Database Develop

cellGPS for Windows Mobile? Upload GSM cell-id on periodic basis to HTTP server?

I'm looking for a simple application that will run in the background, and send the current GSM/UTMS cell-id to a web server on a periodic basis (via HTTP GET).
Basically a program like cellGPS (http://www.vikinggames.hu/product.php?id=11) but for Windows Mobile. I don't really care about GPS info, since that just sucks power (and doesn't work indoors).
What I'm trying to do here is enable my home automation system to know where I am, without sucking my phone's battery to death (especially since GPS won't work indoors). GSM/UTMS cell-id is 'close enough' for me.
The application would just hit a webserver on my home machine with the current cell-id (http://webserver.com/receiver.php?cellid=4233-23) on a definable period. My own app on my webserver would record that data into a database. I can then go back and use that data to let my home auto system know "hey, Justin's almost home, turn on the HVAC, lights, etc".
It needs to be able to run in the background, no annoying icons on the screen, and start up on phone reset.
I figure since it's just sending the cell-id (which is always available), it would be rather efficient and not use much battery power (especially since I usually leave Activesync on "instant" so the data connection is usually up anyway).
Other extensions to this would let my server update twitter/facebook/etc with "Justin's at ... home/work/etc now.".
Any ideas?

wow this would be a great aplication

Two programs come to mind.... Comm Mgr Pro and rk-Location Switch.
I have not really played with these two programs much, but they do Cell tower based switching and might include some of the other features you require (but I do have to admit that they do not have all the features you want).

Dale Lane posted some c# code to programmatically get the cellID of the current tower.
The rest is pretty simple - a place to enter the url and then periodically issue HTTP GET requests.
I guess I could try to cook up something when I have some time.

Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0

this sounds pretty cool. remember that cellid information is good for triangulating to about 1000 meters. you can get "justin's on his way home, turn on the AC" but probably not "justin's in the shower, begin youtube upload"

newb5000 said:
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055

newb5000 said:
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will check as soon as I get my Kaiser back -- I managed to shatter the screen over the weekend. doh. This sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.
Someone else mentioned data charges, which I don't care about, since I'm on unlimited data (AT&T won't even sell the things without the unlimited data plan now).
Actually, I still have my older TyTN somewhere. Let me dig it up and give this a try.

jasonchan said:
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a program that sort of does this now, called Trackme -- but it only does GPS as far as I know. Adding DB code would probably add a whole lot of complexity (and CPU power).
I'm sure it's doable, though, but I would hope it wouldn't be in this app. I have enough crap running in the background eating precious CPU cycles.
I wish I had a Windows machine to do development on. I'm Mac/Linux only, and don't have access to Visual Studio anymore.. I wrote an app to do this for the iPhone, but it can't run in the background due to SDK limitations. It's annoying that Microsoft hasn't made the WinMo SDK work on other platforms (although I guess Apple is doing that with the iPhone, so I don't have much room to talk).
The "goal" of this desired application is to be as lightweight as possible and offload all processing to a real computer. My phone doesn't need to do all of the work.
I can't imagine this would use much bandwidth, anyway. Even if you updated every five minutes, that's far less than 50kb per day, assuming a 64 byte URL + all HTTP and TCP headers. It'd add up to around 1.5 megabytes a month. I'd bet it'd be closer to 800-900kb/month. That's nothing compared to email/etc traffic. I would hope EU/etc carriers aren't so bad that 1.5mb a month would put you over a limit...

jasonchan said:
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested it yesterday when driving home from work. Tower changes were very frequent during my drive home. But lets say that a HTTP GET request (depending on the length of the URL) is on average 100 bytes. Lets say in a day you switch towers 200 times. That would result in just under 20 kilobytes of data usage in a day. I actually calculated this for myself because I also initially thought that one would get a large bill at the end of the month for data usage, but it would seem that this isn't the case.
One could also limit the web requests to only "bookmarked" Cell IDs.
I like the idea of the original poster even though I cannot see how I could use it personally, since I do not have a home automation system.
Regarding more friendly names - I remember that I had set it up on one of my first phones to receive cell broadcast messages from the towers which included the tower friendly name. Haven't tried since, though.
The data that is made available in Windows Mobile is the following:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa921533.aspx
Don't see any friendly names of towers though
I thought of adding a "bookmark" button so that one can bookmark the current Cell ID (and possibly assign a friendly name) but this would be very awkward while driving (and the frequent tower changes).
Google has a database with Cell IDs and uses them in Google Maps but good luck getting a copy of their database

norelidd said:
this sounds pretty cool. remember that cellid information is good for triangulating to about 1000 meters. you can get "justin's on his way home, turn on the AC" but probably not "justin's in the shower, begin youtube upload"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah!
I only need 1000 meter resolution. GPS is definitely more accurate, but it would kill the battery in 6 hours flat.
Maybe when the third generation of GPS sats start going up in a few years, GPS receivers will use less power (since the sats will be much more powerful and supposedly will reach inside most buildings).. but that's 2015 at the earliest. Who knows what HTC/etc will come out with by then.

jmat said:
I will check as soon as I get my Kaiser back -- I managed to shatter the screen over the weekend. doh. This sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.
Someone else mentioned data charges, which I don't care about, since I'm on unlimited data (AT&T won't even sell the things without the unlimited data plan now).
Actually, I still have my older TyTN somewhere. Let me dig it up and give this a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only saw your post after I posted mine.
There aren't any web requests yet though, I just wanted to confirm that I was on the right track (through you testing it ). I'm willing to give it a bash because I'll learn something through the process.
Some questions arise:
Should the app dial a connection automatically, or just not send out requests if there is no active connection?
Still need to figure out how to get it to run in the background properly
I'm wondering how it should function if the phone is in standby

newb5000 said:
I tested it yesterday when driving home from work. Tower changes were very frequent during my drive home. But lets say that a HTTP GET request (depending on the length of the URL) is on average 100 bytes. Lets say in a day you switch towers 200 times. That would result in just under 20 kilobytes of data usage in a day. I actually calculated this for myself because I also initially thought that one would get a large bill at the end of the month for data usage, but it would seem that this isn't the case.
One could also limit the web requests to only "bookmarked" Cell IDs.
I like the idea of the original poster even though I cannot see how I could use it personally, since I do not have a home automation system.
Regarding more friendly names - I remember that I had set it up on one of my first phones to receive cell broadcast messages from the towers which included the tower friendly name. Haven't tried since, though.
The data that is made available in Windows Mobile is the following:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa921533.aspx
Don't see any friendly names of towers though
I thought of adding a "bookmark" button so that one can bookmark the current Cell ID (and possibly assign a friendly name) but this would be very awkward while driving (and the frequent tower changes).
Google has a database with Cell IDs and uses them in Google Maps but good luck getting a copy of their database
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tower switching will happen quite fast in big populated areas. That's why I was just going for every few minutes and not "as the tower changes".
It's too bad the towers don't "advertise" their GPS coordinates along with the other tower data. It seems like that would have been really easy to stick in the UMTS standard.
I'm surprised Google hasn't open sourced that database, or at least made an API library for it. Afterall, their users are the ones who discovered it all, not them -- Google Maps just records GPS coordinates + cell IDs and uploads them when you run the Google Maps location. I've seen that app upload several hundred kb during some runs.
Going back to the 'post on switch' thing. That might be a neat option -- to send a GET on every tower switch.. I'm going back and forth in my head on if that's a good idea or not. It'd be interesting to see how that hits battery life, though. (Since I have ActiveSync with "always push" enabled, I bet it doesn't make much of a difference).

First beta
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay - I've been terribly busy.
I managed to create the app so it's ready for testing.
Attached is the cab file. The app consists of two components - the configuration utility and the service. The service is responsible for making the web requests and is launched at startup. You can use the configuration utility to adjust the settings as well as monitor what the service is doing.
The service will automatically dial your data connection when a web update is necessary, but it can also work via WiFi - although I don't see why you would use it via WiFi. It also supports websites that require Windows Authentication (Kerberos or NTLM should work, but do test it).
I think the app should be pretty self explanatory, but please do post if you have any questions or experience any problems.
FIY - the last error (if there is one) is stored in a log file located in:
Program Files\CellID Updater\cidlog.txt
Hope you like it!
EDIT: An update is available on the next page. I'm leaving this attachment as is just for reference purposes, but you should download the one on the next page.

CommMgrPro is creating a very big database automatically with operatorID-Cell/LAC-GPS coords sent (automatically) by the users (they can track their movements in realtime with googlemaps). Obviously GPS coords are only sent by GPS enabled devices. You can change the URL where the data is posted (HTTP GET) to point your site and I can give you a free license. Currently 3000 cells registed with gps coords and growing as the users moves....
Dani

newb5000 said:
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay - I've been terribly busy.
I managed to create the app so it's ready for testing.
Attached is the cab file. The app consists of two components - the configuration utility and the service. The service is responsible for making the web requests and is launched at startup. You can use the configuration utility to adjust the settings as well as monitor what the service is doing.
The service will automatically dial your data connection when a web update is necessary, but it can also work via WiFi - although I don't see why you would use it via WiFi. It also supports websites that require Windows Authentication (Kerberos or NTLM should work, but do test it).
I think the app should be pretty self explanatory, but please do post if you have any questions or experience any problems.
FIY - the last error (if there is one) is stored in a log file located in:
Program Files\CellID Updater\cidlog.txt
Hope you like it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey all - my first post.
I must say, it's outstandingly honorable that you share your skills with us. So good.. (haven't installed the tool yet, hope it's no virus or tv-on/off-switcher)
One question @jmat: How do you process the cellid once it is http'd to your server? Is there a webservice that maps cell-ids to gps?
Frouk

frouk said:
I must say, it's outstandingly honorable that you share your skills with us. So good.. (haven't installed the tool yet, hope it's no virus or tv-on/off-switcher)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks and no, it's not a virus / trojan / <insert something bad here>
One thing I forgot to mention is that if the device goes into standby, the service will be "paused". Then, when the device comes out of standby, the service will resume where it left off. I'm not sure whether this is acceptable behaviour for the app, but I considered the alternative - preventing the device from going into standby will drain the battery very quickly. So you would choose when the service should send out updates by taking your device out of standby.
Another thing: you can configure how often the service checks for a new tower and whether it should send out an update if the tower is different or the same since the last check.
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?

newb5000 said:
Thanks and no, it's not a virus / trojan / <insert something bad here>
One thing I forgot to mention is that if the device goes into standby, the service will be "paused". Then, when the device comes out of standby, the service will resume where it left off. I'm not sure whether this is acceptable behaviour for the app, but I considered the alternative - preventing the device from going into standby will drain the battery very quickly. So you would choose when the service should send out updates by taking your device out of standby.
Another thing: you can configure how often the service checks for a new tower and whether it should send out an update if the tower is different or the same since the last check.
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The configuration is just perfect - that way one can decide when to update just by letting the device go to sleep or not. Another thing: am I right that this app will never be as accurate as Google maps "my location"? It uses triangular approximation with more than one cell-id, right? I experienced it to be very accurate, even being on the train it exactly locates my position, amazing.
I personally intend to use such kind of app for reality/virtuality games where website visitors can track something or someone on the web and then go outside into the real world and do something or meet someone.
But jmats' idea is also amazing.

Cell name
Years ago I had Ericsson R320 (BTW great phone). It showed cell name e.g. "city centre" on the screen besides op name. I dug up my eric from the closet and this option still works. It would be great to have this as a today plugin Do you know something like that?

Handy Use of App
newb5000 said:
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you could mount a web server in your home pc (pretty simple) and track your device if it gets lost or stolen... It would be nice to recover your $700dlls phone right.

[Q] Retriving Network Statistiks on Galaxy S

Hello everyone,
i'm trying to collect some Network Statistiks from within my App and run into trouble doing this on the Galaxy S i9000.
Procedure is to get the output from "dumpsys batteryinfo" and parse the output
to collect lines like this:
"#1001:
Network: 415,78KB received, 700,21KB sent"
While this will work on mostly all other Android devices, same did not work on the Galaxy, because there are definitly no lines with these information. They are just missing.
Where are these kind of data collected on the Galaxys modified plattform ?
Are they collected in some other place ? If yes where can i find these historical logged informations?
Thanks for your help in advance !

there is an application to monitor wireless data usage in Android Market
i forgot the name, but it was mentioned a few times on the App section of this forum

Thanks, i know there are many apps in the Market, which are collecting data about wireles network traffic. But all of these apps just add up all the collected values .. regardless which app is causing the traffic. (Just because there is no official method for this delivered by the API.)
What i'm doing with my app, is to differenciate which app will use how much traffic ... this is done by the UID of the specific app causing traffic and the corresponding receive/sent values which i showed in my opening posting.
The #1001 is the UID of this app or process. With this you can easily determine the app/process name.

myvoss said:
Thanks, i know there are many apps in the Market, which are collecting data about wireles network traffic. But all of these apps just add up all the collected values .. regardless which app is causing the traffic. (Just because there is no official method for this delivered by the API.)
What i'm doing with my app, is to differenciate which app will use how much traffic ... this is done by the UID of the specific app causing traffic and the corresponding receive/sent values which i showed in my opening posting.
The #1001 is the UID of this app or process. With this you can easily determine the app/process name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh myvoss.. That's just brilliant =) Have you been able to identity that the UID is always the same for a certain app? Ooooohhh I see a big project there
/me offers himself as a dev-betatester-debugger =)
cheers

Not really Phk,
until now i found no way to clearly identify these process UIDs by that way. The corresponding API-Methods just return "null" on these UIDs. Even parsing the packages.xml and compare the UID/sharedUID doesn't solve that.
But anyhow, i won't stop looking for an other way.

If you want to be able to limit a certain app to "X" mbytes per month (or something like that), you'll have to take another approach, kind of like a firewall implementation.
I don't know but i think you can do it either with iptables hooking your app to all traffic, or you could (in the worst scenario) have to replace a system linked library to implement a hook..
but these are just my brainstorms

Where is the connection between retriving network statistics and limiting certain apps to "X" megabytes ....

myvoss said:
Thanks, i know there are many apps in the Market, which are collecting data about wireles network traffic. But all of these apps just add up all the collected values .. regardless which app is causing the traffic. (Just because there is no official method for this delivered by the API.)
What i'm doing with my app, is to differenciate which app will use how much traffic ... this is done by the UID of the specific app causing traffic and the corresponding receive/sent values which i showed in my opening posting.
The #1001 is the UID of this app or process. With this you can easily determine the app/process name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just read yourself again, lol... Sorry if thought ahead.
You're right when you say all netcounters just add up values. Don't you think it would be great, for example, to limit market to 50% traffic and chat to 10% of monthly plafond?
Anyway i see that's not your point with your app... it would be great though.

Endomondo Pro Sports APK

Original Post By Tecnorata from Merida, Venezuela.
Endomondo Pro is an application to monitor and keep a very detailed record of any sport practiced using any phone with Android OS, with this we can measure distance, time, speed, calories consumption and other values ​​that we are interested, I've been using to monitor my mountain bike outings but can be used for other sports, is very simple to use in the app market can get the free version which lacks some features available, such as energy saving function or the Instrument connection via bluetooth as Cardio or cadence meters up and here I leave the pro version that is complete in all its functions Endomondo Pro installed After we find a small green silhouette similar to PacMan in our App Drawer as is then the only downside of this application is not fully translated into Spanish, but this should not pose problem for anyone, since the application is very intuitive to use and easy to understand.
Here you can see the main application screen, clicking on the various fields can be selected readings as well as data that we want to enable the reproduction of music while we exercise as well as select the sport and how we do it is very important to enable GPS to make a proper record of the route traveled, then the GPS is hooked to the satellite readings and track logs are accurate.
After this she will ask registranos either by email or using our facebook account is something that takes a minute or two. or we can enter without registration, we recommend you register the application.
pressing the first field we can select the sport among many pre tabi as well as certain we can create our own activity if the list is not
clicking on any of the four data fields you want to register can choose as you can see in the image below
clicking on the center of the screen you can choose which goal we want to register either a basic training, complete a route or a manual entry that is a very particular taste of each user
In the field with a musical note can enable playback of music stored on our SD card, if you have more than one media player program installed which we wish to ask us and whether it is the one used by default by the program, I I recommend the default music player android since it is lighter and does not consume so many resources in memory and other more specialized players, a common mistake is to turn the player apart before starting the application, if we do that the phone will restart in the middle practice after running out of memory to handle both processes Endomondo requires GPS and mobile networks to function
countdown field can select how long must elapse before the application starts monitoring, missing 5 seconds a voice warns, is that you can install the library tts in Spanish but still I have not been able to operate.
After completing an activity we see a very detailed history of it, and if you want in the advanced settings you can choose to raise our practices to our online account to finalize them. practices we can see by date.
if you select a practice you can see an outline of the route traveled on google maps, if you were using the music player will see musical notes indicate the songs played along the route and if you click on a note we will see that song is that moment was playing
if you click on the upper right you can see a log mile after mile of the route traveled in the log you can see the part-time and total kilometers traveled as well as the slower and fast space travel indicated by a turtle and a hare. clicking the globe icon returns to the map display.
Below you can see the Advanced settings field where we can change our weight if we want the phone to connect via bluetooth to the instruments you want, heart rate monitor, cadence meter steps, etc., and if we use the controls on the headphones to stop or start the application, we can also choose whether we want the application to detect when we are stopped and the recording and restart it automatically if you choose this option when this happens a voice will let us know, we can also choose whether we want to hear words encouragement and if we use the energy saving mode, when using this mode is lost precision in recording the route using the GPS in favor of extending the duration of the battery, but we can choose units that want to make records, if in kilometers or miles.
I just hope you all will find useful this application to register their sports.
MOD EDITED: WAREZ REMOVED
INFRACTION ISSUED

Richards_234 said:
Original Post By Tecnorata from Merida, Venezuela.
Endomondo Pro is an application to monitor and keep a very detailed record of any sport practiced using any phone with Android OS, with this we can measure distance, time, speed, calories consumption and other values ​​that we are interested, I've been using to monitor my mountain bike outings but can be used for other sports, is very simple to use in the app market can get the free version which lacks some features available, such as energy saving function or the Instrument connection via bluetooth as Cardio or cadence meters up and here I leave the pro version that is complete in all its functions Endomondo Pro installed After we find a small green silhouette similar to PacMan in our App Drawer as is then the only downside of this application is not fully translated into Spanish, but this should not pose problem for anyone, since the application is very intuitive to use and easy to understand.
Here you can see the main application screen, clicking on the various fields can be selected readings as well as data that we want to enable the reproduction of music while we exercise as well as select the sport and how we do it is very important to enable GPS to make a proper record of the route traveled, then the GPS is hooked to the satellite readings and track logs are accurate.
After this she will ask registranos either by email or using our facebook account is something that takes a minute or two. or we can enter without registration, we recommend you register the application.
pressing the first field we can select the sport among many pre tabi as well as certain we can create our own activity if the list is not
clicking on any of the four data fields you want to register can choose as you can see in the image below
clicking on the center of the screen you can choose which goal we want to register either a basic training, complete a route or a manual entry that is a very particular taste of each user
In the field with a musical note can enable playback of music stored on our SD card, if you have more than one media player program installed which we wish to ask us and whether it is the one used by default by the program, I I recommend the default music player android since it is lighter and does not consume so many resources in memory and other more specialized players, a common mistake is to turn the player apart before starting the application, if we do that the phone will restart in the middle practice after running out of memory to handle both processes Endomondo requires GPS and mobile networks to function
countdown field can select how long must elapse before the application starts monitoring, missing 5 seconds a voice warns, is that you can install the library tts in Spanish but still I have not been able to operate.
After completing an activity we see a very detailed history of it, and if you want in the advanced settings you can choose to raise our practices to our online account to finalize them. practices we can see by date.
if you select a practice you can see an outline of the route traveled on google maps, if you were using the music player will see musical notes indicate the songs played along the route and if you click on a note we will see that song is that moment was playing
if you click on the upper right you can see a log mile after mile of the route traveled in the log you can see the part-time and total kilometers traveled as well as the slower and fast space travel indicated by a turtle and a hare. clicking the globe icon returns to the map display.
Below you can see the Advanced settings field where we can change our weight if we want the phone to connect via bluetooth to the instruments you want, heart rate monitor, cadence meter steps, etc., and if we use the controls on the headphones to stop or start the application, we can also choose whether we want the application to detect when we are stopped and the recording and restart it automatically if you choose this option when this happens a voice will let us know, we can also choose whether we want to hear words encouragement and if we use the energy saving mode, when using this mode is lost precision in recording the route using the GPS in favor of extending the duration of the battery, but we can choose units that want to make records, if in kilometers or miles.
I just hope you all will find useful this application to register their sports.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you the developer of this app?
Otherwise you are posting warez.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=729448

[Android 2.3+] Data Scheduler

Hello everyone!
Id' like to inform you about recently released app simply called Data Scheduler:
PINYL Studio, mobile developer from Poland, has recently released new app called Data Scheduler. With a little help from this tool Android users finally can manage their data connections in very advanced, yet simple way. The core functionality requires using four parameters - profile start time, profile end time, active connection duration and interval between each reconnect attempt. Those can create uncountable variations to suit every user's need.
Why use Data Scheduler? There are at least two strong answers. Fisrt, you can save your battery life, because permanently active data connections are one of the biggest energy eaters. Second, if your carrier offers you mobile connection paid for transfer, you will eliminate unnecessary connection requests (you don't have to update the weather nor email every minute, especially when you sleep, do you?).
For those who struggle with short battery life and high data connection bills, Data Scheduler from PINYL Studio is the right choice to make.
You can find full version of this app here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinylstudio.datascheduler
For testing purposes you can also use fully functional, but Ads powered free version:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinylstudio.dataschedulerfree
In case of any questions or doubts, feel free to contact developer via this website:
http://www.pinylstudio.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any feedback would be appreciated!
Cheers!

Online User-Interface - Real-time Anti-Theft/Phone Status

Greetings everyone,
https://youtu.be/T9aKmLTujik
What you see above is a "Control Panel" for my own Galaxy S7 Edge. I host this on my own website.
This means it can be seen and accessed from anywhere in the world, on any browser and/or device.
For privacy and security, I will implement a login system in the near future.
It has a couple of neat features, but since they are written in Dutch I will translate them to English:
Information:
Check battery level/percentage and check if your phone is being charged or not
Warns the user from the control panel if the battery is low.
Warns the user from the control panel to pull out the plug out of charging when it is fully charged
Check if your phone is in a light or dark place. I have optimized the light sensor as best as I could, The results are pretty accurate
Clipboard of your current copied content on your phone
Shows the phone model and the date and time of the last update sent from your phone
Check if Bluetooth is enabled or not
Check if Wifi is enabled or not
Show the current WiFi name, Wifi Speed, Wifi Channel & Wifi Signal Strength
Show the current Data Carrier / Mobile Signal strength (Weak, Normal, Strong)
Shows the current Call Volume percentage
Shows the current Media Volume percentage
Check if the screen of the phone is turned on or off
Check if GPS is enabled or not ( There is also a Live Google Maps on the right side, showing where the phone is right now )
Checks if the phone in call / calling / or getting called. ( in other words, it shows the user is busy with a phone conversation )
Checks if the user is browsing on the internet on the phone or not. ( It will check if a browser is open, needs more adjustments for more accurate readings )
I am surprised at the speed of the operations.
It takes a total of 3 to 4 seconds after clicking on "take a picture" button to take a picture from the front-camera and Upload it to my google drive.
It also removes the picture from my phone after it has been uploaded. WIth combination of SMS control this can be a great anti-theft option.
The "Record Audio" function works great too. after clicking on it on the control panel, it starts recording audio, waits 10 seconds ( records for 10 seconds ), stops recording audio and then uploads it to a special folder in my Google Drive.
The "Send SMS" function is very fast. after clicking on it, it will take about 1.5 seconds to send the SMS from your phone.
For now, the number to send the SMS to is hardcoded, but I will make it a variable so that it will be possible to type in the number on your web control panel and send the SMS to the number from your browser.
The "LOCK your phone" function immediately lock your phone remotely, even when your screen is turned off. You can unlock it with the code that has been set up in the Tasker Event.
Clicking on the Wifi, Bluetooth & GPS icon will toggle them( on / off )
Clicking on the Phone (screen) Icon, Will toggle the phone screen ( turns it on and off )
Clicking on the Clipboard icon will copy all the content to your own clipboard.
Not only the text but the icons also change dynamically.
Grey icons represent a false variable (turned off / dark / not in call & etc ) and the blue icons represent the true variables.
For example, in the screenshot above, Bluetooth is turned off and wifi is turned on.
When the battery gets at 15% or less, the icon will turn red and green when it's fully charged (100%) and the user will get an alert box warning with a notification sound straight from the browser about the low battery / full charge . ( Sound and notification can be turned off if you wish).
I have wrote a script with AJAX (Asynchronous JavasScript and XML) to do all of this in Real-time and without page-reloads. AJAX refreshes the page information every second (or whatever the user wants) without reloading the page.
The controls in this control panel are in many cases and in my experience a lot faster than Android Device Manager or other apps like Cerberus and Airdroid.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- On Tasker, I have used Taskers own variables but also created my own variables to be created/changed on certain triggers.
For example, when the lx level ( light sensor ) gets low, it will set a variable to "false" as boolean, meaning there is not enough light == it is dark.
- Next I use this variable in my HTTP POST Request URL to a very simple PHP script on my website I wrote..
The HTTP POST Request URL will post to my PHP Script.
My PHP script grabs the URL, strips certain parts of it, turns it into PHP variables and then sends it to my MySQL database ( all on my own hosting).
- I again use the wonderful Tasker to do all of this this every 2 seconds.
You can get (almost) real-time information about your phone if it's set to be updated every 1 second.
This will not be very heavy on the database so it's possible.
- I then made another webpage containing another simple PHP script that grabs all the variables ( those we saved in previous steps) from my Database and echo's (shows) it on the screen.
This is the very same page you see on the screenshot, This is the Control Panel.
In the last step, all we have to do is visit the webpage on my website.
It will show the control panel as seen in the screenshot. You will also be able to control your phone from here.
I am making a simple login function where users can login.
this means a single database can hold more than 1 user if you wish to.
This will also protect others to see/control your phone from the web as they will need login credentials.
My script will then grab the corresponding variables of your phone when you login, using your ID and checking it on my database.
I know this may sound complicated for a lot of you who think that this is too much work, but I am planning to finish this and make it a some kind of a Open-Source thing available to every android and (rooted) tasker user.
All you need is:
- My Tasker project files ( all you need to do is import it to your own Android )
- Your own webhosting with MySQL database and PHP.
There are TONS of FREE online webhosting that will offer exact this. I'd love to post all the links here, but i'm not sure if it will be seen as advertising, so let me know.
- My PHP script(s), all you need to is simply upload it to your own website.
- My MySQL database configuration file - After importing this single file, the whole database will be created automatically on your website. ( using MySQL on your hosting )
After that, and when my Login function is complete, you could create an account for your self and/or others where they can login from anywhere in the world, on any browser or device and check their phone status and control their phone in Real-Time.

Sicariux said:
Greetings everyone,
i63.tinypic.com/20jsimh.png
What you see above is a "Control Panel" for my own Galaxy S7 Edge. I host this on my own website.
This means it can be seen and accessed from anywhere in the world, on any browser and/or device.
For privacy and security, I will implement a login system in the near future.
It has a couple of neat features, but since they are written in Dutch I will translate them to English:
Information:
Check battery level/percentage and check if your phone is being charged or not
Warns the user from the control panel if the battery is low.
Warns the user from the control panel to pull out the plug out of charging when it is fully charged
Check if your phone is in a light or dark place. I have optimized the light sensor as best as I could, The results are pretty accurate
Clipboard of your current copied content on your phone
Shows the phone model and the date and time of the last update sent from your phone
Check if Bluetooth is enabled or not
Check if Wifi is enabled or not
Show the current WiFi name, Wifi Speed, Wifi Channel & Wifi Signal Strength
Show the current Data Carrier / Mobile Signal strength (Weak, Normal, Strong)
Shows the current Call Volume percentage
Shows the current Media Volume percentage
Check if the screen of the phone is turned on or off
Check if GPS is enabled or not ( There is also a Live Google Maps on the right side, showing where the phone is right now )
Checks if the phone in call / calling / or getting called. ( in other words, it shows the user is busy with a phone conversation )
if the user is browsing on the internet on the phone or not. ( It will check if a browser is open, needs more adjustments for more accurate readings )
I am surprised at the speed of the operations.
It takes a total of 3 to 4 seconds after clicking on "take a picture" button to take a picture from the front-camera and Upload it to my google drive.
It also removes the picture from my phone after it has been uploaded. WIth combination of SMS control this can be a great anti-theft option.
The "Record Audio" function works great too. after clicking on it on the control panel, it starts recording audio, waits 10 seconds ( records for 10 seconds ), stops recording audio and then uploads it to a special folder in my Google Drive.
The "Send SMS" function is very fast. after clicking on it, it will take about 1.5 seconds to send the SMS from your phone.
For now, the number to send the SMS to is hardcoded, but I will make it a variable so that it will be possible to type in the number on your web control panel and send the SMS to the number from your browser.
The "LOCK your phone" function immediately lock your phone remotely, even when your screen is turned off. You can unlock it with the code that has been set up in the Tasker Event.
Clicking on the Wifi, Bluetooth & GPS icon will toggle them( on / off )
Clicking on the Phone (screen) Icon, Will toggle the phone screen ( turns it on and off )
Clicking on the Clipboard icon will copy all the content to your own clipboard.
Not only the text but the icons also change dynamically.
Grey icons represent a false variable (turned off / dark / not in call & etc ) and the blue icons represent the true variables.
For example, in the screenshot above, Bluetooth is turned off and wifi is turned on.
When the battery gets at 15% or less, the icon will turn red and green when it's fully charged (100%) and the user will get an alert box warning with a notification sound straight from the browser about the low battery / full charge . ( Sound and notification can be turned off if you wish).
I have wrote a script with AJAX (Asynchronous JavasScript and XML) to do all of this in Real-time and without page-reloads. AJAX refreshes the page information every second (or whatever the user wants) without reloading the page.
The controls in this control panel are in many cases and in my experience a lot faster than Android Device Manager or other apps like Cerberus and Airdroid.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- On Tasker, I have used Taskers own variables but also created my own variables to be created/changed on certain triggers.
For example, when the lx level ( light sensor ) gets low, it will set a variable to "false" as boolean, meaning there is not enough light == it is dark.
- Next I use this variable in my HTTP POST Request URL to a very simple PHP script on my website I wrote..
The HTTP POST Request URL will post to my PHP Script.
My PHP script grabs the URL, strips certain parts of it, turns it into PHP variables and then sends it to my MySQL database ( all on my own hosting).
- I again use the wonderful Tasker to do all of this this every 2 seconds.
You can get (almost) real-time information about your phone if it's set to be updated every 1 second.
This will not be very heavy on the database so it's possible.
- I then made another webpage containing another simple PHP script that grabs all the variables ( those we saved in previous steps) from my Database and echo's (shows) it on the screen.
This is the very same page you see on the screenshot, This is the Control Panel.
In the last step, all we have to do is visit the webpage on my website.
It will show the control panel as seen in the screenshot. You will also be able to control your phone from here.
I am making a simple login function where users can login.
this means a single database can hold more than 1 user if you wish to.
This will also protect others to see/control your phone from the web as they will need login credentials.
My script will then grab the corresponding variables of your phone when you login, using your ID and checking it on my database.
I know this may sound complicated for a lot of you who think that this is too much work, but I am planning to finish this and make it a some kind of a Open-Source thing available to every android and (rooted) tasker user.
All you need is:
- My Tasker project files ( all you need to do is import it to your own Android )
- Your own webhosting with MySQL database and PHP.
There are TONS of FREE online webhosting that will offer exact this. I'd love to post all the links here, but i'm not sure if it will be seen as advertising, so let me know.
- My PHP script(s), all you need to is simply upload it to your own website.
- My MySQL database configuration file - After importing this single file, the whole database will be created automatically on your website. ( using MySQL on your hosting )
After that, and when my Login function is complete, you could create an account for your self and/or others where they can login from anywhere in the world, on any browser or device and check their phone status and control their phone in Real-Time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like a great project.
Checks if the user is browsing on the internet on the phone or not. ( It will check if a browser is open, needs more adjustments for more accurate readings )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about checking the network traffic to know whether the user is browsing or not?
I know this may sound complicated for a lot of you who think that this is too much work, but I am planning to finish this and make it a some kind of a Open-Source thing available to every android and (rooted) tasker user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even Open Source? That rocks.
XDA's Tasker subforum isn't that popular. You might wanna post your project on reddit too, where the Tasker community is way bigger and more popular:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/. Let us know if you'll post it there too.
I'm looking forward for this project. Personally, I don't think I would use this as I don't think I really need it (although it doesn't hurt to have an anti-theft), but I'd like to see how it is done, if you're gonna make it Open Source.
Good luck!

Hi and thanks for your reply!
What about checking the network traffic to know whether the user is browsing or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean any random network traffic? in that case, a simple incoming whatsapp message could trigger the browser variable and set it to "true".
I will try reddit ... I have tried posting it in the official Tasker forums, but the my post is still awaiting moderator approval after a long time.
Since i've posted this thread, I've created new functions already like video recording (microphone audio included) the phone screen for 10 seconds and upload it to google drive.
I haven't seen this option on any other anti-theft yet. In a case of emergency, you could literally watch the thief do things on your phone and also hear him talking.
Since it's going be to open-source, it's highly customizable. You could change the icons, add new functions, remove functions , change the styling to your own wishes and improve the "web app" overall.

For those interested, Since the first post, I've added more options and starts looking good
https://youtu.be/T9aKmLTujik

For rooted users, you could make an add-on app that the user puts in the /system partition and, in case of factory reset, installs Tasker and restores it's data.
That way, the user has a chance of finding their phone even if the thief performs a factory/hard reset.
EDIT: Are your files available? I can't seem to find them.

Vagelis1608 said:
For rooted users, you could make an add-on app that the user puts in the /system partition and, in case of factory reset, installs Tasker and restores it's data.
That way, the user has a chance of finding their phone even if the thief performs a factory/hard reset.
EDIT: Are your files available? I can't seem to find them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the new Android versions, this is not a reliable thing anymore. This is the same reason Cerberus App stopped offering a special APK that could be installed in the /system by flashing it.
Also, it would be very difficult to have an add-on app install Tasker, AutoRemote, FolderSync and other plugins it needs automatically and configure them too.
I haven't made my files available yet. I am still perfecting it and awaiting community tips and input to expand the app more before releasing the source-files.