Anti-Theft

The ESET Anti-Theft feature protects your mobile device from unauthorized access, enables you to monitor foreign activity, and tracks your device's location. You can also display a message to the finder if your device is lost.

ESET Anti-Theft requires the following permissions:

•Camera access to take an intruder's pictures.

•Edit files access to delete sensitive data remotely.

•Location data access to track your device if it goes missing.

•Physical activity access to recognize when your device is moved.

•Background location access to track your device if it goes missing, even when ESET Mobile Security is closed or not in use. When granting this permission, select Allow all the time to ensure full protection.

•Usage access to allow receiving calls on your device if it gets locked.

•Device admin access to prevent unauthorized ESET Mobile Security uninstallation. After activating the device admin, you will be prompted to create a PIN to protect important settings in ESET Mobile Security.

•Read phone information to detect SIM card removal. Your device will lock when the SIM card is removed.

Visit our Set up Anti-Theft protection in ESET Mobile Security for Android Knowledgebase article to set up Anti-Theft protection in ESET Mobile Security (Knowledgebase articles are not available in all languages).

Auto-lock device

In addition to locking your device from the ESET HOME portal, you can set up ESET Mobile Security to automatically lock your device when one of the following actions is performed:

•SIM card is removed—If the trusted SIM card is removed from your device, your device will lock. To remove and inspect trusted SIM cards, tap Manage trusted SIM cards, select the SIM card you want to remove, and then tap the bin icon . To add a trusted SIM card, insert the SIM card. If Auto-lock is enabled, you will have to unlock the device. ESET Mobile Security will ask you to confirm the newly added SIM card as trusted.

•After [X] unlock attempts—When enabled, your device locks after a set number of unsuccessful unlock attempts. You can set the number of unsuccessful unlock attempts before locking the device in the Anti-Theft settings. If your unsuccessful attempt was caused by mistake, you can correct it in 30 seconds, and it will not be counted as an unsuccessful attempt. You can change the time for a correction in the Anti-Theft settings in the Time for correction option. You can also disable the time for correction, and your device will lock immediately after the set number of unsuccessful attempts.

When your device is locked, you can display information to contact the device owner. You can also enable your device to take pictures with both cameras to get photos of the person that tries to unlock your device.

After the device is locked

You can set the following to happen after your device is locked:

•The Show contact details option displays the Contact owner details when an incorrect screen lock code is entered. Tap Edit contact details to type your contact details to display when your device is lost. Your ESET HOME email is typed by default.

•The Take a photo option saves the rear and front camera photos to your device Gallery and the Anti-Theft portal in case of a failed unlock attempt or a SIM card removal.

How to unlock my mobile device

If you locked your mobile device via the ESET Anti-Theft portal or ESET Mobile Security for Android has locked your mobile device, you will need access to your ESET HOME password.

For visual instructions on unlocking your mobile device, read the following ESET Knowledgebase article (available in English and several other languages).