Stolen Droid, please help.

[LVracerGT]

Just had a friend get her Motorola Droid stolen last night. I'm wondering if there is any way to track it down or remotely install a tracking app to the phone? She didn't have any theft apps installed on the phone before it got stolen.

P.S. Trying to score some kudo points if you know what I mean, so any help is appreciated.

 

[albokay]

If there is nothing added or activated then she is mostly sol.

I can offer some words of advise. If you did find the thief and phone she would give you a hug for finding it and then would probably date the thief.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Smokexz]

The Town reference?

Sent from my T-Mobile G2

 

[fatboy97]

Simply put... if you don't have an tracking app loaded before you loose your device then you are out of luck... I'm sure you learn from this to load some type of tracking app on your next device... at least I hope so.

 

[LVracerGT]

Thanks for the responses. She got the Droid on Ebay so she can't get it replaced through insurance. Wasn't sure if you could remotely install any apps or not. I've already installed my anti-theft app so I'm good lol.

 

[moosc]

the apps are only good if u have the gps running 24/7 which will kill the battery.

 

[MowDownJoe]

Thanks for the responses. She got the Droid on Ebay so she can't get it replaced through insurance. Wasn't sure if you could remotely install any apps or not. I've already installed my anti-theft app so I'm good lol.

If she used AppBrain and Fast Web Install, she could go to AppBrain's site and push Lookout to her Droid. That said, good luck getting the crook to go along with the set-up process for Lookout.

 

[Brett]

seeing as it is a motorola droid, which is only available through verizon which is CDMA, cant you can verizon and have them check to see if it has been used. Since it is cdma you there isn't a sim card for it which means the only way to use it is by activating it through verizon. this would pop up and show the relative coordinates of where the person lives and to track where it is being used. i could be wrong but could swear that i have seen this somewhere.

 

[project.in.process]

see if she enabled Latitude in her Google Maps application.
then, log into Google. look at Maps--Latitude.
this shows you the last location that the phone's GPS was active. it can show you down to the street location.

if she didn't do this with her stolen Droid, definitely do it with the next one.

 

[daThomas#AC]

the apps are only good if u have the gps running 24/7 which will kill the battery.

Actually no. The app's (Lookout) website allows you to activate the "locate" functionality which turns on the gps temporarily.

 

[bclinger#IM]

Reading closer it uses cell tower triangulation if the GPS function is not active. Below is the message sent to the email address:

We've located your phone based on your request on Sunday, October 10

Map:
http://mylookout.com/missing_device...&lat=21.47019&lng=-158.207887&time=1286780461
Location
Accuracy: 2980.0 meters
Latitude: 21.47019
Longitude: -158.207887 Time
09:01 PM Hawaii
Sunday, October 10, 2010

 

[moosc]

Just call VZW and report it stolen. Then VZW locks the phones mid and the phone can not be activated.

 

[takeshi]

Simply put... if you don't have an tracking app loaded before you loose your device then you are out of luck... I'm sure you learn from this to load some type of tracking app on your next device... at least I hope so.

^ This. And don't forget backups. For some reason, people seem to overlook this with their (easily lost/stolen/broken) mobile devices. If it's important, secure it and back it up.

the apps are only good if u have the gps running 24/7 which will kill the battery.

Not quite true. The app doesn't need to determine location until the device is missing. Leaving GPS on doesn't kill the battery. Actively using GPS does.

 

[moulidx]

Maybe you could have tried with the service provider for any possible help as soon as the phone was stolen. Better luck with your next phone, at lease there are some free apps for such kind of scenarios. Thanks to Android.