How to catch whoever is unlocking your phone

Suspecting that someone goes through your phone is a different problem from losing it. You do not need a tracker. You need the phone to take a picture the next time a wrong pattern is entered.

Why Android does not tell you

Stock Android keeps no log of failed unlock attempts that you can read, and it will not photograph the person making them. A few manufacturers add a lockout after several wrong tries, but none of them identify who tried.

What a failed-unlock trigger does

Guard Eye watches for wrong unlock attempts. On the threshold you set, it silently takes a photo from both cameras, records video with audio and captures the GPS location, then emails all of it to you. The screen shows nothing.

Set it to a sensible threshold

Three attempts is the usual setting. One is too eager — you will catch yourself most mornings.

Keep it running

Every Android skin kills background apps to save battery, some far harder than others. Find your handset’s setting on the brand pages below, or the app will be asleep at the moment it matters.

More guides

What to do when your phone is stolen in Kenya How to find your IMEI number (and why to write it down now)Phone snatching: how protection actually works Why Google Find Hub often will not find your phone Buying a second-hand phone in Kenya without buying a stolen one Protecting M-Pesa and your bank if your phone is taken How to block a stolen phone by IMEI in Kenya Is your phone genuine? Checking a handset in Kenya Phone specs that actually matter (and the ones that do not)Choosing an anti-theft app for Android in Kenya

Setting it up on your phone

Anti-theft for Samsung Anti-theft for Tecno Anti-theft for Infinix Anti-theft for itel Anti-theft for Xiaomi / Redmi Anti-theft for OPPO Anti-theft for realme Anti-theft for vivo Anti-theft for Huawei Anti-theft for Nokia Anti-theft for OnePlus

Common questions

Will they know the photo was taken?

No. There is no shutter sound, no flash and no visible change on screen.

Is this legal in Kenya?

Photographing someone attempting to unlock your own phone is evidence of an attempted intrusion on your property. What you then do with the image is governed by the Data Protection Act — hand it to the police rather than posting it publicly.

Guard Eye is an Android app made in Kenya. Procedures on this page follow the national process — police OB number, IMEI, operator SIM block — and the details operators ask for do change, so confirm with yours. Back to Guard Eye