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Undercover 1.5 Adds Push Notification Tool to iPhone Theft Recovery App

Thursday November 12, 2009 12:17 pm PST by Eric Slivka
Macworld reports that Orbicule has updated its Undercover [App Store, $4.99] theft recovery application for the iPhone and iPod touch to include a tool that utilizes push notifications to entice thieves into opening the application to allow it to transmit the device's location to Orbicule's recovery center.

Now you have the ability to send push notifications with any message of your choosing directly to the iPhone - yes, just like MobileMe. But the comparisons end there. You can make the messages as enticing as you want - say, by having them pretend to be a notification from your bank account.

If the crook chooses to view the push notification, Undercover will launch, disguised either as a game that's taking its sweet time to load or loading any Website of your choosing, such as the aforementioned bank's. While the thief is distracted, Undercover will be happy to save the device's GPS coordinates and IP address to Orbicule's Website. Each time that Undercover launches, it will save a new set of coordinates that you can view in Google Maps. They'll also be sent directly to any police officer you've contacted to work on the case and registered in Orbicule's Undercover Center.

Orbicule has also posted a video preview of Undercover demonstrating the new push notification feature.

[ 27 comments ]

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appleguy123
Posted: 33 months ago
Does it have to ask the thief if they would like to show their location?
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dwman
Posted: 33 months ago
Neat app, but all you need to do is safeguard your phone using a 4 digit passcode and they would never even get to the home screen.
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MTShipp
Posted: 33 months ago
Most thieves would know to pop the SIM immediately upon heisting the device.
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optophobia
Posted: 33 months ago

Does it have to ask the thief if they would like to show their location?


Interesting question. And I'd like to know the answer too. Although I am assuming if you have launched the app
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BeyondtheTech
Posted: 33 months ago
Interesting concept, but the Push Notification shows "Undercover" as the application. I don't know if that's good to show, but I don't know if they have control over showing that or not, or naming it something else.
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JBaker122586
Posted: 33 months ago
So...
It's basically a worse MobileMe.
Got it.
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wackymacky
Posted: 33 months ago
So Apple is endosing an App that puts up a fake pop up, to get you to click on it, enabling the App to preform a subterfuge operation.

Basicly it is "legit" trojan

could another App developer hide a simular function in An App that they push through a pop up that does harm?
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ob81
Posted: 33 months ago

So Apple is endosing an App that puts up a fake pop up, to get you to click on it, enabling the App to preform a subterfuge operation.

Basicly it is "legit" trojan

could another App developer hide a simular function in An App that they push through a pop up that does harm?


GREAT question. Wow. I wasn't even thinking like this.
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kiljoy616
Posted: 33 months ago
I like the app, the girl is also hot good reason to put her on the video, hehe. :D

App for me would be more for knowing where your kids are than a thief, though I would say a good percentage of thief's will not know to pop out the sim card. If they are that sophisticated then they are in a different level than what this software could do. For that level of thief you would need this to be hidden and secured in a way that even if they put it thru itune or took out the SIM card once a new SIM card was put in even if it was someone else it would still work.

Yes I know way over what the cost of this app. I would say parents and maybe student who forget where they left their phone or maybe a bum on the street who steels it and does not get the chance to think to much about it. I like to see the app been able to run on the back side but apple I figure would go ballistic. :eek:
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appleguy123
Posted: 33 months ago

So...
It's basically a worse MobileMe.
Got it.


Yes, A worse mobile me, that doesn't cost $99 a year for stuff that you can find much cheaper elsewhere.
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