Steal This!: Save Your iPhone From Thieves (Sponsored)

If you’re anything like me, your iPhone is one of the most important possessions in your life (I’m yet to have kids, you see); therefore, it stands to reason that you would want to protect it from anyone who may want to steal it from you. Well, we’ve found an app that will do this very task; Steal This! is a veritable security guard for your iPhone and is a lot cheaper than having some burly hired goon watching over it while you go to the toilet.

The basic concept of Steal This! is very simple and this is its major selling point. All you have to do to make your iPhone relatively un-stealable is to activate its alarm, which will then go off if your iPhone is moved a certain distance away, either horizontally, or vertically (I think that the vertically is so that someone can’t run up some stairs with it, not jump in a helicopter…but you never know). Sound simple? Well it is, and that’s why I like it. It’s a no-frill security device that will make anyone trying to steal your iPhone look very silly.

What’s really cool about it is that you can enter ‘Alarm Settings’ and then control how far away the iPhone has to be moved for the sound to be activated (1.5 – 15 feet sideways, 1.5 – 5 feet when raised), whether it vibrates and flashes as well as makes noise and you can even choose from a variety of sound files that range from the piercing (Beep) to the hilarious (Hip Hop) to the downright irritating (Migraine). The only way in which you can stop the phone making the noise is to enter the passcode that you enter when you first install the app.

I tried this out with a dummy run in the pub; I activated the app and had it ‘running in the background’ and then lent my iPhone to my friend to make a call. She made it half way across the bar, before a piercing beep started squealing from the iPhone and she stopped, completely startled. Seizing the moment, I shouted, ‘Stop, thief!’ and a few people moved in the way of the door to block her. I haven’t laughed so much in years…needless to say the drinks were on me for the rest if the night. Totally worth it.

Summary

Steal This! is a simple and very effective anti-theft device which may end up saving your iPhone from falling into the wrong hands; even if the thief runs away with it, the device will be useless to them and your data and information will be safe. Definitely worth the 99 cents.

Pros

• An excellent way to stop a potential thief in their tracks.
• The app can ‘run in the background’ so you can have it working whenever you are playing games, sending texts or making calls.
• Also good for childish pranks.

Room for improvement

A lot of pick-pocketing goes on in loud clubs, so I’m not sure how effective it would be over loud music; however, once the thief got outside, hopefully the bouncers would hear the noise and collar the little b@$!@(d.