How to kill your phone

How to kill your phone

Theft of smartphones may soon be a thing of the past. California in the United States has passed a Bill that requires new smartphones sold in the state to be equipped with a "kill switch", in an attempt to deter smartphone theft.

The new law has no effect beyond state borders. But as it makes little sense to produce phones solely for California, phone makers are likely to implement the feature in smartphones sold across the US.

A kill switch is a software that lets consumers disable a phone remotely, rendering it useless unless the correct password is entered.

Its proponents say if this technology is widely adopted, it would curb phone theft because it would make it harder for thieves to use or sell stolen phones.

Apple and Samsung have already implemented the kill switch. Google and Microsoft have promised to do so in their next software updates.

San Francisco's Police Department said iPhone thefts fell 38 per cent in the six months after Apple added a kill switch.

Singapore has no laws mandating the kill switch. But if you want to protect your data, Digital Life shows you how.

Apple iPhone

An important addition in iOS 7 is Find My iPhone.

Ensure that your iPhone is running iOS 7 (if not, update your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Software Update).

Go to iCloud, then turn on Find my iPhone. Once that is done, log in to your iCloud account at icloud.com.

You can view the phone's location (and battery status) on a map. You can also activate Lost mode, which immediately locks your phone and lets you set a custom message and number to display on the phone.

If it has just been misplaced at home and you need help locating it, use the Play Sound feature to make the phone play a loud sound.

As a last resort, you can erase the data from your phone, rendering it unusable unless your Apple ID and password are entered into it.

Be aware that once the data is erased, the phone can no longer be tracked and all its functions will be disabled.

[[nid:126531]]

Windows

Microsoft has no kill switch. But you can ring, locate and execute a remote erasure of personal data.

Go to its Find My Phone website at www.windowsphone.com/en-us/my/find and sign into the Microsoft account you use on your Windows phone. This brings up a map with your phone's location.

You can make the phone ring, even if the volume is turned off or the phone is set to Vibrate only. The Lock function remotely locks your phone and lets you set a message and a password on the phone.

If you cannot get the phone back, select Erase to remotely wipe out your personal data from the phone.

Android

If you have a Samsung phone, it already has a kill switch.

Go to Apps > Settings > Security, and check the box for Reactivation Lock.

A notification will appear asking you to sign into or create a Samsung account. Then you can lock your phone remotely, check its location and make it play a loud sound, as in Apple's Find My iPhone.

Non-Samsung Android phones do not have kill switches yet, but Google has promised to add the feature in a future update.

In the meantime, download Google's Android Device Manager app from Google Play Store. Then go to the app's settings and change it to allow the app to act as a device administrator.

Open the app and sign in using your Google account. Then go to the Android Device Manager website at www.google.com/android/devicemanager . There, you will see a map with your phone's location and the model of your phone detailed.

You can make the phone ring at full volume even if the volume is turned off, or remotely lock the phone and set it to display a custom message.

The final option is Erase. This restores the phone to factory settings, removing all personal data on the device.

This action will also delete Android Device Manager, so you will not be able to track the phone any more. Do this only as a last resort.

This article was published on Sept 3 in Digital Life, The Straits Times.

Get a copy of Digital Life, The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

[[nid:126531]]
This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.