After multiple attemps of troubshooting other issues the WEB UI works but trying a self SMS fails to update the location when requested. texting myself a sms MESSAGE cmd seems to work fine. it just sits at please wait for location to be retrieved portion of the SMS.
my.avast.com communicates with the device using the internet connection.
SMS are used for mobile device to mobile device interaction.
Try using the “locate” SMS command.
If you can’t get a location fix, there are several possible reasons - GPS might be turned off (or not available because the device is inside a building), if no GPS is available, the device needs internet access to triangulate it’s position using WiFi’s and cell towers.
I suppose you already executed “Fix connection problems” in Anti-Theft → avast! Account
further diagnosis on my end is hardly possible without direct access to the device.
But - I have some hints for you:
- disconnect from the online account and reconnect from within Anti-Theft (Anti-Theft → avast! Account)
- try to connect through different internet connections (other WiFi’s for example)
- make sure you have the latest Version of avast! Mobile Security and Anti-Theft installed.
- if you can’t manage to connect to the online account it’s not /that/ bad. In case of emergency - when the phone gets lost - I would recommend using SMS commands anyway. They are much more reliable and work even without internet access.
SMS commands and how to use them are explained in our manual:
http://files.avast.com/files/documentation/mobile-security-user-guide-en.pdf
give it a try - it’s short and easy to understand.
I also experience some commands not going through on my private device. If I try a day or an hour later - it works. The problem isn’t on your, or our side.
It’s Google Cloud to Device Messaging - a service provided by google that we use to communicate with the installation.
Sometimes the command messages don’t make it to the device and the command just times out. Or the command message arrives at the device, the command is executed - but the return message (confirming the reception) doesn’t arrive at the server.
It’s actually a google problem - we can hardly improve this.
regards,
ill try some of those suggestions,
a few other questions i would like to know the answer to are,
upgrading to premium, does this take effect instantly, does this require an update the the currently installed .apk or reinstall of the software. or is this just merely the web UI premium features which would enable the account access. i would assume some form of apk/license check needs to be pushed to the phone otherwise SMS commands would just work regardless of the accounts status. does the upgrade trigger any form of notification on the phone?
the second would be is there any way to obfuscate the file names within the root directories of android? current avast offers renaming the service to help hide the fact that the utility is even installed. a quick file search for “anti” “theft” “avast” will turn up related framework files which should be obfuscated with alternate names on install. just clicking on the service even reveals that its avast anti theft. i mean yes obfusticating it to a certain point would probably flag it on other anti virus scanners as the app acts in a behavior that most do not. either way the file naming should be a bit more discrete even if there needs to be some obvious way of detecting specifically what the apk is.
in a nut shell this app has 1 up on the others utilizing the obfuscation already implemented, when others decide to do the same that offer more i see no reason to stick with avast due to the technical issues and some premium services are offered for free.
a MESSAGE test command works but the GPS just times out despite the device has a unaided GPS lock with GPS test. so texting myself the commands is not a problem nor is having a solid gps lock.
android 4.3 cm 10.2 sgs4, i enabled wifi to assist the gps to humor some poorly coded command but its still broken.
based off other forum posts i dont think this is an isolated issue and im sure if you take any mainstream device and reproduce it there would be similar results.