avast! Free Mobile Security provides several features not currently found in other leading products. Privacy reports, Call/SMS filtering, an Application Manager, and several remote options (see Commands tab for full list) help avast! Free Mobile Security to rank ahead of other products in terms of real security, total control, and most importantly… user satisfaction.
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| avast! | AVG | Lookout | Norton | AVG | Kaspersky | Lookout | McAfee | |
Antivirus protection |
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| Real-time protection | |
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| Customizable updates | |
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Privacy report |
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Web shield |
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Call filtering |
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SMS filtering |
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Anti-Theft features |
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| Remote lock | |
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| Remote locate | |
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| Remote memory wipe | |
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| Remote siren | |
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| SIM-card-change notification | |
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| Contacts backup | |
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Firewall* |
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Application manager |
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| Price | Free | Free | Free | Free | $4.99** | $29.99/yr | $29.99/yr | $29.99/yr |
Competitor prices were as of February 2012.
* For rooted phones only
** Lifetime license
A standalone yet tightly integrated component of the avast! Mobile Security environment, avast! Anti-Theft is the slyest component on the market – because your security app should not alert potential thieves about its presence. You'll be able to remotely control your 'lost' phone by SMS at any time, with no signals indicated on the phone itself. Formerly known as Theft Aware, the Anti-Theft portion of avast! Free Mobile Security has been recommended by leading industry experts that include T-Mobile, N-TV, AndroidPIT, and Android Police.
Performs on-demand scans of all installed apps and memory card content, as well as on-access scans of apps upon first execution. Options for scheduling scans, virus definition updates, uninstalling apps, deleting files, or reporting a false-positive to our virus lab.
Scans and displays (grid) access rights and intents of installed apps, identifying potential privacy risks, so you know how much info you are really providing to each app.
Filter calls and/or messages from contact list using set parameters based on day(s) of the week, start time, and end time. Blocked calls redirect to voicemail, while blocked messages are stored via filter log. Also possible to block outgoing calls.
Similar to Windows Task Manager, it shows a list of running apps and their size (MB), CPU load, used memory, and number of threads and services – with an option to stop or uninstall.
Part of the avast! WebRep cloud, the avast! Web Shield for Android scans each URL that loads and warns you if the browser loads a malware-infected URL.
Add a firewall to stop hackers. Disable an app's internet access when on WiFi and 3G and roaming mobile networks. (Works only on rooted phones.)
After downloading avast! Anti-Theft, user can choose a custom name that disguises the app (e.g. call it "Pinocchio game") so that it is even harder for thieves to find and remove.
Once anti-theft is enabled, the app icon is hidden in the app tray, leaving no audio or other trace on the target phone – the app is 'invisible', making it difficult for thieves to detect or remove.
Extremely difficult for thieves to remove (especially on rooted phones), Anti-Theft protects itself from uninstall by disguising its components with various self-preservation techniques. On rooted phones it is able to survive hard-resets and can even disable the phone's USB port.
Anti-Theft only launches itself and runs when it needs to perform tasks. This preserves battery life and makes it very difficult for thieves to shut it down.
If stolen and a different (unauthorized) SIM card inserted, the phone can lock, activate siren, and send you notification (to remote device) of the phone's new number and geo-location.
Establish a 'white list' of approved SIM cards that can be used in the phone without triggering a theft alert. You can also easily clear the trusted SIM cards list, to leave the one present in the phone as the only trusted one.
A setup wizard guides the user through the installation process on rooted phones by either writing directly or by generating an update file. No command-line knowledge is necessary to install Anti-Theft rooted. Also supports upgrading the app.
Option to sound a loud siren, which returns always to maximum volume if thieves try to silence. This siren sound can also be customized (e.g. record own siren sound or select siren sound from file).
To protect your data, phone can be locked remotely and then cannot be accessed again without entering the password specified by the user.
Enables remote locking of the phone's App Manager and/or phone settings.
Remotely send a customized message to locked or non-locked phone display (e.g. with a reward for its return).
Remotely locate phone via GPS, WiFi, or mobile network – for maximum accuracy. Can locate either once or continuously (GPS can be auto-enabled on all rooted phones or non-rooted phones from Android 1.6 to 2.2).
Remotely trigger a full, permanent wipe of all phone data (e.g. contacts, call log, SMS/MMS, browser history, apps, email accounts), including reliable, physical wipe of all memory cards from Android 2.2 on (limited functionality on older versions).
Remotely have the phone call you elsewhere with screen blackened, so that thieves cannot see it. This way you can listen to the phone's surroundings.
Remotely activate/deactivate option to forward or copy call data and/or SMS messages to another device. Call data goes to remote device, but not the call itself. SMS messages, however, are forwarded in their entirety ("CC" copies also to original device).
Remotely send a "Lost" command to trigger same actions as SIM card change (e.g. phone lock, siren, or USB lock). "Found" command deactivates "Lost" command.
Remotely trigger phone to send an SMS to another phone. That way, if you forget the phone somewhere, you can reply nonetheless to incoming calls or SMS messages.
Query the call log, contacts, and SMS messages remotely (with each forwarded as a separate SMS message, but able to be filtered).
Reboot the phone by SMS command, which will lock the phone by asking for the SIM's PIN code. (Works only on rooted phones.)
Phone is able to send low battery notification to a secondary device.
All of the Anti-Theft settings can be changed remotely.
Avast! Anti-Theft can be remotely controlled by using simple SMS commands. For this, the Anti-Theft protection needs to be enabled within the Anti-Theft basic settings.
If within the remote control settings, you restricted SMS commands to friends, SMS commands are only accepted if they are being sent from phone numbers that match one of the friend phone numbers you specified. All SMS commands s ent from other numbers will be ignored.
All SMS commands must begin with your avast! password. For example, if your avast! password is set to 2222, a lock command should look like this:
2222 LOCK
LOST
Sample: 2222 LOST
Marks the phone as LOST. This command initiates the same actions as a SIM card change, depending on the protection behavior settings.
FOUND
Sample: 2222 FOUND
Marks the phone as FOUND. This command disables the phone lock as well as the siren alarm.
LOCK
Sample: 2222 LOCK
Lock the mobile phone
UNLOCK
Sample: 2222 UNLOCK
Unlock the mobile phone
MESSAGE <message text>
Sample: 2222 MESSAGE Give back my phone!
Will display a message on the phone. Can be dismissed. Use LOCK and SET LOCKTEXT to display a sticky message
SIREN ON
Sample: 2222 SIREN ON
Turn siren on
SIREN OFF
Sample: 2222 SIREN OFF
Turn siren off
LOCATE
Sample: 2222 LOCATE
Locate the device
LOCATE <interval duration in minutes>
Sample: 2222 LOCATE 5
Track the device continuously
LOCATE STOP
Sample: 2222 LOCATE STOP
Stop continous tracking
CALL [phone number]
Sample: 2222 CALL
Sample: 2222 CALL +43660333555
If no phone number is given this command causes the phone to call you back. If you give the phone number the phone will call the given number
FORWARD SMS [phone number]
Sample: 2222 FORWARD SMS
Sample: 2222 FORWARD SMS +43660333555
If no phone number is given, incoming SMS will silently be forwarded to the phone that sent the command. If a phone number is given, incoming SMS will be forwarded to the given phone number. This command overrides all previously issued SMS-forwarding-settings.
The forwarding can be cancelled by issuing the FORWARD SMS STOP command or by launching avast! Anti-Theft.
CC SMS [phone number]
Sample: 2222 CC SMS
Sample: 2222 CC SMS +43660333555
Same as FORWARD SMS, but will not delete the SMS after forwarding which means that the forwarded SMS will still be delivered to the target phone (CC means carbon copy). This command overrides all previously issued SMS-forwarding-settings.
The forwarding can be cancelled by issuing the CC SMS STOP command or by launching avast! Anti-Theft.
CC CALLS [phone number]
Sample: 2222 CC CALLS
Sample: 2222 CC CALLS +43660222333
By issuing this command you can request SMS notifications about incoming calls. The notifications will be sent to the phone that issued the command if no other phone number is given. This command overrides all previously issued call-forwarding-settings.
We did not implement direct forwarding of the calls as this works differently in the networks around the world. Also it is not possible to hide the forwarding settings from the thieves eyes reliably.
The forwarding can be cancelled by issuing the CC CALLS STOP command or by launching avast! Anti-Theft.
CC ALL [phone number]
Sample: 2222 CC ALL
Sample: 2222 CC ALL +43660222333
Combines the CC SMS and the CC CALLS command. This command overrides all previously issued SMS- and call-forwarding- settings.
The forwarding can be cancelled by issuing the CC ALL STOP command or by launching avast! Anti-Theft.
WIPE
Sample: 2222 WIPE
Wipe all data from the phone
GET <query limit> SMS
Sample: 2222 GET 10 SMS
Query SMS messages
GET <query limit> INBOX SMS
Sample: 2222 GET 10 INBOX SMS
Query received SMS messages
GET <query limit> SENT SMS
Sample: 2222 GET 10 SENT SMS
Query sent SMS messages
GET <see above> SMS FOR <phone number>
Sample: 2222 GET 10 SMS FOR +43660333555
Query SMS messages matching the phone number given
GET CONTACTS
Sample: 2222 GET CONTACTS
Query the contacts from the address book
GET LOG <query limit>
Sample: 2222 GET LOG 10
Query the call and SMS log
LAUNCH
Sample: 2222 LAUNCH
Launches avast! Anti-Theft user interface
CLOSE
Sample: 2222 CLOSE
Closes avast! Anti-Theft user interface
REBOOT
(only for rooted devices)
Sample: 2222 REBOOT
Reboots the device
SET OWNER <name of owner>
Sample: 2222 SET OWNER Charles Chaplin
Will change the device owner name
SET PASSWORD <access code>
Sample: 2222 SET PASSWORD 3333
Will change the avast! password. You will need to provide a password of 4-6 digits
SET FRIEND 1 <phone number>
Sample: 2222 SET FRIEND 1 +43660122220192
Will change the phone number of the first friend. Provide a valid mobile phone number
SET FRIEND 2 <phone number>
Sample: 2222 SET FRIEND 2 +43660122220192
Will change the phone number of the second friend. Provide a valid mobile phone number
SET ONLYFRIENDS <friends mode>
Sample: 2222 SET ONLYFRIENDS 1
Will change the SMS command authorization mode (0 = allow all numbers, 1 = allow only friend commands)
SET LOCKMODE <lock mode>
Sample: 2222 SET LOCKMODE 1
Will change the phone lock protection behavior (0 = do not lock, 1 = auto lock)
SET SIRENMODE <siren mode>
Sample: 2222 SET SIRENMODE 1
Will change the siren protection behavior (0 = no siren on lock, 1 = siren on lock)
SET APPLOCKMODE <app lock mode>
Sample: 2222 SET APPLOCKMODE 1
Will change the program manager or phone setting protection behavior (0 = no setting active, 1 = deny program manager, 2 = deny phone settings)
SET USBLOCKMODE <USB lock mode>
(only for rooted devices)
Sample: 2222 SET USBLOCKMODE 1
Will change the USB debugging access protection behavior (0 = do not lock USB debugging access, 1 = lock USB debugging access)
SET FORCEDATAMODE <force data mode>
(only for rooted devices)
Sample: 2222 SET FORCEDATAMODE 1
Will change the force data connection protection behavior (0 = do not force data connection, 1 = force data connection)
SET BATTERYSMSMODE <battery mode>
Sample: 2222 SET BATTERYSMSMODE 1
Will change the low battery notification protection behavior (0 = do not notify on low battery, 1 = notify on low battery)
SET LOCKTEXT <lock text>
Sample: 2222 SET LOCKTEXT Please call me back at +4313283483
Will change the custom lock text
SET AUTOGPS <gps mode>
Sample: 2222 SET AUTOGPS 1
Will enable or disable automatic enablement of GPS (0 = turn off, 1 = turn on)
SET WIPEMODE <wipe mode>
Sample: 2222 SET WIPEMODE 1
Will enable or disable thorough wipe (0 = turn off, 1 = turn on)
SET PROTECTION <protection mode>
Sample: 2222 SET PROTECTION 1
Will enable or disable Anti-Theft protection (0 = turn off, 1 = turn on)
Caution: By using this command you will completely disable the Avast! Anti-Theft system thus rendering the Anti-Theft protection useless.
Avast! Anti-Theft is able to launch any programs on the phone and pass data to the launched program.
SMS command: <Activity or service name, fully qualified> <arguments>
Samples:
2222 at.domain.package.Activity Test will start the activity OR service at.domain.package.Activity and pass Test as an parameter to it.
2222 at.domain.package.Activity This is my command line will start the activity OR service at.domain.package.Activity and pass This is my command line as an parameter to it.
The activity or service needs to be positioned on the root of the package (sub-packages are NOT supported).
Data transfer is done via Intent:
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
i.putExtra("number", origNumber);
i.putExtra("cmd", data);
i.setComponent(cName);
This means you can then read (in your service or activity) the sender number in the String extra number and the command from the String extra cmd.
Anti-Theft always tries to start an Activity first, if none is found it tries to start a Service, if this fails it will reply with an error SMS.
Everything you knew before as Theft Aware is now included for free in avast! Free Mobile Security, with the added benefit of avast! antivirus technology.
Should you have any questions about avast! Free Mobile Security (or any other avast! security solutions), you will find the following links useful:
*Please note that you may still use avast! Anti-Theft (formerly Theft Aware) as a standalone application, without the avast! Mobile Security software.
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avast! Mobile Security User Guide  |
