Have you ever feared what would happen to all the data on your phone (your e-mails, contacts, messages and all your applications) if your BlackBerry gets lost or stolen? How would you retrieve it?
The people at RIM have come up with an ingenious duo to manage your BlackBerry’s data from a secure and central location. You know, just in case the unthinkable happens. With BlackBerry Protect you can lock your phone, locate it via the web (and your phone’s built-in GPS capability) or even wipe the data if needs be, and then some.
The app has two parts, which you’ll need in order to get everything up and running, and working.
- The mobile app, which you can get from the BlackBerry App World
- The website: www.blackberry.com/protect
You will need a BlackBerry ID to log in - on both the mobile app as well as the site, which you should already have if you use the BlackBerry App World. If not, you can create one very easily during the setup process. Once you have downloaded and installed the mobile app, there are six easy steps that make the setup (nearly) pain free.
Here’s the rundown:
- Open the BlackBerry Protect app (it should be in your downloads folder).
- Log in with your BlackBerry ID (if you don’t have one, here you’ll get the chance to create one - it doesn’t take long).
- Select the type of data you want to be backed up – contacts, messages, memos, etc.
- Select the frequency at which back-ups should happen – daily, weekly or monthly. This should run automatically in the background on the specified times, and should not hamper your phone usage as it only adds data that changed from the last back-up to the current one. You can also choose to only do back-ups when you have an active WiFi connection.
- Choose to activate BlackBerry Location Reporting (you’ll need to turn this on if you want to be able to track your phone via the website).
- Allow the app to connect to the BlackBerry Protect service, and if you’re ready to start, create your first back-up (this may take a while because of the amount of data you’ll need to transfer the first time. It will be quicker on consequent back-ups).
While the app is connecting to the services and completing the setup, you can log in to the website, and see what it has to offer. It’s really easy to navigate, and the options are very straightforward.
They are:
- View current location (this is if you have activated BlackBerry Location Reporting) – it can show your phone’s location very, very accurately on a map.
- Loud ring – in case you have misplaced your phone, this option will let it ring loudly, regardless of your phone being set to silent or turned off.
- Display a message – you can type up a customized message to show up on your BlackBerry’s screen, even if the phone is locked, for example, “Please phone <number> if you have found me. Reward offered” or similar.
- Lock device – if your phone gets stolen, and you fear you might never see it again, you can lock your phone and set a password so only you can unlock it.
- Wipe device – this will wipe all the data from your BlackBerry. Everything.
The app has other uses too - BlackBerry Protect can be used for multiple smartphones, for example, if you and your other half both have smartphones (or family members even) you can keep the data centralised on the web in case something happens to their phone (under one user name).
You can also use the app to move data from one device to another, say, if you have upgraded to a newer, slinkier model. You will need to have the app installed on all the devices, of course, for this to work.
At a mere 2MB for the mobile app, BlackBerry Protect is a must-have for any BlackBerry user.
