Cerberus We’ve all lost our phone at one time or another. Actually, that’s a lie - I’ve never lost my phone, wallet or car keys in my life. But assuming that to err is indeed human, Cerberus provides a simple, reliable and fairly cheap way to locate and, if necessary, disable your Android pride and joy. Cerebus icon Cerebus icon …
Well, if you've installed it on your own phone then anyone using it without your permission is probably on the wrong side of the Computer Misuse act. That should effectively get you away from accusations of unfairly using your own device to catch some thieving goit using your property without permission.
Now, if you install it on your mate's/family's/OH's phone without telling them and start using it to spy on them, you're probably in trouble...
I have often wondered about these claims.
Surely on any handset - rooted or not - "Reset to factory default" will remove ANY paid or free phone recovery app?
Additionally almost every phone (even dumbphones) have a *# "secret" number well publicised on the net of how to enable a reset to factory defaults.
Fortunately a lot of these petty phone thieves are quite ignorant and often don't bother resetting the device.
Android provides a "device admin" role which I think prevents a normal reset (it certainly stops users simply uninstalling the app, unless they have the unlock code/password). And rooted phones have even more protection Of course you can bypass this sort of thing by reflashing or whatever, but it's another step the phone thief has to go through.
Granted Android Lost includes the same set of core features but the browser interface is a bit rough and ready and it's nothing like as easy to use. There are at least half a dozen apps similar to this in the Market but Cerberus has proved the most reliable in my experience and I reckon that alone justifies the cost.
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