Hi guys. I lost my phone last week and have been trying to locate it ever since. When I try to locate it or mark it as lost the command time runs out. What does this mean? My phone is off but it shows my sim is still inside.
Hello,
in your case I really recommend to
a) try to contact your phone using SMS commands
b) ask your “friend” (you specified his number in the anti-theft basic settings) if he received a sim card change SMS. the sender of this number would be the new number you need to send the commands to.
you can find all available commands in our manual:
http://files.avast.com/files/documentation/mobile-security-user-guide-en.pdf
it will help you understand the basics of the software.
give it a try - it’s short and easy to understand.
99% of all questions asked are also already answered in the FAQ
https://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1034&nav=0&group=eng
Hello,
I’m sorry for my english, i’m still learning 
So here is my doubt: My phone was stolen, and my mother’s phone received the sim card change SMS with the new number. I want to know if i have to send the sms commmands for my number or for the new number? and if i send for the new number, the command will work? and the person who change the sind card, will see the sms, with my passoword?
I’m thankful since already and and waiting for response
Hello and welcome to the forum! 
- Send the commands to the new number.
- No, he/she won’t.
DJBone
ok. thank you very much!
You’re welcome!
DJBone
Well to be honest DJBone isn’t completly right. If you send the command to the new number while the sim is in your protected android phone he won’t see the message (unless you used the wrong code but I’m not sure).
However, if the thief put the sim back in an unprotected phone and you send a command he will see the command and know your password. In the best world Avast should use a different code for sending commands and granting access to the phone. But as you can see on this forum many people already can’t remember a single code or don’t take the time to read the help, so making the program even more complicated is probably not the best thing to do.
What Avast could do is that if you chose to only allow commands from friends numbers (the ones you entered in AT) then the code shouldn’t be necessary. I think this could be a good move because many thieves don’t use the phone for themselves. They start the phone with a sim just to check if everything is working and then turn off the phone and sell it to someone else. If the thief were to receive the commands, especially the self-explanatory ones like LOST or LOCATE they could figure something is going on.
the code is always necessary to prevent abuse (e.g. by your girl/boyfriend spying on you just because she’s a trusted number)
Yeah I thought about that. However if it’s an option people would be able to pick which trade they want to make.
Personally I trust my trusted numbers and you don’t have to tell them they’re trusted number until you need it. And it’s not like theft aware is a widely known product among “common” people. One solution could be to send an email when a major command is issued since the password on myavast can be different than your PIN. But I understand this would add some complexity on the code side.
I think at the moment this issue could be considered as a loophole since as I said many thieves do a quick check to see if the phone is working perfectly before selling it. I don’t say this solution is the best but something can probably be done to improve this.