Prey Adds SMS Commands To Get Your Lost Or Stolen Phone Back

Android: Prey is a great tool to get back lost or stolen gear, and it really works. However, if a thief disables it, you’re out of luck. That’s where today’s Prey updates come in. New SMS commands can return location data, lock or wipe your phone, and even hide Prey itself so the thief doesn’t know it’s there.

The idea is that if your phone is lost or stolen, you don’t have to find a computer and log in to Prey in order to get immediate, up to date information about where your phone is. Just send a text message to your phone from any other device that says, for example:

prey your_account_password location phone_number

This code sends you back immediate location information so you can pinpoint where your phone is, or send it along to police. Similarly, this code locks your device’s screen until the lock code is put in:

prey your_account_password location lock_code

Even if your phone isn’t lost, this command may be useful:

prey your_account_password alarm

This one sounds your device’s alarm audibly until you disable it, which is useful for finding your phone if you’ve lost it somewhere nearby. Prey automatically hides all of these SMS messages as they come in, so the thief has no idea the phone even received a message, and they won’t know you’re on to them until it’s too late. There are also codes to remotely wipe the app and hide the Prey icon from your app drawer so a smart thief won’t even know it’s installed.

Of course, if the goal of the thief is to sell it as fast as possible, or they just turn it off or perform a factory reset on it, Prey may not be able to help, but the addition of these features make it much easier to get your Android phone back if it goes missing because someone wants your phone as is. Hit the link below to read more about the updates.

Command Your Phone via SMS with the New Prey for Android [Prey Blog]