GPSMS lets users locate their Android phone with a simple SMS. Users of the app can text message their lost phone an alert password to ring the phone or a GPS password to get a google maps link to the phone's location.
After a user installs GPSMS, he has full access to the whereabouts of his phone through SMS. When their phone is lost, a GPSMS user simply has to text message their lost phone the alert password (something they set) and their phone will ring. It will even ring the phone when it is in silent mode (when in silent mode, you can't call your phone to find it). If the lost phone is not in the user's vicinity, the user can text message their lost phone the GPS password. The lost phone will send back a google maps link with the latitude and longitude of the phone. The user can click this link and navigate to their phone's location.
GPSMS was created to provide two main benefits: reliability and ease-of-use.
Reliability: In developing countries like India, the internet is not a reliable way to communicate with your lost phone. Large portions of the country have access to shoddy internet, if any at all. Using tools like Android device manager in such situations would be of no use. GPSMS serves as a reliable backup as it puts a different mode of communication, one that has been used for tens of years in most countries, into use.
Ease of use: When someone misplaces their phone when they are not at home, it is very cumbersome to use existing tools to locate their phone. They have to take their friend's phone, go to the device locator website, then login to their lost device account, then ping the phone, and finally log out of their account. GPSMS does away with all these steps. All the user needs to do when they lose their phone is take their friend's phone and send their own phone a text message. It serves as a much simpler solution, which is very useful in the panic ridden state-of-mind people are in when they lose their phone.
The free version of GPSMS has over 20,000 installs on the Google Play Store. I have also launched a paid version that comes with additional features like activating the flashlight when the alert password is sent to the lost phone.
