That being said, Avast demoed the online interface to Artem privately in Prague, and assured us that it will be added in 'early 2012,' so the already sophisticated protection will soon be even closer to perfection. The one (and only) complaint I have with Avast's anti-theft protection is that it relies solely on SMS commands, and has no online interface at the moment. As you may remember from previous security reviews, this is a highly sought-after feature which certainly inspires confidence in an anti-theft solution. An extra handy feature, when installing updates, is the immediate option to install to root, essentially making Avast a system app and preventing it from being deleted or uninstalled. Theft Aware users will recognize this behavior from the good old days, as the TA Market app was just an installer. However, it's there because Anti-Theft, in fact, is a separate module (you can uninstall Avast and keep just Anti-Theft if you want), and updates to it are delivered independently of the main app. Users can set a variety of 'protection behaviors' which will be triggered upon SIM card change, or when the device is marked as 'lost.' These include some fairly standard features like lock and siren, but Avast has added some new (and refreshing features) including forced data connection, and the ability to deny a thief access to USB debugging, program manager, and phone settings, which honestly seem a lot more practical than the basic protection behaviors found in other apps.Īnti-Theft's advanced settings menu includes an option to check for updates, which could be confusing. The more practical aspects of Avast's protection are in the advanced settings, however.Īvast has included many features in their anti-theft protection that I've been looking for in other apps for a while – namely, users can force a data connection (if rooted), and save Avast's settings in case of a data wipe.įirst off, Avast offers a ton of options for when your device falls into the wrong hands. Basic settings essentially allows users to enter their name, choose a password (for use when accessing the app itself), and remote control options (which is basically a list of 'friend' numbers which can control your device via SMS in case of loss or theft).

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