How to Track, Disable, and Wipe a Lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac

Apple’s phone, tablet, and computer-tracking tools are the best in the business. You can remotely locate your device, disable it with a lock and message that persists through factory resets — the so-called “kill switch” — and wipe it.

These features aren’t enabled by default, so you’ll need to ensure the tracking features are enabled ahead of time if you’d ever like to remotely track, lock, or wipe your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Enable Find My iPhone, Find My iPad, or Find My Mac

The “Find My” features are part of Apple’s iCloud service. To enable this feature, open the Settings app, tap iCloud, and set the Find My iPhone or Find My iPad slider to On. You’ll need to enable this setting on each device you want to track.

If you haven’t set up iCloud on your device, you’ll be prompted to set up an iCloud account here.

On a Mac, open the System Preferences window (Apple menu > System Preferences), click the iCloud icon, and ensure the Find My Mac box is checked. You’ll be prompted to set up iCloud here if you haven’t already.

Ensure you set a strong password for your Apple ID. If you set a weak password, someone could log into your account on the iCloud website and remotely lock or wipe your device. This password is important! If you want to change your Apple ID password, you can change it on the My Apple ID website. You’ll have to enter the new password on all your devices afterward.

Track, Lock, and Erase Your Device

To track your device, you can either sign into the iCloud website or use the Find My iPhone appfor iPhone or iPad. In spite of its name, the Find My iPhone app and Find My iPhone feature in iCloud can track iPads and Macs as well as iPhones.

We’ll assume you’re using the website here, as you can use the website from any device — whether it’s a Mac, iPad, Windows PC, Chromebook, or Android tablet. Feel free to use the app if you want to do this on an iPhone or iPad.

Sign into either the app or the website with your Apple ID. On the iCloud website, click the Find My iPhone icon.

The website will display all your devices on a map by default. iCloud still uses Google Maps for this instead of Apple Maps on the web — after all, there’s no web-based version of Apple Maps.

Click the All Devices menu if you’d like to select a specific device. iPads and Macs may be more difficult to track then iPhones. If the iPad or Mac is powered off or doesn’t have an Internet connection, you won’t be able to track its location — however, you can still send wipe or lock commands and iCloud will execute them the next time the device connects. iPhones should be easier to track in real-time, as most iPhones will have a mobile data connection.

Click a device’s dot on the map and you’ll be able to issue it commands:

• Play Sound: The Play Sound button will play a two-minute sound on the device. This happens immediately — if the device is offline, the two-minute sound will start playing the next time it comes online. This is ideal if you’ve lost the device somewhere nearby — maybe you don’t know where you left it in your house or perhaps you dropped your iPhone somewhere.
• Lost Mode (iPhones and iPads): Enable Lost Mode as soon as possible when your device is lost or stolen. Lost Mode allows you to set a new passcode to prevent the thief from using your device. You can also enter a custom message that will be displayed on the device’s lock screen — you could provide details of where you can be reached if someone finds the device. The message will persist even through factory resets on iOS 7. “Activation lock” will also prevent people from activating the device without your original iCloud ID and password, so thieves won’t be able to resell or keep using your device. Lost Mode also enables a location tracking history, so you can sign into the iCloud website and track the device’s movements over time. If the device is currently offline, Lost Mode will be activated the next time it connects.
• Lock (Macs): Macs don’t have a “lost mode,” but you can remotely lock them. This doesn’t just set a user account password — when the Mac receives the lock command, it will shut down. When someone boots the Mac, it will enter the recovery screen, display a message you’ve entered, and force someone to provide a firmware passcode you remotely set. The Mac will be useless until the passcode is provided. People won’t even be able to boot Windows, Linux, or other operating system on it.
• Erase: You can also remotely erase the device, removing any sensitive personal or business data. On iOS 7, you can set a phone number and message that will be displayed on the screen after the device is erased so someone can contact you if they find it. The Erase feature should be used as a last resort — in most cases, Lost Mode and Lock should allow you to secure your data and continue remotely tracking your device.

Whatever you think of Apple, their device-tracking and remote-locking solutions are the best integrated services in the industry. Google’s Android Device Manager doesn’t allow you to flip a “kill switch” that survives a factory reset or view a history of a lost device’s movements. Microsoft and Google don’t provide any integrated way to track and remotely lock Windows PCs or Chromebooks. There are third-party tracking applications available for Windows, but they won’t be able to lock down a PC at the firmware level like Apple’s Mac solution can.

How to Locate Your Lost or Stolen Android Phone (and Wipe if Necessary)

Thanks to a new native Android tool, you can now easily locate your phone and (in a worst case scenario) perform a remote data wipe. Read on as we show you how to activate the feature on your phone.

Why Do I Want to Do This?

Whether you’re just prone to losing your phone in your house or you’re worried about data security if your phone is actually stolen, there’s no good reason to skip turning on the security features available through Android Device Manager. It’s free, it has next to no overhead, and you can access it to locate your device and/or remote wipe it from any computer you can log into your Google account from.

Even if you think you’ll never need it, it takes so little effort to turn it on that it would be outright foolish to not do so.

What Do I Need?

To follow along with this tutorial you’ll need the following things:

• 1 Android device running Android OS 2.2+
• 1 Google account

Note: While Android Device Manager has been available to Google business account users for some time, Google only started rolling it out to consumer/standard accounts in early August, 2013. If Android Device Manager isn’t on your Android phone yet, check back in a few days to see if you’ve received the update.

Turning On Android Device Manager

By default, the new Android Device Manager feature is turned off. In order to enable it, grab your Android phone and navigate to Settings -> Security ->Device Administrators. This menu will be available to everyone, even if the update hasn’t officially rolled out to their phone. If your phone has received the update, you’ll see the following entry within the Device Administrators menu:

Go ahead and check the checkbox next to Android Device Manager. You’ll be prompted with the following security screen:

Normally those kind of sweeping powers would be a red flag, but in the case of this particular app we’re specifically using it to allow us to remote wipe our phone and change security settings. Go ahead and click the Activate button.

Note: Users on earlier versions of the Android OS may be required to individually check “Remotely locate this device” and “Allow remote factory reset” before accepting the changes.

Once the Android Device Manager has been activated, you can return to the home screen and resume using your phone.

Managing Your Phone via the Device Manager Web Portal

Once you’ve set up the Android Device Manager on your phone, you can begin managing it from the Android Device Manager web portal, available at: https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager. The first time you access the service you’ll need to accept an agreement to allow Android Device Manager to use your location data.

After that, you can select your device from the drop-down menu in the corner and perform one of three tasks.

First, using GPS/Wi-Fi location data from the phone, you can locate the phone. This feature is dependent on recent GPS data, and if the GPS/location functionality has been turned off on the phone for a period of time (say, several days), it will simply report that the location is unavailable.

Second, you can ring the device to locate it if it is in earshot. Even if your phone has the ringer turned off or set to vibrate it will switch to the default ringtone at 100% volume. This is the most practical feature of Android Device Manager as not many people routinely deal with device theft, but many of us are guilty of misplacing our devices.

Finally, you can remotely wipe the device. This function initiates a factory wipe on the device. The portion of the warning “We may not be able to wipe the content of the SD card in your device” is a bit ambiguous. Internal storage designated as /sdcard will be wiped. Removable SD cards may be wiped depending on the hardware/OS version. The business version of Android Device Manager has a specific wipe-SD-card functionality, which if not already deployed in the consumer version of Android Device Manager will likely be deployed in the near future.

Sync iTunes with Windows Phone 8

Many people who have got their hands on one of the new generation of cool Windows Phones have been looking online for a guide on how to Sync iTunes with Windows Phone 8 devices. If you are one of the many frustrated users who have nearly gone mad in the process of trying to achieve this, then I may have some good news for you in the guide below.

This article focuses on users with Windows PCs (including Windows XP) who have their music already on their PC, either in an iTunes or a WMP (Windows Media Player) library. Even if this does not exactly describe you, you should find at least some of the tips below useful in syncing your music.

iTunes Alternatives

In working out how to successfully Sync iTunes with Windows Phone 8, I have tried several iTunes alternatives including Media Monkey and MusicBee. Of these two MusicBee is the simpler. You do have to go to Preferences (Edit Menu I think) select the Devices Menu and then activate support for MTP device for it to find your phone. This is not at all clear.

My recommendation however is to use DoubleTwist. This is a free application and very simple to use. Initially don’t connect your phone. Upon launch, the software scans your iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries. This seemed to be very painless and in my case all album artwork appeared as it does in iTunes. If you wish to just sync a subset of your music library, just create a playlist and then add the albums / tracks you wish to have on your phone.

IMPORTANT

To finally Sync iTunes with Windows Phone 8, go to your phone and turn off, yes turn off, the ‘Connect to XBox music’ setting. Find the Music+Videos app. Launch the app and then hit the … (bottom right) and choose Settings. Here turn off ‘Connect to XBox Music’. If you do not do this your music library will become corrupted by Microsoft’s dodgy database. You will end up with your music albums being split into several smaller chunks. This is really frustrating and took me ages to work out where the problem was.

If you already have a stuffed music library on your phone and have all your music securely backed up on your PC, I would recommend you delete all the music from your phone (in My Computer) and start again. Do not do this if you have purchased music on your phone and have any doubt as to whether it is backed up on your PC.

Sync iTunes with Windows Phone 8 – Setup & Sync

Now connect your phone to the PC, cancelling all the driver requests if you are on XP. DoubleTwist should detect your phone fairly quickly and it should then appear just above the Playlists on the Main Screen. Select your phone and go through the various tabs to set up the music, photos etc. synchronizations you require for your phone.

When you are ready hit sync and depending on the size of your library you should soon have all your music library on your phone.

Source:windowsphone8tips

Sync Windows Phone 8 with Multiple Google Calendars

Having problems trying to Sync Windows Phone 8 with Multiple Google Calendars? You are not alone.

At the end of 2012 Google and Microsoft started a spat and Google decided it’s time to upset any of it’s users who had dared to use Microsoft products by blocking access to the page that allows mobile subscription to their calendars. It was common knowledge that Google was planning to cease support for Microsoft Exchange Active Sync later in 2013 but this was a sudden and unannounced change.

But that is not all. Not only have they sought to ostracise Windows Mobile Users by blocking them from sync’ing multiple Google calendars with their devices but early in Jan 2013 they also blocked us from using Google Maps online. To me this all seems very childish and will only end in damaging Google’s already wavering public image.

The future

So where does this leave us. Well, at present, the future with Google seems bleak and I for one have decided that I am not going to suffer at the hands of their unpredictable and very unprofessional tantrums. The Windows Phone 8 platform is great, so I decided to migrate from Google Calendar to Hotmail / Windows Live Calendar. It was painless and it only took a few minutes.

Making the move

To migrate your Google Calendar to your Hotmail / Windows Live Calendar you need to simply export your Google Calendar and import it into Hotmail / Windows Live Calendar. This process is very quick and very straightforward.

1. Log in to your Google Calendar account

2. Your Google calendar(s) are listed on the left hand side of the screen. To the right of the calendar name is a dropdown arrow.

3. Click the dropdown to the right of the calendar you wish to migrate and select ‘Calendar Settings’.

4. At the bottom of the page is a section called ‘Private Address’. Right-click on the ICAL icon and select ‘Save Link As’.

5. A Save dialogue will appear. Save the basics.ics file to your desktop.

6. Log into your Hotmail / Windows Live account.

7. Go to your Hotmail / Windows Live Calendar.

8. Just above the Calendar select the Subscribe option.

9. Choose the Import from an ICS file option.

10. Choose the file: basics.ics that we saved to the desktop.

11. Name your Calendar, Choose a Colour and Select a Charm if you wish.

12. Click – Import Calendar and you’re done.

Now when you go to your Windows Phone 8 device you will see the new calendar appear. If you have numerous Calendars you can import these one at a time. Each one only takes five minutes to complete. If you are sharing a calendar with other family members you could import that into your Family Room Calendar in just the same way, just choose the ‘Import into an existing calendar‘ option and select the appropriate calendar.

Source:windowsphone8tips

Sync Windows Phone 8 With Your Mac

The lack of drivers or software to allow Windows Phone 8 users to easily transfer their files to and from their Macs has long been a source of frustration.

Why it has taken so long for Microsoft update their Mac connector is anyone’s guess.

But enough of the moaning, the Windows Phone 8 transfer software for Mac is now available in the Apple App Store.

Benefits

With the Windows Phone 8 App it is simple to:

• Synchronize movies, music, podcasts and TV shows from an iTunes library to your Phone.

• Synchronize videos & pictures from an iPhoto or Aperture library to your Phone.

• Auto import videos and photos you have taken with your Windows 8 Phone into an iPhoto or Aperture library.

• See quickly how much phone space you are using for each type of media, so you can free up room if you are running short of space.

• See which songs might work as ringtones and move them to your Windows 8 Phone.

Requirements

To use the Windows Phone app from Apple Mac Store, you need:

• Apple Mac running Mac OS X 10.7 or higher.

• Windows Phone 8 or Windows Phone 7 Device

Download

To download the App you need to go to the Apple Mac Store and search for Windows Phone for follow this link.

How to use Snap on BlackBerry 10.2.1 to install Android APK files

Now that BlackBerry 10.2.1 has arrived for most folks, the ability to install Android APK files with no need for file conversion is going to be one of the biggest highlights. It opens the doors to a lot of apps that otherwise might not be available thanks to the included Android runtime on BlackBerry 10. With that though comes the problem of where to get APK files.

There's really a lot of way to go about it but to make things a bit easier on folks, the native BlackBerry 10 application Snap was created. Snap is essentially a front end for the Google Play Store so you know APK files downloaded from there are safe and secure as they can be. The apps have passed Google Play's approval process and through the use of Snap, it's no different really than downloading from the Google Play Store directly.

The only problem with Snap is that it is a bit of an advanced method in the fact that the app itself, being a native BlackBerry 10 app, needs to be sideloaded. The great thing about it though is that once it's set up there's no real need to set up anything else because as long as Snap is maintained by the developer, there is very little work you as a end-user of the app need to do in order to keep on installing APK files onto your BlackBerry 10.2.1 device.

If you're looking to sideload Snap in order to gain the ability to download Android APK files directly onto your BlackBerry smartphone, we've put together a guide for you that not only shows you how to sideload the Snap app itself but also how to install APK files directly onto your BlackBerry 10 smartphone using the app.

Sideloading Snap

• Download and install Google Chrome.
• Once Google Chrome is installed, open it up and install this extension for Google Chrome on your computer.
• Download the latest Snap .BAR file to your computer, place it somewhere you'll remember.
• Enable development mode on your BlackBerry - Go to Settings>Security and Privacy>Development Mode. Turn the switch to the ON position. Note the IP address it lists as well, it's most commonly set to 169.254.0.1 but if different, make note of it. Also, it may ask you to create a password. If so, make one and do not forget it.
• Grab your micro-USB cable and plug it into your device, then plug your device into your computer.
• Open Google Chrome and visit https://169.254.0.1/. If your IP found in development was different, replace 169.254.0.1 with the IP found there.
• If you get an SSL error page or it says this sites security certificate is not trusted, that's fine. It's not causing any harm. Just accept and proceed. If you get a different sort of error though, like this page cannot be found or this webpage is not available, try reconnecting your device or try a different USB port.
• Also, you may need to go to the Google Chrome extension settings and enter the correct IP address there. Generally, it auto detects it but if not you'll need to add it manually. Additionally, if you're still unable to connect, make sure your anti-virus is disabled or the app is allowed to run. This often times causes a lot of connection issues especially for Windows users.
• Once you have the page loaded up, enter in your device password that you created to approve access. You will then see a list of what's already installed on your device.
• From there, you can go to the top right hand corner where it says 'Install Apps' and click on that. That will open a file explorer window for your computer, in which case you want to browse to wherever it is that you downloaded the Snap BAR file and select it.
• Once selected, the Snap file will begin installing and you can view the progress in Chrome. When done, you will see 'result::success' indicating that all went well and the file sideloaded properly.
• You can now disconnect your device from your computer and we'll look at setting up Snap.

Note that this process is applicable for any app that you wish to sideload, not just Snap. If there is other BAR files you wish to install, it can be done the exact same way. If this all a bit too complicated for you, you can make life easier and download Sachesi for your respective computer. Once downloaded, plug in your device, run the Sachesi app and go to the "Install" tab. From there, drag the Snap bar into Sachesi and it will load it. I will note though, DO NOT go messing with anything else in the Sachesi app if you're not aware of what it does.

Setting Up Snap

With Snap now properly sideloaded, the rest is really easy. Once you open up the app, it will ask you for your Google login because again, it's basically acting as a front end for the Google Play Store. That of course, implies you must have a Google account of some type, so if you don't have one of those you'll need to sign up for something Google but I'm sure most of you already have that.

In any case, I'm not going to tell you what to do here. If you're not comfortable with handing over such info, you can swipe from the top in the app to view the privacy policy put forth by the developer of Snap. If it meets your standards, you can proceed, if not quit the app and never look back.

I'm going to assume you want to proceed for the rest of this and rather than writing out the steps for downloading and installing apps using Snap, you can go ahead and click play on the video for a bit of a walkthrough on how it's all done and what to expect when installing apps.

Source:crackberry

How to hide your number when making a phone call on BlackBerry 10

Hiding your phone number isn't something that I personally ever find myself doing. That said it has its advantages for certain instances - pranking is the one that springs to mind! It wasn't until earlier this week when a family member asked me how to do it that I jumped into the phone options to see how to enable it - and it's incredibly easy.

It may not be a feature that we all use everyday but you never know when it may just come in handy.

Just follow these simple steps:

• From within the phone application open settings - pull down from top bezel
• In the list select 'Show My Number'
• Toggle on or off and you're done

Although not groundbreaking it does go to show the simplicity and user friendliness of BlackBerry 10.

Source:crackberry

How to install Instagram on BlackBerry

With the official release of OS 10.2.1 hitting devices around the globe, we now have the option to install Android applications right on the device — including Instagram. It's obviously not an official BlackBerry version, but it still works like a champ on the new OS. So if you've been waiting to get your gramming on from your BlackBerry, here's how to get it done.

Note that you'll need to be running OS 10.2.1 for this to work.

Step 1: Download the Instagram APK

You can grab the Instagram APK from here. You can hit up the site on your BlackBerry browser but it may be easier to find the file from your PC, then moving it to your device. This listing has a whole bunch of other apps as well, but grab the com.instagram.android-812147-v5.0.0.apk file for Instagram.

- If saving to your BlackBerry, just tap the file in the iist, then save it to your device.

- If using a PC - download the file, then transfer it to your device over USB, by emailing it to yourself or using Dropbox, Box etc.

Step 2: Install the APK

​Find the Instagram APK file on your BlackBerry (in the folder you saved it to or wherever you transferred it from your PC).
Tap the file to open, then tap Install.

Tap Accept in the popup dialog to continue.

When the install is finished, you'll have Instagram installed on your BlackBerry. Tap Open, login (or sign up) and you're on your way!

Source:crackberry.com

How to install an Android app (APK) to a BlackBerry

If your BlackBerry Z10, Q10, Z30, Q5 or P'9982 has been updated to BlackBerry OS 10.2.1 or higher, you can now install Android apps directly onto the phone. Here's how!

BlackBerry 10.2.1 introduced the ability to install .APK files, which are the app files used in Android, directly to your phone. This throws the doors open to install a wide variety of Android apps on your BlackBerry 10 device, be it a Z10, Q10, Q5, Z30, or anything else. This used to be possible through a long, convoluted process, but it's much easier now. Basically, if you can't find an app in BlackBerry World, odds are there are other sources for your favorite app.

Step 1: Find your APK

We have a few sources you can count on.

- Amazon App Store

- 1mobile Market

- APK Train (website)

- Snap APK Downloader​

Step 2: Get the APK file on your BlackBerry

You can get an Android APK install file on your BlackBerry by visiting the source in your BlackBerry browser (which is the easiest option), e-mailing yourself the file, or moving the file directly from your computer to your phone by plugging them together with a USB cable.

Step 3: Install the APK file from your BlackBerry

If you downloaded the APK from your browser, the Downloads window should have already popped up asking you where you want to save it and what the filename should be; just tap the file when it's done. If the download window isn't there, it's easy enough to get back up. Tap the overflow menu button in the bottom-right (three little dots), and tap Downloads.

If the file was moved to your phone in any other way, you can find it easily by tapping the magnifying glass icon from the home screen at the bottom in the middle and typing ".apk" in the search box at the top. Anything you've moved over should show up under the Documents and Files result. Just tap the one you want to install.

Your Android app should start installing after a short "Processing" indicator. Tap the Install button in the top right, and tap Accept on the pop-up window which informs you of the device permissions that are required for the app to run.

Extra information

The first time you install an .APK, you'll be prompted to turn off a safety setting which otherwise blocks installation of these files. The previous installation screen should return with a handy "Open" button replacing the "Install" button when it's done. At that point, the app will now show up alongside all of your other apps. Just swipe on the home screen from right to left a few times to find the icon and put it in whatever folder or home screen you like. Hold your finger on the icon for a moment to drag it around. Another thing you may want to do is hide the bar at the bottom of the screen. Just swipe down from the top when the app is open, and tap Hide bar.

Now, remember that there are no guarantees that these apps will function as advertised. BlackBerry does not run Android, it can just run Android apps. The Android app player in BlackBerry 10 is good, and should handle most of what you throw at it. Test things out and let us know what's working and what isn't in the comments! Having trouble installing something? You can ask for help in the comments too!

Source:crackberry.com

How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S4

Need to remove some of the bloatware on your Samsung Galaxy S4? Want to edit what applications can be used with the device’s multi window feature? All of this is possible and more if you root  your phone. Rooting is the process of gaining  administrative or “root” access to your device, which gives you access to all the directories, commands, and subsystems. Interested? Here’s how to gain root access on the Samsung Galaxy S4.

1. Download and install Samsung’s USB Drivers.

2. Pull down the notification bar and tap the Settings icon.

3. Tap More > About Device.

4. Tap Build Number repeatedly until the device pops up a notification saying “You are now a Developer”.

5. Go back and tap on Developer Options.

6. Turn USB Debugging on.

7. Plug your device in via USB cable and wait for the drivers to install.

8. Download the Motochopper program to your desktop.

Motochopper (the download is in the first post in the thread)

9. Extract the .zip file to your desktop.

10a. Double click the run.bat file inside the the newly extracted folder if on Windows.

10b. If on a mac, open Terminal (inside Applications > Utilities) and then type the following into Terminal with hitting enter at the end of each line:

cd desktop
cd motochopper
./run.sh

11. Select OK on the device when prompted.

12. Once it’s all done, check for SuperSU in your applications drawer. If it’s there, you’re all set.

David Cogen is a founder of TheUnlockr.com, the popular site for rooting, jailbreaking, hacking, modding, and other how tos to show you how to unlock your device’s true potential. They even have a popular ROM repository. Check out TheUnlockr.com for all your Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone how tos.

12 Surprising Things Your Android Phone Can Do

Android is a form of Linux, so it should be no surprise that any modern Android device can run a full-fledged Web server complete with a mySQL database, PHP support and FTP for file transfers. You can even make the server available on the Internet and use it with a domain of your choice.

Developers can use an Android Web server to test out their code and then show it to clients or stakeholders in the office. Users who want to run a small blog or share files with co-workers via FTP can have a server sitting in their living rooms or even in their pockets. If you use a $45 Android Mini PC like the MK808B instead of a phone, you can run a server the size of a flash drive that gets all of its power over USB.