Locating my phone

[Anonymous]

Here's a question. I've got a few phones on contract with O2, all in my name. Suppose I misplaced one of them, do o2 offer any service that would help me locate the phone or see it's location on a map? I visit several offices a day and rather than having to go through hassle of canceling a phone, blocking the IMEI etc, I'd rather just have a way of locating it.

Any ideas?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Most phones now have a way of locating a device yourself.

iPhone have "Find my iPhone", BlackBerry has "Blackberry Protect", and Android certainly has an app that I currently can't remember.

No need for O2 to locate it when you can do it yourself

[MI5]

O2 won't/can't but as above, you can do it yourself on any phone these days......

[viridis]

Android has a generic "device manager" available from Google play store.
Some manufacturers have their own services with more features such as Samsung dive and sony's my Xperia which are built into the phones firmwares and normally require one click activation or as easy as possible.

[anticpated]

Blocking the IMEI would be done through customer services. Dial #*06# from your handset and log into your My O2 account to retrieve it along with the PUK code.

Depending on your handset, it may come with a tracking and report GPS co-ordinates. This is because with smart phones you have 2 or 3 ways to locate your phone - your Wi-FI server location, A-GPS, GLONASS and Cell Tower tracking. This may be enough to at least trigger your memory or relocate it.

Wtith Android and iOS you have location reporting and text/command functions which can trigger a handset lock, reset or wipe and can take a photograph and send it someone you trust.

https://www.apple.com/uk/icloud/find-my-iphone.html

https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

http://uk.blackberry.com/apps/blackberry-apps/protect.html

Other things you can use is Comodo Internet Security, ESET Mobile Security and some others from the Apps market.

I hope that gives you some clues.

By the way, location might not work if the phone is turned off.

[Anonymous]

The only issue I can see is as many now know about these features a person in the know would just turn off the phone and remove the sim hence cutting off data connection.

The good thing about the iPhone is you can also send a message, remote wipe it and lock it out if you send the commands in time before a person turns it off. Also a new feature is findmyiphone will send you it's last location before being turned off.

[anticpated]

When you login to the Google Device Manager, you can send commands like wipe and reset. Although I don't know how clever it is in the case of a SIM removal or someone resetting the systems from the fastboot system menus.

[Anonymous]

If the phone is off there's not much you can do. Similarly if the SIM has been removed and it's effectively "off the grid" then again not much you can do, however if it has a signal or is connected to Wifi you should be able to locate it.

[MI5]

A security app such as Lookout can prevent you from wiping a phone without entering your security code and it will also photograph a person who has made a set number of attempts to unlock a phone and send it to you via email.
There are, of course ways around this, as with any system, however, for the simple case of a mislaid phone they will assist in finding it's location easily.

[anticpated]

Lets hope I never have to use it. It can locate your device up to a radius of 24 metres from it's actual location. Which is pretty good if you ask me.