How effective are the anti-theft apps? There's over a dozen of them and I have no clue which one's the best. I know common sense is your best friend, but you can never be too careful. Is there an app that allows me to locate my android; if stolen?

Remote Locating/locking/wiping

I imagine nothing could be worse than losing your smart phone, luckily there are a few ways to try and recover it.

Android: Android has many ways to recover it after you lost it, each offers its own advantages. Some free, some paid.

With 2.2 Froyo you have remote wiping built into Android. The only thing is that you must have Exchange set up, and only an administrator can remote wipe it. Really only an option for you if your Android phone is through your work.

http://preyproject.com/blog/2010/01/prey-arrives-on-mobiles-android-version-available - Free. Well known for their PC tracking software, Prey is now on the Android. Simply send a specific SMS to your android phone to activate it (you can set it up in the app) and another to deactivate it.

https://www.mylookout.com/ - Free or Premium version for $30/yr. Not only does it offer remote finding through the website, but also has an antivirus program. The Premium features include the ability to lock your phone until you find it or wipe it clean, as well as even more goodies.

http://lifehacker.com/5611003/build-a-find-my-iphone-clone-for-android - Free if you have Tasker already, otherwise $5-7.

https://www.wavesecure.com/wavesecure/android.aspx - $19.90/yr. You can track your phone, lock it, and back up/wipe the data

http://us.norton.com/mobile-security - Free for now. Same as above, but by Norton instead of McAfee

https://www.mobiledefense.com/ - Free (waitlisted). Before getting waitlisted, it was the app to go. Remote location, wiping, locking, and backup. Add yourself now and you might get lucky to get it in the near future.

All of those apps look useful.

Have you ever had your phone stolen/lost and had one of the apps successfully locate it?

I don't have a smartphone, however, I was able to recover a friend's phone with Prey. The main question is whether you want to remotely lock/wipe your phone, as only Norton Mobile Security offers those features for free (it's still in beta, it'll cost money when it leaves. Mobile Defense also offers it, but it's still waitlisted) Otherwise you'll need to pay for that feature.

Of course if you lived here in europe, your phone would have been disabled now by the network, even if the SIM had been changed.

But for some reason even the US networks that use GSM refuse to implement the IMEI (like a serial number unique to your phone) blacklist that would make phone theft a waste of time.

Even if the phone doesn't work on a network, the personal data that can be stolen from a smartphone is valuable.

I use Lookout, very effective at what it does. Scans apps for malicious intent and also back up your data to the cloud. Also is usually pretty accurate on finding using GPS and alarm settings.

I had my Windows HTC HD phone recently stolen. The most painful is the picture I took from my daughter, my gf, trips around Africa etc...
Presently I have an HTC Desire HD and I use Where's my Droid. It wipes, locate the phone (providing the GPS is active) and I can activate the phone for alarm with maximum volume.
My last GSM was stolen during a conference in an hotel, inside the conference room, at the last hour. I was just 1 m from the phone and the people from the hotel, cleaning the room and removing the IT installation stole the phone. It was a very bad experience. If I had the alarm, I could have activated it and located it as I am sure it was still in the hotel in the vicinity of the room.

BTW, I am also using the HTC sense services which can locate, wipe the phone.

Some people are the worst. :sadvaultboy:

I locked the screen on my phone so anyone who tries to use it has to input a pattern. But would these apps work if someone were to replace the sim card? And it sounds like I have to have GPS turned on at all times?