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Orbicule's 'Undercover' Comes to iPhone

Thursday April 16, 2009 1:59 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Many Mac users are familiar with Orbicule's comprehensive theft recovery software Undercover 3, which utilizes Wi-Fi positioning and automatically uploaded screenshots and iSight photos to help users recover stolen notebooks. Building on the success of the Mac application, Orbicule has now expanded their product line with the release of Undercover for the iPhone and iPod touch [App Store, $4.99].

The iPhone version of Undercover provides an online interface where a user can update his or her profile if their device is lost or stolen. If the device is lost, Undercover relays the device's location to Orbicule's servers and can display a finder's message on the iPhone to help the owner retrieve their device.

If the iPhone or iPod touch is stolen, things are a bit trickier. Because Apple does not allow background processes, the service must still rely on the thief launching the application so that it can relay the device's location to Orbicule. In order to accomplish that, Undercover is designed to pretend to be a game. While the device is gathering location information and transmitting it to Orbicule's servers, it displays a splash screen indicative of a loading game.

In order to help reduce Undercover's reliance on activation by a thief, Orbicule is also working with other third-party developers to incorporate Undercover functionality into their applications, allowing them to transmit location data to Orbicule once the device has been reported lost or stolen.
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synth3tik
Posted: 41 months ago
Of course the coolest feature was reliant upon people not knowing about the app.

Although I do have to say this has been the only semi-exciting email ad I have gotten in years.
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WildCowboy
Posted: 41 months ago

Of course the coolest feature was reliant upon people not knowing about the app.


We'll have to check our demographic statistics to see how we rate with iPhone thieves. ;)
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bacaramac
Posted: 41 months ago
I wonder if there is anyway to incorporate the push service to activate something in the phone. Probably not, but it would be cool. I think Apple should just give MobileMe users a way to locate their devices based on serial number via the web and that way if the thief wipes the phone you can still find it.
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ipoppy
Posted: 41 months ago

I wonder if there is anyway to incorporate the push service to activate something in the phone. Probably not, but it would be cool. I think Apple should just give MobileMe users a way to locate their devices based on serial number via the web and that way if the thief wipes the phone you can still find it.


Nope, privacy issue. Is easy to get serial number of your girlfriend iPhone and track her. You wouldn't like to find out that she is cheating on you, would you?:eek::D
The same apply for any other situations like that; countless possibilities really;)
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Ding.Dong
Posted: 41 months ago

If the device is lost, Undercover relays the device's location to Orbicule's servers and can display a finder's message on the iPhone to help the owner retrieve their device.


How, exactly, does it do this if it's not running in the background?
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musio
Posted: 41 months ago
iphone software 3.0 i read has a feature for mobileme to 'find my phone' which if it is what is says, will make this app redundant. Especially if this can be turned on in the mobileme control panel by the user and run in the true background and maybe map them using googlemaps

IMO, apple will release this as a sort of 'remote wipe' feature that other business phones have.

NO bad on the company, the mac version looks great.

http://www.9to5mac.com/more-iphone-features-wipe
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ziggyonice
Posted: 41 months ago

iphone software 3.0 i read has a feature for mobileme to 'find my phone' which if it is what is says, will make this app redundant. Especially if this can be turned on in the mobileme control panel by the user and run in the true background and maybe map them using googlemaps

IMO, apple will release this as a sort of 'remote wipe' feature that other business phones have.

NO bad on the company, the mac version looks great.

http://www.9to5mac.com/more-iphone-features-wipe


Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I'll wait to see how 3.0 incorporates that feature before going for Undercover. Definitely a plus to have either way though.
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Jeff321
Posted: 41 months ago
I use the passcode lock so this app seems useless to me. Something built in to the OS would be ideal.
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iMacoo7
Posted: 41 months ago

I use the passcode lock so this app seems useless to me. Something built in to the OS would be ideal.


You can lock your iPhone all day long like the rest of us, But if you leave your phone somewhere and someone finds it or if someone steals it from you, like it or not just because your iphone is locked, it can be connected to iTunes and wiped clean of your information, simple restore (Putting the iphone in DFU mode)And setting the device up from scratch.
Pass lock is alright but Apple does need to boost security.
ATT uses Sniffer to find stolen phones being used on the network (Have the found any or many?I have no idea , I have friends that work their and said this feature is used for the IMEI's floating on the network).
Even if someone wipes a device clean and uses a different sim card, that phone still has to connect to a network.

I really am hoping that in 3.0 the mobile me security feature of find my phone will work in the background or be some sort of hardware embed , so that if the device is wiped clean , the iphone can still be found.
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djdole
Posted: 41 months ago
Instead of adding overhead to other third-party apps (more code=more points of failure) why doesn't Orbicule just make it operate while in sleep mode for now, and put it as a background task in 3.0 in a few months?
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