Grab a drink, pop some kernals, make yourself comfortable, this is a good story! Friday night I was out with my cousin Cheri and a bunch of friends. As it got later in the evening, the people we were sitting with started to filter out.
Left alone at a big table, Cheri and I decided to join other friends sitting close by. Sorry, I have to weed through this monontonous jibber-jabber to set the stage. I watched as a few "locals" looked to be leaving the area, freeing up some seats. I took my club/cranberry (I honestly wasn't even drinking, which is why I can remember exactly how it all went down) and my phone and moved it right next to my friend who was the owner of the place and went back to collect my cousin and my pocketbook, that were no more than 8 feet away.
When I turned back around the group of three had returned so I went back, grabbed my soda and sat back down at the big table. A few minutes later, seats at the other side of my friends opened up so we went to sit down there.
Probably a half hour later, I realized my phone was missing. It was truly missing, I checked everywhere. I called it several times in case it was there somewhere that I couldn't see it. One girl asked' "what does it look like?" I refrained from saying "it looks like a &$#%!@^ phone." I was truly pissed because that's when it occurred to me that I didn't remember it being with my soda when I went back to grab them. It took me a few minutes to play it all out in my mind. One of the three that seemed to have left, then came back lifted it before I grabbed my soda or I would have seen the phone and grabbed it as well. It happened very fast.
Now, let's remember for a second, who I am! Queen of all apps, lover of the latest and greatest phones and technology self-appointed, gadgetista. No self-respecting geek like me would be caught dead without some tracking software on her phone. Lookout to be exact. I have been chatting it up on the radio and blogging about it in fact.
So I fired up my iPhone, which was almost dead. Luckily I had a Powerbank by MyCharge on hand and logged onto mylookout.com. There I selected "Locate." A map came up with a red pin, claiming to be accurate within 3 meters. From there I could see a map (line or satellite view) or get directions to the location the phone was tracked to. Which was about 7 miles away at this point.
I asked someone that worked there if she knew the area or perhaps anyone that lived there. With that someone suggested I call the police. I honestly didn't think they would be bothered but I called and asked if there was anything that could be done but they said they'd send someone out. Sure enough, not 5 minutes went by and an officer was standing in front of me. I explained what happened and showed her the red pin on the map where my Droid was phone-napped to approximately 7 miles away. She asked how accurate it was and then if I wanted to go for a ride.
HOLY CRAP! This awesome officer was actually going to take me to try and recover my phone. So off we went. The map doesn't give an address, it gives coordinates but you can select "Get directions" and it will take you right to the location the GPS detects it to be. It shows the phone as a red pin and we were a blue dot moving closer as we drove.
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| Lookout also offers Back Up and app scanning. |
This is the unrefreshed screen from when I first tracked it Friday night. |
From the previous screen you come to Google maos and you can get directions to the device. |
When we got there, she told me to wait in the car while she and another officer went knocking on the door. It took a little while, I'm thinking, no one is going to open their door this late at night. but next thing you know, they are headed inside. It seemed like a really long time went by, meanwhile, my imagination is on overload. Here I am sitting in front of a house that looks like it's straight out of the deliverance. What would happen if whoever was inside did something to the officers and they didn't come back out?
What seemed like 10 minutes later, she emerges from the house, comes over to the car and tells me they have my phone. WOW. Things never work out that smoothly for me. I couldn't believe the software worked and brought us right to the location.Thank goodness it did or I would have come off looking like an idiot!
Come to find out, these sticky fingered ladies claimed not to even be in the location where they lifted it. So the officer called the number and sure enough it rang it's crazy Droid ringtone right there in the house! They, of course claimed they didn't even know they had it. Right. My cousin and I easily called it ten times. They would have heard it.
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall, first when they realized the cops were there, then when it started ringing after they claimed not to be anywhere near where it was lifted. These sticky-fingered ladies must have thought they were in an episode of 24 when they crossed paths with the Gadgetista.
My Droid and I are safely together again! Thanks Officers and Lookout! You both rock!
Listen to the story as I tell it to Damon Scott
How does Lookout Locate work?
It's all about the GPS. Lookout can do a number of things. Your phone has to be on but it can be on vibe or silent. Lookout will turn on it's GPS so you can track it. It can make your phone "Scream" really loud. Those can be done with the free app. The Premium version will also let you lock the device remotely and/or wipe the info from it remotely.
If that's not enough, it also protects your phone from malware and phishing and it backs up your data to myLookout.com
If there's one app you should have for your phone, this is the one!