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Lookout’s ‘Plan B’ is for Those Who Never Bothered to Install Phone Location App

We've heard plenty of stories about how scary it is to lose our phones and what could happen should we not take precautions.  For every success story of someone tracking their phones down because of software, there is another person who simply won't take the time to arm themselves.  So what happens when your phone is stolen and you never bothered to install Lookout Mobile Security or similar app?  You go to Plan B.

Lookout's Plan B is the app you turn to for stolen phones that don't have tracking software or remote location capability.  Simply put, it lets you add it after the phone is stolen. Using the ability to install apps remotely from the Android Market, Plan B starts working the second installation completes.
Here's a step-by-step to walk you through the process.

  1. Install Plan B from the Android Market website to the phone that you are trying to find. (You must download it from the web version of the Android Market, not the app market on your phone.)
  2. As soon as it downloads, Plan B will send an email to your Google Gmail account telling you it’s locating your phone.
  3. Once Plan B has located your phone, check your Gmail again to find a link to a Google Map of where your phone is located. Plan B will send you a series of emails with refined location updates every few minutes.
  4. If your phone seems to be on the move, and you aren’t able to find your phone within ten minutes of downloading Plan B, you can text the word “locate” to your phone from a friend’s phone to start the locate process again.
  5. We recommend that after you’ve found your lost phone, to download full protection from Lookout Mobile Security!

We tried this yesterday with a couple of devices and found it to work flawlessly.  Our email inbox lit up with notifications an GPS coordinates that were accurate to 2 meters away.  As awesome as Plan B is, we can't stress the importance of preemptive care.  The last thing you need to do is worry about getting to the Android Market to install an app to hunt your phone down.  The smart thing is to go with Plan A, which is Lookout Mobile Security.

Scott founded AndroidGuys on November 5, 2007 and has been hooked ever since. His other mobile efforts can be found on AndroidAtlas (CNET) where he covers Google's mobile platform. When not obsessing over phones and tablets, Scott can be found listening to house music, watching the Green Bay Packers, or catching the latest movie.

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  • Silimimisu

    Year right !
    How much money you get from Lookout to write this story ?
    There are so many apps out there, that could track your phone, and you are advertising the worst one - you have to pay a subscription.......it back's up your address book. C'mon, every Android user knows that the contacts are backed up in your Google account.

  • Robert

    @Silimimisu - You realize that Lookout is free right? There is also a premium version but the cool features like locate / find my phone are free.

  • Tim

    Hate to be the 2nd one to inform ya but Robert is correct. You can locate for free using lookout and yes myself I do have mobile defense (closed beta) also on mine along with wavesecure (lifetime subscription) but lookout is the only one proactively ready against malware. Always read the entire website before commenting or at least use the product. Cheers.

  • Silimimisu

    If you want, next time I will draw for you guys - the good stuff that Lookout has to offer, is only if you pay a monthly fee. There are tons of apps, for which you have to pay a one time fee, and have the good stuff forever - not monthly.

  • Ravana

    It would actually benefit us (& give your rant some credibility) if you gave us a list of said applications :)

  • ExpatZ

    @Silimimisu

    And your point is?
    The article is about tracking a lost or stolen phone, not the bells and whistles that come as extras in the tracking software.
    And I use Lookout myself, and as everyone else here has pointed out: it's free to track with.

    Let me reiterate: F.R.E.E.

    So what exactly is your gripe? If it's about having to optionally pay for extra functionality most of us don't care about or use then you are just barking to make noise.

  • http://www.mobilebrazzers.com Movies

    Let me get this straight- you can track your phone after you lose it, by installing an app onto the phone that you already lost? ..using your computer?

  • Jeyaganesh

    Ok here is a situation my friend is facing right now.The stolen mobile is switched off and we have remotely requested plan B installation over the air installation from android market.
    So how would we get mail regarding the location? Thanks

  • Jade

    I did everything it told me to do, but no email ): & it's the one connected to my phone so i don't get it. I'm 15 & my high school has alot of people that like to steal, and I left my phone in my gym. Not even a half hour later I went back to get it and it wasn't there. HELP D':

  • Alistair Mackay

    Well you probably won't if the phone is off it's unable to communicate cell tower and location data, sorry.