There's an app for that! iPhone thief busted with location technology!

[Carol]

What a great idea. Think I'll get something similar for my Droid


http://alertnewengland.blogspot.com/2011/12/tracking-stolen-iphone-leads-police-to.html

 

[jks9199]

Lookout offers a similar service if your phone is lost or stolen. However -- the GPS system is far from perfect, and depending on how it's setup, you get some really useless information.

For example, I've seen radii of 500 or 1000 yards from cell pings. Or had a guy come in that "his phone was somewhere near" a particular address, based on wifi connections. The location was a townhouse community adjoining an apartment complex. Conservatively, we had about 50 residences to consider...

In this particular case, what worked out luckily was that the person with the stolen phone went mobile, carrying the phone, and they were able to get pings quick enough to identify a single person who was at both locations. More often? You get 10 or 15 people, or more -- or you can't identify anyone. Or your suspect tells you to pound sand, and is there really enough to detain someone? Search 'em? Get a search warrant? Not really...