About Roblock Essential and Roblock Essential Plus

Roblock Essential = The next generation of Roblock’s award winning mobile phone theft recovery system.
Roblock Essential Plus = Roblock Essential + RoblockUP, an automated remote backup utility for data stored on mobile phones.

Roblock Essential Plus

Theft Recovery System Features

Remote Control of Your Smartphone Using SMS, Email & Web Interface

Roblock allows you to control your phone by sending specific commands by SMS, email, or through Roblock’s secure web interface. Each remote command requires you to enter the Roblock password you chose for your phone. No one else can control your phone without knowing your Roblock password, so we generally do not recommend sharing this or any other vital password you have with other people.

GPS & Cell Tower Based Location and Tracking

By using the WHERE command, you can see your missing phone’s location on a map. For GPS-enabled phones, the location information is quite precise, and GPS coordinates are provided. For non-GPS phones or phones where the wireless network carrier has locked the GPS device, the location information is less precise because it is based on triangulations from the nearest cell phone towers. Roblock’s GPS- and cell tower-based location and tracking function does not discriminate – it works whether your phone was stolen or whether you left it at one of the previous night’s bar-hopping destinations.

Remote Wipe

By using the WIPE command, Roblock will erase all data from your phone, including any data on an attached media card. If your phone is lost or stolen, using the WIPE command will prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. This includes personal and work emails, identification information, client data, contacts, calendar entries, tasks, memos, pictures, videos, and even your “guilty pleasure” music.

Remote Lock

With Roblock, you can lock down your lost or stolen phone, making it completely inoperable to whoever found or stole it. The lockdown continues until you send the UNLOCK command. The lock functionality is especially useful to prevent your phone thief from making unauthorized and expensive calls to a great aunt overseas or to a 1-900 number.

Remote Alarm

Roblock permits you to command your phone to raise a high pitch alarm. This has two major uses. First, if your phone is anything like ours, it occasionally finds itself hiding in dark corners of your house or under stacks of papers at your office. And to make matters worse, your phone tends to hide only after you have set it to silent mode, so calling your phone is no help. The alarm function will tip the scales of this hide-and-seek game back in your favor.

Second, if your phone is stolen, the alarm is a good way to aggravate your phone thief, as well as anyone who happens to be standing around (guilty by association). We recommend using the WIPE command first, however, because your phone thief’s only recourse against the alarm is to pull the battery from your phone. This will render the phone useless and cause the phone thief to wonder whether the risk of getting arrested was worth it.

Remote Callback

With this feature, you can command your phone to dial any number. This will allow you to listen to the environment surrounding your missing phone or even communicate with the person who finds your misplaced phone.

Remote Popup Messages

Roblock allows you to post a customized popup message on your lost phone. If you misplace your phone, this feature will allow you to present clear instructions to facilitate the return of your phone. If you believe your phone was stolen, you can use this feature to vent your frustrations directly to the thief. We promise not to judge any Roblock user based on their choice of language.

SIM Change Lockdown & Notification

If your phone has a replaceable SIM card, then it is possible a phone thief will attempt to switch it out for another SIM card, which would associate your phone with a different number. Roblock prevents this by automatically locking your phone and notifying your pre-determined SMS and email recipients that someone attempted to switch the SIM card. This will ensure that you can still remotely control your phone.

We recommend that you select your SMS and email recipient to be someone you trust to can help you locate your phone or send a WIPE command. This is the only instance where it may be a good idea to share your Roblock password with one other person. Possible options include: your mother, your spouse (provided you actually trust him/her), or your best friend (provided you have a good sense of humor when the inevitable prank occurs). But even if you do not share your Roblock password with your SIM change notification recipient, your phone will still be locked.

RoblockUP Features

On-Command Remote Data Backup

With RoblockUP, you can back up and restore key data from your phone remotely through the Roblock web interface and without the need to connect your phone to your computer or install additional software. Remote data backup includes: 50 emails from each email account configured on your phone along with your contacts, calendar entries, tasks, and memos. If you are considering using the WIPE command on a missing phone, we suggest running a backup first. Depending on your volume of data and speed of your phone carrier’s network, remote data backup can take between a few seconds to as much as several minutes.

Scheduled Automatic Data Backup

You can schedule monthly, weekly or daily backups at a convenient time of day. By scheduling your backups, you need not fear losing your data in the event of phone loss. The scheduled automatic backup especially protects those that have a tendency to “forget” (i.e., procrastinate) to do regular backups of important data.

Seamless Restoration of Data

Once you have backed up data, it can be restored to your existing phone in case it had to be wiped or otherwise suffered data loss. Your data can also be seamlessly restored to a replacement phone.

View / Export Data Online

You will have access to your backed up data through Roblock’s web interface at all times. The web interface allows you to view the data directly online as well as export it in a number of formats.

Secure Data Handling

RoblockUP utilizes 256 bit certified encryption, and all user data is maintained in secure server environments utilizing the latest in firewalls and intrusion protection systems.