Testing Anti-Theft, feedback good & bad... + my sugestions

[zeta_3]

Helo,
I am testing Avast Anti-Theft v2.0.2589 on 2 phones ( WIFI +3G ) and one tablet ( WIFI only ) with Locate comand running ( transmit location every 1h-15min )
what I found until now:

Good:
- work ok.
- when I am at home in my WIFI range Avast switch WIFI ON even phones are on 3G, this save my bill costs because I have only 10M of 3G data trafic included on subscription.

Bad:
- battery life visible low after installed Anti-Theft ( Avast Antivirus included removed ).
- after night when phones ( fully charged ) are switched to Airplane ON, in the morning I found with battery significantly drained.
With location set at 15 min I found today my phone battery at ~18%.

Sugestions:
- when phone cant get GPS lock to transmit location or when communication it is OFF ( WIFI & 3G ) to save first locked position posibble on phone and be able to tramsmit later the full log saved ( on WIFI or 3G ).
- a function to save GPS location at user interval on phone/SD card but to not transmit this data and user to be able to retrive ( WIFI/3G/USB...) this data later and show on map, for phones/tablets without 3G full time connection subscription.

Developers thank you for good & hard work.

[zeta_3]

Something is wrong...

I made some test with SMS on Vodafone Smart 2 ( Phone had activated Location track at 15' ) and this is what hapened:

I Sent tests SMS:
Siren ON - ok, turned of by PIN ok.

Locate -  not possible because phone already have Active Location track - I don't find this normal, SMS must have high priority in case of emergency and receive requested location at that time even Location is continue.

Call back - ok, phoned was in stand by; phone display can't be turned ON, and after call closed display light.

Locate Stop - ok

Locate - ok

Now problems start:

Lock - phone displayed lock message and when I try to enter PIN crashed and I had full acces to phone, at this point it is possible to uninstall the program with the sw I already have in phone like Lucky patcher...
- I restarted phone ( OFF/ON ) lock was on, I was able to enter PIN even some error message come on but I told to wait and not close the app.
After unlocked, 3G did not worked, was disabled, I try to enable but without success. Phone was unable to connect to Avast server on WIFI or 3G.
( I have to mention here that I have installed DATA ON/OFF from market, if this count... )
At some point after few restarts I succed to reenable 3G from phone menu but Anti-Theft can't communicate with server...

Locate 15' - ok, I receive SMS from phone at every 15', problem location is not updated on Avast server. Phone still can't communicate with Avast server.

Locate Stop - ok, phone still can't communicate with Avast server, 3G is on I can browse with Delphin.

[zeta_3]

Something is very wrong:
I am unable to send command from Avast Account - web to device Vodafone Smart 2 - rooted.

What I did:
- from phone account menu I disconnected from web account
- reconnected - but no change
- tested connection from phone menu - no response from web

- deleted device from web account
- reconnected - device reapear on web but still phone can't receive commands from Avast web
- tested connection from phone menu - no response from web

Any idea ?

[reinhardholzner]

regarding battery: if you have continuous location tracking ON of course this will drain your battery. GPS uses up quite lots of power.

regarding crash: can you please reproduce the problem, then go to the feedback screen within Anti-Theft and create a support case and attach the system log to it? In the comment drop a message that they should send the case to Reinhard.

[reinhardholzner]

PS: regarding the issue with connecting to web: it seems that something is then wrong on your device, our servers are online round the clock and reachable. Did you enable avast! firewall and block Anti-Theft? or are you using some other tool that blocks the data traffic?

[zeta_3]

I don't have installed avast! firewall, I uninstalled avast!! and keep & use only Anti-Theft.

As firewall I use Droidwall but I tested with him disabled/uninstalled and no luck ( it have the same settings it had when Anti-Theft worked before lock ).

Interesting that avast web see my phone online but can't send commands ( phone no response ) and if I test communication from phone the phone did not get any reply from your web.

[zeta_3]

I succed to solve but I am not sure if this a "cure":

After I uninstalled Anti-Theft ( with Luckypatcher )  I tested other similar programs ( ...android lost - I really liked the take picture option ) and reinstalled Anti-Theft but with other name and activated Anti-Theft from web not form phone. Now comunication from web it is working.

Questions:
- It is possible to activate communication data 3G by SMS commands on a device with Anti-Atheft in stand by ( NOT locked ) ? If answer it is positive how ?
- Any chance to implement take picture commands in the future ?

thank you.

[reinhardholzner]

- yes you can turn on 3G (on rooted phones) if you set the protection behavior "force data connection" -> then you send LOST command to phone and it will turn 3G on
- yes it is already implemented but not yet released

[zeta_3]

I don't want to Lock the phone, just to be able to turn on 3G remote to start location tracking...

[reinhardholzner]

there is no such dedicated command yet but if you disable "lock phone" protection behavior the phone will not lock when you send the LOST command!

[zeta_3]

sugestion:
At this moment I have installed only Anti-Theft with a changed name ( advanced instalation );
If I look with some sw explorer what files I have in my phone I can see under disguised name of Anti-Theft this:
Package name: com.avast.android.antitheft

Any chance that in the future release this can be changed, so no trace about real program are left for thief ?

thx.

p.s.
thx for previous tip but I have to change to many setting not only Lock phone; only to activate the data connection, maybe in the future you can implement this command only without disabling other Anti-Theft setting:

Deny Program Manager Access:   Yes
Lock Phone Settings:   Yes
Prevent USB Debugging:   Yes
Force Data Connection ON:   Yes
Thorough Wipe:   No
Lock Phone:   Yes
Low Battery Notification:   No
Only Allow Friend Commands:   No

[Filip Havlicek]

Hi,

I have a prototype of package name changing, but I don't think it will be used in the near future since as it is now, package name changing might break a LOT of things. Those things must be addressed first and I really don't know when that will be, sorry.

Filip

[NoToneS]

+1 for option to rename package
also a similar app i used a while back on my windows phone was able to take photos (both forward/back facing) and record sound and video, when (if) will avast support this?

[reinhardholzner]

stay tuned - it will come :-)

[berry903]

sugestion:
At this moment I have installed only Anti-Theft with a changed name ( advanced instalation );
If I look with some sw explorer what files I have in my phone I can see under disguised name of Anti-Theft this:
Package name: com.avast.android.antitheft

Any chance that in the future release this can be changed, so no trace about real program are left for thief ?

thx.

Hi,

I changed the name of the package and it is working for me.