Lockwatch – Thief Catcher

BlokeTech

In-app purchases

About this app

Lockwatch secretly takes a photo using your front camera when someone enters an incorrect unlock code on your phone. It emails you the photo along with their GPS location, without them knowing. It also alerts you when a SIM card is swapped or the phone is switched off while still locked.

The app has helped recover hundreds of lost and stolen phones, and has been featured in TV and online news stories.

Lockwatch uses Android's built-in lock screen and runs only when an incorrect unlock attempt occurs, so it won't drain your battery.

FREE TRIAL

Lockwatch includes a free 7-day trial. After that, a subscription is required to continue using the app. You can cancel anytime.

FEATURES

A subscription unlocks all features:

• Secretly takes a photo using the front camera and emails it to you along with their GPS location, without them knowing
• Sends you an email when a SIM card is swapped, including the location and new SIM details (phone number, network provider, where available)
• Sends you an email when the phone is switched back on after being turned off while locked, hopefully revealing their hideout
• Multiple photos per attempt, each a few seconds apart, so you get a clear view of their face. All photos are included in the email
• Records a 20-second audio clip of what's happening around the phone, included in the email
• If there is no Wi-Fi or mobile data, everything is saved to your phone and emailed when a connection becomes available
• No advertisements within the app

HELP

For help, visit: https://bloketech.com/lockwatch/help

NOTES

• Lockwatch only triggers if at least four digits are entered incorrectly, as Android requires a minimum PIN or pattern length of four. If the correct code is entered within 10 seconds, the alert is cancelled, so a simple mistype won't send an email.
• This app uses the Device Administrator permission to monitor screen unlock attempts. When activating Lockwatch, Android will warn that it may "erase all the phone's data". Android shows this warning for all Device Administrator apps. Lockwatch contains no code to wipe your phone.

Ratings and reviews

This app is really cool and is for sure worth downloading. It does exactly what it says it's going to do. I downloaded three similar apps at the same time as Lockwatch, all of them claiming to do the same thing. After testing all four apps i quickly deleted them all except Lockwatch. Lockwatch was the best in every category, beating out the competition. I've used it for a few weeks on my Galaxy S7 Edge and I have no plans on getting rid of it. I use it all the time!! Thanks!

Given the one star rating due to the fact that I purchased a year subscription and within a week I'm already having multiple failed login notifications. Yes they have emailed me and yes they show location. What they don't show is a picture, simply a blank square. And there is absolutely no link for tech support, not even on the website.

I installed this, set up the email, set permissions, etc, then tested it to see if it would send an email of me trying to incorrectly unlock my phone. It didn't. But I thought maybe it needed some time to send the email. I tried a few more times, then went to bed. In the morning there were still no emails. I checked my spam folder and everything. Nothing. This app was completely useless to me.

What’s new

Lockwatch now supports power on and device unlock alerts even while your device is in a locked-down direct boot state.