ton of other internet-based and SMS commands in AndroidLost as well. Even without an active lockscreen password, a thief would be powerless to disable communication between the tracking software and you. In this department, Android truly outshines the iOS solution.
Getting an RF tracker into an Android-based phone has the same challenges as an iPhone.
I haven't found ANY glimmer of hope for a mode to disable shutdown via a long-button-press on Android. At least I found one mod for iPhone, even if it was the wrong iOS version. This is a huge gap in the goal of building an "unstealable" phone for both operating systems. As for the battery: Android phones come in many flavors. Many have removable batteries, so if you want to make life more difficult for thieves you'll have to limit yourself to a phone with a "sealed" battery compartment such as the HTC One.
A computer-based wipe via USB cable presents the same challenges as an iPhone EXCEPT that we're dealing with a more standard interface so that MIGHT make modding an easier task. Is there any way to make the microUSB jack more "proprietary" so that any normal USB cable can charge it but only a specially one can transmit data?
There is one other detailed I am interested in, but which is, I believe, currently impossible since it would require modifications to the lowest level of the phone's software, and that would be an auto-on feature. If the phone's battery dies for any reason (or any other shutdown that is not user-initiated), I would love for the phone to automatically power back on whenever it receives a new power source (either being plugged into the wall or getting a fresh battery).
Why am I so interested in doing this? I live in a third-world country and I travel to many other third-world countries. For 3 years, I guess I had good luck, but in the past year I have had three phones and a laptop stolen from me on the street and I have been punched in the face. Several of my friends have also had phones stolen during that time, and one friend was even kidnapped and robbed. Maybe crime is getting worse or maybe it is just coincidence. I have tried to be more careful each time, but one should not live life in fear or blame ones carelessness alone. It is time to fight back. Money, time, memories, self-respect, and peace of mind have been taken away from me and from people I care about. These thieves bear the real responsibility for these crimes. And the police and government here is largely unwilling, incapable, uncaring, and/or corrupt. Maybe I can help others as well.
Thanks for your suggestions and input.
Your thoughts are well expressed.
Hopefully something is coming fast to consumers.:good:
Hello guys, I saw some apps for android like, comodo anti theft, avast anti theft, eset anti theft, and so on, for locating the phone.
Which one do you recommend or think that is the best?
I have gived a try to avast and comodo, but I saw that if the phone is in the house I can not locate it from the laptop browser / avast web-interface,
as it needs to enable the GPS reciver and gps can not be started automatically or even if it is started it will not "see" the gps sattelites because of the roof. And with comodo I saw no web-interface, only sms texting, and I have only one phone, no secondary phone handy for finding it easy.
I wish to be able do do two simple things by controlling it over internet using a laptop (wify or carrier data 3G/EDGE/GPRS)
1) If I forgot where is my phone in house and I have no other phone, to be able to make the phone to sound an alarm for finding it more easy, it happens often to forget where my phone is in the house
2) Locate the approximate location of the phone by using GSM towers, and NOT the GPS (in case that will be stolen, or I forget where I left the phone, in car / at work / at house etc.)
Hello, well to help you out I use Kaspersky Mobile Security, it has alot of features, you can lock the phone via sms messages, take mug shots, wipe the phone and locate it too, you can look for it in the play store, its a paid app but I think its worth it, I would look into it if I were you and consider it as a viable option. Hope this helps.
You can locate your Android Device with Googles Device Manager and has a features to lock the phone and ring.. Also I believe there is APPs to track your device with GSM towers.
https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Thx!
I have enabled in settings > Location services > Access my location and google location service, now I can find my location without using gps, avast anti theft works pretty well, I also found an interesting app on google play named Secret Control but it has some ads.
isabellamiller477 said:
Hello guys, I saw some apps for android like, comodo anti theft, avast anti theft, eset anti theft, and so on, for locating the phone.
Which one do you recommend or think that is the best?
I have gived a try to avast and comodo, but I saw that if the phone is in the house I can not locate it from the laptop browser / avast web-interface,
as it needs to enable the GPS reciver and gps can not be started automatically or even if it is started it will not "see" the gps sattelites because of the roof. And with comodo I saw no web-interface, only sms texting, and I have only one phone, no secondary phone handy for finding it easy.
I wish to be able do do two simple things by controlling it over internet using a laptop (wify or carrier data 3G/EDGE/GPRS)
1) If I forgot where is my phone in house and I have no other phone, to be able to make the phone to sound an alarm for finding it more easy, it happens often to forget where my phone is in the house
2) Locate the approximate location of the phone by using GSM towers, and NOT the GPS (in case that will be stolen, or I forget where I left the phone, in car / at work / at house etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kidkree1 said:
Hello, well to help you out I use Kaspersky Mobile Security, it has alot of features, you can lock the phone via sms messages, take mug shots, wipe the phone and locate it too, you can look for it in the play store, its a paid app but I think its worth it, I would look into it if I were you and consider it as a viable option. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allen` said:
You can locate your Android Device with Googles Device Manager and has a features to lock the phone and ring.. Also I believe there is APPs to track your device with GSM towers.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! I thought we need gps in order to locate our location. This is great
Is anyone experiencing problem with their GPS signal? Mine would lose the GPS lock constantly. Thanks.
Working fine on my end. Out and back, my drive was 5 hours total.
Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
No, no problems at all. And I used the GPS allot.
Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk
Make sure yours is set to High accuracy. Mine was not after set up. I had to change.
Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk
Even in high accuracy, I lose the gps signal frequently. Sigh
Do you have a case on your phone?
I just got my cases in and have noticed weaker gps performance since putting the phone in a case.
I've been having major GPS problems. Going for a run and expecting the phone to track my route and calculate my speed accurately shouldn't be too much to ask in late 2016. But my phone constantly loses the GPS signal (this was never a problem with my previous phone in the same location) and even when it doesn't, it can't figure out where I am. My run traces often show me two streets over in addition to thinking I'm jumping back and forth across a busy 5-lane road every 5 seconds or so. I run 6 miles and the phone thinks I've gone 8.25. Not useful for training for events.
Even if you don't want to use the phone to track exercise, there's another reason the bad GPS is annoying. It makes it impossible to take advantage of the feature allowing you to unlock the phone without using your fingerprint or pin based on your location. I have my phone set to be unlocked at home, but the phone apparently can't tell when I'm at home, making this setting completely useless.
As to GPS issues while driving, I haven't noticed them, but I've not used the phone for navigating either.
Would like to mention that while I have a case on it, it is quite light and doesn't seem like it should interfere so badly with the GPS. Will try checking the accuracy without the case and will update if this resolves the issues. Also, I have tried tinkering with the GPS accuracy settings but even selecting all the options to optimize accuracy has not worked for me.
The only thing you can do to test the case theory is to use the phone without that case. That said, it is possible you have a defective phone. I have read many articles about poor GPS being caused by a loose, internal connection. You might want to take your phone to a repair facility and have them check it out.
I have a US996 and, so far, GPS is nice.
how
wtharp2 said:
The only thing you can do to test the case theory is to use the phone without that case. That said, it is possible you have a defective phone. I have read many articles about poor GPS being caused by a loose, internal connection. You might want to take your phone to a repair facility and have them check it out.
I have a US996 and, so far, GPS is nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how can you change it to high?
No issues on my end yet, I use it navigating on a daily basis (racking up Waze points basically) and walking around, can't think of maybe one time it lost GPS driving and that was only briefly.
Mine was misbehaving horribly. I tried using google maps to see if it was something to do with Navigon, (my normal gps app) and somehow it seems like just running maps fixed it. It has been working great with Navigon now.
Go figure.
GPS on my Sprint version has worked great in all 3 options since day 1
Sent from my LG V20 using XDA Labs
On my rooted VS995 software version VS99513A on notsostock kernel v1.2 the GPS seemed to never be able to locate my current location. When I used it before without root it picked up quickly. Am going to try nostock kernek v1.1 the updated version and see if I get a difference. Plus now am running magisk instead of supersu so will see if that makes a difference.
It's possible that the a-gps data is corrupt. I'm not sure how you'd go about clearing that. There must be a cache file associated with gps daemon.
Try installing this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2
And when GPS isn't working, run the app and see if it's receiving/decoding any satellites at all (bar lengths indicate strength, colour indicates successfully received all ephemeris data from satellite and therefore has lock - it can take a while without a-gps).
---------- Post added at 08:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------
P.s. I found that taking the back off my phone improves Wi-Fi. Metal blocks radio signals.
If you have low or no signals in a specific location, try popping the back of the phone and seeing if the signals become useable.
mmar3087 said:
Is anyone experiencing problem with their GPS signal? Mine would lose the GPS lock constantly. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to bring up an old thread. I just bought a used LG V20 (at&t version, H910) on Craigslist the other day, and have had GPS issues that made me highly annoyed like I bought a lemon phone, and was getting ready to call LG Support, and pay a lot of money for repairs.
Happily, I did discover a trivial solution that I haven't really seen, so I thought I'd share it.
After I purchased the phone, I factory reset it. It seemed like the device would be able to triangulate a position, but it would be unreliable, move around, and the accuracy would be highly variable. (observed in Google Maps and Waze). These symptoms seem to be consistent with other people's experiences. The useful and highly recommended "GPS Status" and "GPS Test" apps, that normally show visible satellites were showing ZERO satellites. As suggested in various places, I used "GPS Status" to re-download the A-GPS databases, set "sensor filtering" to medium. Still, zero satellites, but a semi-functional GPS, which is confusing. I found the hidden menu code for the H910 (*#546368#*910#), and SAAT->"Manual Test"->"GPS/BT/Wifi test" and ran the hardware-level GPS diagnostics. I was getting signals of 0.0 db for GPS and GLO satellites, kind of suggesting the GPS hardware was faulty, and made me even less optimistic/more annoyed.
I was basically convinced GPS on my phone was kaput, and would need to be serviced, until I discovered ........
Rebooting the phone solved all of the GPS problems, and made GPS and GNO satellites visible and now GPS is 100% functional. It seems that since I initially factory reset the phone and did my normal installation, I never did a simple reboot. Since I haven't seen that kind of obvious solution on any of the forums, I thought it would be useful to report. I'm cautiously optimistic that was my only problem ......
good luck
=mxasf=
Bought a used one and having problems: it'll fix on several satellites but it's usually unable to acquire the specific location (latitude and longitude). Depending on the program, it will say "waiting for GPS fix" in osmtracker or "looking for GPS location" within 'GPS Status' (the app).
When it does get a 'Lock' (a specific location), its accuracy is 200-300m off. :/
I tried some of the other common tips and tricks:
I've downloaded new A-GPS data (using the 'GPS Status' app); tried using the GPS without my case on; doing a simple reboot, none of them work.
After more searching, I found this guide: https://imgur.com/a/VxeaU which recommends to place copper tape on the GPS antennas of your phone.
i have 2 V20's.. the one i bought back for myself is 12/2016 and another one is another batch 3/2017 for my wife..
What i'll found is the earlier one ( 12/2016 ) have the following issue :
- overheat
- kaput gps
- screen burn
While the one i bought for my wife ( 3/2017 ) doesn't even have the following issue above.. Furthermore, the screen also different.. my wife V20's tend to have a more saturated color, brighter screen and doesn't overheat as much as mine..
My conclusion is, only those with earlier batch of production have all this defect.. and to those who own it ( including me ).. i guess, we're unlucky!
i'll use my wife V20's as gps since mine V20 is good for nothing when GPS is a needs.... if she's not around, i'm totally doomed !
-----
if you guys wonder, there was no different in camera.... unlike G6 ( pheww~ )
both my and my wife V20's produce the same images quality..
mxasf said:
Rebooting the phone solved all of the GPS problems, and made GPS and GNO satellites visible and now GPS is 100% functional. It seems that since I initially factory reset the phone and did my normal installation, I never did a simple reboot. Since I haven't seen that kind of obvious solution on any of the forums, I thought it would be useful to report. I'm cautiously optimistic that was my only problem ......
good luck
=mxasf=
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an old common fix
skorasaurus said:
Bought a used one and having problems: it'll fix on several satellites but it's usually unable to acquire the specific location (latitude and longitude). Depending on the program, it will say "waiting for GPS fix" in osmtracker or "looking for GPS location" within 'GPS Status' (the app).
When it does get a 'Lock' (a specific location), its accuracy is 200-300m off. :/
I tried some of the other common tips and tricks:
I've downloaded new A-GPS data (using the 'GPS Status' app); tried using the GPS without my case on; doing a simple reboot, none of them work.
After more searching, I found this guide: https://imgur.com/a/VxeaU which recommends to place copper tape on the GPS antennas of your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed that guide (credit https://www.reddit.com/r/lgv20/comments/7fx2gz/becareful_buying_the_top_plastic_bezel_of_the_v20/)
and bought copper tape (https://www.amazon.com/Copper-Conductive-Adhesive-1inch-12yards/dp/B018RDZ3HG) off amazon.
For me and my VS995; there were metal contacts (see picture 1 of the imgur album) and the metal contacts were silver, not gold.
Nonetheless, I put some copper tape only on the first contact as shown in picture 1 and my signal improved dramatically. The lowest accuracy that I can get (lower is better) now is about 8m and it has been hovering around 15m; and still takes a few seconds to
This is compared to my s5, where I could get an accuracy as low as 4-5m and usually hovers around 8-10m and could obtain my location within 10 seconds after turning on GPS.
Struggling badly with the GPS often being wildly inaccurate. It is at times 20-30km off, other times a few hundred meters. Either way, I have lost faith in it completely which is troublesome given the use of it is very important to me. Especially when I'm hiking. Wondering if it was an app issue with the trail apps I have, I also double-checked on Google Maps and it's just as bad there so definitely something phone related. My Garmin watch and my wife's S7 work perfectly fine, showing a very high location accuracy, when I face these issues with my HTC11+
The further away from the city I am, the more obvious the problem becomes. My location setting is High Accuracy. I briefly tested using just GPS but that, if anything, made it worse.
Has anyone else had difficulties with the GPS? Any ideas on what I could possibly do to rectify it?
I have no issues whatsoever. I did have this sometimes on my old HTC 10. Restarting my phone would solve this issue.
Have you tried restarting your phone?
I have tried that but to no avail, sadly. This morning, while firmly ensconced in my sofa the entire time, my phone has had me 450m south, 600m north-west and 2km north of my actual location.
Think this one might have to go back which is a shame because mostly I like it quite a bit.
Downloaded an app (GPS Reset Com) and seems to have solved the problem. My location is now pinpointed to my exact street address which is nice. Definitive success will have to wait until I can try it on the trails but looks promising.