A PSA for iPhone and iPad users.

[theweaselking]

If you've got the latest upgrade, Apple's added a service to let you locate your phone via GPS, send messages to it, and wipe it remotely if necessary.

via autopope, whose commenters have already pointed out that it's only a matter of time before the service is cracked and thousands of devices are wiped by a malicious user - but, as he points out, the fix is only a "plug in to the PC and resync" away.

Anyway. it's MobileMe, partially free. And quite neat.

Comments

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

This isn't really adding a feature at all, just making one available for free that previously wasn't. There's been plenty of time (and almost as much reason) for this service to be Cracked, if anyone were interested and capable of doing so. I doubt that such a party exists.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

And the driver for this may be that this feature is free on Windows phone 7.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Google Latitude does this for Droids, without the "wipe remotely" part, for free.

I can see this feature being really useful for *businesses* - salesdrone loses a phone, you wipe it, then track it via GPS, then reimage it once the drone recovers (or replaces) it.

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

I suspected as much.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

A free service will get a much greater uptake than a paid one. And while the iPhone isn't the most common smartdevice on the market any more, this might still present an attractive enough target that someone will bother.

(Leaving aside, of course, that INDIVIDUAL stalking/malicious wipes are only as far away as the security of an individual user's password. I mean, holy crap, I'm paranoid enough to avoid Google Latitude on its own, adding the ability to wipe my phone would just make me a very sad monkey indeed.)

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

If you were going to do this just to mess with people, then wouldn't your motivation be at least as high to mess with those smug Apple freaks who actually pay for MobileMe? I know mine would be...

Anyway, there's nothing to be done about reeducating people on password strength, and everybody knows it.

[maelorin]

though apparently only for iphone4, ipad, and 4th gen ipods ... ?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I hear you can create the account with a 4 and then install the app on an earlier one, but I don't know. I don't buy crippleware, so I don't have an iPhone or iPad to test with.

[wherever.livejournal.com]

Am I losing my mind, or did the Weaselking just say something nice about an Apple product?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I said something nice about an Apple product. I *do* do that sometimes - occasionally, they do something right, in between their regular screw-the-user decisions.

(Feel a little more at home, now?)

[wherever.livejournal.com]

Heh, I didn't feel not at home. I've always been a cross-platform kind of gal - I've worked with both PC's and Apples all my computing life - as well as Commodores, Amigas, *nix systems, and so on. Although Apple dominates my life these days, what with having a MacPro and a MacBook, I deliberately chose to get an Android phone rather than an iPhone, in part because I loathe touch screens despite their necessity - I have gigantic fingers - and in part because I didn't want Apple to own every square inch of my computing world. (Although these days, Google is becoming kind of scary as well.) That and the whole thing of not being able to access the battery and having no user-serviceable parts is crap. I like buttons and cards and things that are upgradeable.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I got a Droid because I think relying on Apple to get anything right in software runs... counter... to historical evidence. And their twin policies of App Store Only and No Apps That Work Better Than Apple's Apps are not encouraging.

So I got the Droid, that does more, cheaper, easier, and argues with me less. What's not to love?

[cacahuate.livejournal.com]

I got an iPod Touch recently and I have to say, I kind of hate it so far, because it won't treat me like a damn grownup. This is emphatically not the case with my Nexus One. *pets Nexus one*

You'll still have to pry my Mac from my cold, dead hands though.

[being-here.livejournal.com]

I feel faint *heads to the swooning couch*

[anktastic.livejournal.com]

"Anyway. it's MobileMe, partially free. And quite neat."

Quite neat?? An Apple product?!?! WHO ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL WEASEL KING?!?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Apple often has neat features and entertaining gadgets. Then they cripple them so the neat feature can never be anything more than a toy rather than a tool, and charge you extra for the privilege.

Feel better?