Wednesday, November 10, 2010

cgFinder

With the progress in mobile telephony over the past decade, mobile phones have become as ubiquitous as humans. Mobile phones are no longer a luxury but a necessity for us humans who in our want needs connection anytime anywhere. It would be farcical to even think of not having a cellphone and to be not able to communicate. Mobile phones have become a very extension of our body.

Smartphones have taken these dependencies a step further and made phones the most personal amongst all our gadgets.  It would not be far-fetched to claim that one would consider being incomplete without in possession of their phones and would feel lost without it.

With the possibility of phones being lost or being misplaced, the consequences could be horrible from loss of data, loss of phone and more importantly the mental anguish one has to go through during that period. At those very moments, it crosses our minds that what-if there is a way to find out where our phone is? What if we can know the location of phone and use the info to fetch it back?

The answer to the above questions are that Yes these are possible now. Yes you can figure out the location of your phone from anywhere, anytime and track it down to less than a few feet. All you need to do is install this application cgFinder on your phone and be ready to track the location of your phone anytime anywhere from any other phone.

What are you waiting for, minimize your risk of losing phone and increase the possibility of tracking it down in case you misplace it.

Using cgFinder:
  • Install the application on the smartphone you need to track the location of. Let us assume the phone number of this smartphone be 123-456-789
  • From any other phone send SMS to 123-456-789 with your chosen password; default is TRACK and it is case sensitive. 
          
  • Within a few moments you would receive an SMS with the location of smartphone where you have installed cgFinder.


Salient Features:
  • Works in the background(stealth mode) without affecting normal working of the phone.
  • Gets activated only when triggered by the user unlike other applications.
  • Application gets remotely triggered.
  • Simple and easy-to-use SMS interface that also allows customization of trigger password.
  • Most efficient usage of battery and CPU cycles unlike other battery-draining applications.
  • Has an inbuilt link to map for location reference

FAQs:

1. How do I install cgFinder?
A: Currently this application only works on Android platform 1.5 and above. Open Market application and search for cgFinder, select and install the application.

2. I installed cgFinder but cannot see it in application drawer on my phone.
A: This application cgFinder works in stealth mode and cannot be detected like other normal application.

3. How do I know whether the application is installed?
A. SMS: "TRACK" without quotes  to the phone on which application is installed and within few moments you would receive the location co-ordinates of the phone along with some other vital information.

4. How do I change the default password from very obvious and common "TRACK" to something else?
A: You can customize the password to whichever phrase you want. Send the following SMS to change the password:
                               cgSetPass old:TRACK new:My new Password

Note: Do not use special characters in your password.

5. What is this status message?
A: Status messages and their inferences:
Wrong Syntax.Syntax is case-sensitive.Correct Format is: cgSetPass old:Your old password new:your new password
This would mean that while you were trying to change the default password, you did not follow the correct syntax to change it. Mind you the command is case sensitive and you can retry with correct syntax. Once successful you would receive an SMS saying that you have successfully changed the password.

Your new password contains special characters. Use passwords without special characters
Avoid using special characters in your password and keep it short and simple. Some examples could be "hey dude" or "how is it going", the sms you send to trigger the app should start with the new password. This implies "hey dude" or "hey dude how are you?" are both valid and will trigger the application. Keep the password simple yet unique to avoid location being send out to others. 

Old password given does not match!!!  cgSetPass old:Your old password new:your new password
While changing password if you happen to give wrong old password you should expect this message. In case you forgot you old password, you need to re-install the application.


Unable to get current location.
This status is possible if the providers like GPS and/or network are disabled on the phone in question. It is also possible that the user be in a place where GPS tracking is not possible due to very little communication with satellites. 

6. What are the other use-case scenarios for cgFinder?
A. cgFinder can be used in any scenario to fetch location of the phone on which it is installed. Some of them are listed as below but are not limited to these scenarios:
  • Track your phone in case it gets lost or is misplaced.
  • Track your phone and help law-enforcing agencies to track down the thief who would have flicked your phone.
  • Keep track of your kids at any given time and be a responsible parent.
  • Keep track of friends and estimate time to reach your place based on their location
  • Keep track of your spouse and near-and-dear ones like your age-old parents and others.

Do rate the application on Market, we value your feedback and support.

In case you face any difficulties in using the application, report it here or on the Market comments for the application. We take each of your feedback seriously and would strive to solve most of them and get back in less than 24 hours time.

P.S: We do not encourage misuse of cgFinder as a stalking tool without knowledge of the person involved and consider it as unethical and illegal.

20 comments:

  1. Does it turn on GPS automatically? Would be very useful

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  2. Currently it does not have this feature as turning ON the gps is not possible without user interaction for Android SDK 1.6 to 2.1

    This is getting tested on 2.2 and if possible it would be soon added. Stay tune for updates!

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  3. When i send "TRACK", the phone will received the SMS "TRACK" also. Would it be possible to disable this so my kid does not know i'm checking on his location??

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  4. You can change the password from default "TRACK" to something more general like "hello son" or anything you wish. The application would still work and your kid would ignore the SMS are routine.

    Check FAQs above to know more about changing your default password. Hope this helps.

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  5. Great Softwere, works like a charm on my HTC evo,
    But theres 2 things that would really make it better then other's. If as mentioned it would not show the incoming sms on the phone, and how do i get it off the my apps tab in market place so there would be no indication on the phone that it is installed?

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  6. Any chance of an apk file for manual installation? Solves the listed in market apps issue

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  7. There is a scheduled update in next few weeks. Post which we would allow user to download the apk from our website.

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  8. Good ya it works fine on my defy thanx grt work dr.feroz

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  9. Works until I change the password.

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  10. @feroz: Thanks for the appreciation!

    @denise: Password is case sensitive and you need to ensure there is no space at the beginning of the password so the following would make it invalid. Notice the space between 'new:' and 'hey'

    "cgSetPass old:TRACK new: hey"

    Let me know if you have any more questions, I am glad to help you out.

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  11. If I don't want it after installation, how can I remove it?

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  12. Can't find app in android market. How can I download it again?

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  13. If i wanted to change the password when you send the old and put the new password "cgssetpass old: new:" ... does that phrase show up on the phone you are sending the text to???

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  14. Uninstall:
    Menu->Settings->Applications->Manage Applications->cgFinder->Uninstall

    Our application has been unfortunately suspended from the Android Market and hence cannot be found there. We are working on ways to make it available through our blog.

    @scoob: Ideally it should not show on the phone with the latest version.

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  15. if i dont have access to a cell phone can i send sms TRACK from a computer im? will it still work? i have google earth installed i just dont want to try it and have it back fire on me

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  16. Yes it should work if your password is TRACK (default) and you are sending SMS from wherever with TRACK as the first word.

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  17. can i send the sms from my computer if i lose current access to my cell phone?

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  18. I uninstall by mistake how can I install back on my phone??

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  19. Have you had any luck getting this app put back on the android market or is there any way I can get it some other way?

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  20. Finally find a downloadable file: http://apps.opera.com/us/cgfinder_gps_location_on_sms.html
    Thanks for the nice app!!

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