Nobody ever thinks they’re going to lose their phone… until they do. And that means that many “find my phone” apps are next to useless, because if you don’t install them on your phone and keep them running all the time, how are you supposed to find your phone when it’s stolen or goes missing?

Lookout Security has come up with a pretty clever solution. It’s called Plan B, and it’s an app that you can install on your phone after you lose it.

The app uses the Android Market’s new web-to-phone installer, so it will only work if you have a phone that supports the feature. If you do, you’re good to go. All you have to do is find the free Plan B app in the Android Market using a web browser, and click the install button to send the app to your phone.

Once installed, your phone will turn on its GPS function and start sending you emails every few minutes with links to a Google Map showing the phone’s location. This will go on for about 10 minutes. If you need more time, just text the word “locate” to your phone from another device and the process will start over again.

Note that Plan B will send SMS messages from your phone, and you may be charged even if you have an unlimited domestic calling plan, since the calls are sent to a number in Singapore.

Plan B is in beta testing, and the app only works in the US right now and only supports phones running Android 2.0 and up on AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile networks.

via CNET

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Microsoft’s My Phone service for Windows Mobile lets you backup data from your phone, share photos on social networking sites, access some of you’re phone’s information from any web browser, and locate a missing phone on a map. Basically, it’s Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s MobileMe. Except it’s free.

While Microsoft is changing the name of its mobile platform from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone 7, the company is keeping the My Phone service. The folks at WMpoweruser have snagged a screenshot of the new web interface, which lets you find your phone’s location on a map or make the phone ring in case you simply misplaced it in your other coat pocket.

You can also lock the phone and display a message if you think you left it in a cab and are hoping the person who found it might be inclined to return it. Or if you’ve got sensitive data that shouldn’t leak into the hands of the Chinese, you can remotely wipe your phone and restore the factory settings.

via Download Squad

Apple charges $99 per year for the MobileMe service which, among other things, allows users to locate a missing phone on a map and remotely lock their device or wipe their data to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Yesterday Research in Motion announced that it would soon offer a similar service called BlackBerry Protect… but for free. And today Microsoft is getting in on the action, with the announcement of Windows Phone Live, a free web-based service that will, among other things, let you locate a phone, remotely lock it, erase data, or make it ring.

But while BlackBerry Protect is aimed primarily at security, Windows Phone Live is much more than that. Basically, it’s integrated with Microsoft’s other Windows Live services, including SkyDrive. That means that Windows Phone 7 users will have 25GB of free online storage space for storing files in the cloud.

Microsoft describes Windows Phone Live as a “central place to see pictures they’ve published, view their Windows Live calendar and contacts,” and access OneNote files and other data that you can share between your phone and the Windows Live web site.

It’s not entirely clear from today’s announcement — but it sounds like there’s a chance that Windows Phone Live might incorporate some of the technology from the ill-fated KIN Studio software. While the Microsoft KIN phones were a huge flop, the KIN Studio actually seemed like a pretty neat web-based solution for organizing photos, videos, text messages, and other data. Update: Alas, ZDNet reports that the new service won’t use anything developed by the KIN team.

Research in Motion has launched a new service called BlackBerry Protect. It’s a free service for BlackBerry users that allows you to backup your contacts, calendars, tasks, bookmarks, and text messages to the web for safe keeping. If you lose your phone or upgrade to a new device, all of your data should be easily accessible,

But that’s just one level of protection offered by the service. BlackBerry Protect also lets you locate a missing phone on a map. If you think it’s hidden in the couch cushions, you can login over the web and make it ring. If you think it might have been stolen, you can lock your device remotely, change the password, or even wipe the data from your device.

While Apple charges $99 per year for MobileMe service, which provides the same features, BlackBerry Protect will be available at no charge. Private beta testing will begin later this week. Users will be able to request invitations through the BlackBerry Beta Zone.

via Laptop Magazine and CrackBerry

Apple offers a service called Mobile Me, which among other things, lets iPhone users locate their phone on a map and even remotely lock their phone with a password in case it’s been lost or stolen. Google Android doesn’t have that feature, but a third party app called iTag does the job quite nicely.

Basically, once you install the iTag software on your Android phone it will run in the background. You can login to the iTag web site to see your phone’s location on a map, thanks to the GPS receiver in the phone (assuming it’s turned on). You can also send a signal to ring the phone if you think it might be hiding somewhere around the house, rather than stolen.

Scan to download

iTag is currently available as a public beta, and the app is free during the beta period. After the beta expires, you’ll still be able to use the locate-your-phone feature. But you won’t have access to the premium services such as the ability to remotely lock your phone or even wipe your personal data remotely. Premium users will also be able to backup and restore their contacts online.

A premium membership will set you back $20 per year, although iTag is offering free lifetime service to the first 10,000 people that sign up during the beta period.

There are also some social features to iTag. You can share your location with other users or see their locations.You can also adjust the privacy settings so that it will never show your friends where you are.

You can check out a promo video for iTag after the break. It’s available as a free download from the Android Market.

via jkOnTheRun

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