Alarms help while the phone is still near you. Remote Access is for the moment after that: the phone is somewhere else, and you need to reach it. You open alert24.in on any browser, or Alert24 on a friend's phone, sign in with your Google account, and pick your device from the list.
Everything below needs the phone to be switched on and connected to the internet. Alert24 cannot reach a phone that is off, has no data, or has been reset. Set it up today, while the phone is in your hand.
What you can do remotely
Each action is one card on the Remote Access screen. Tap it, and the phone carries it out the next time it reads the command.
Take Picture
The phone takes a photo with the front camera, silently, with no preview on screen. It appears under Remote Captures together with the time and, when location is available, the address.
Find My Device (ring)
The phone raises its media volume to maximum and plays the alarm siren, even if it was on silent. If it is unlocked, the alarm screen covers everything and only your Alert24 PIN or pattern stops it.
Learn moreLocation History
The phone sends its current position and street address. The list also shows the location saved with every intruder photo, newest first. Tap a row to open it in Google Maps.
Learn moreDevice Lost
Tap Mark My Phone Lost and the phone photographs whoever turns the screen on or unlocks it, and takes another photo every 30 minutes. Each photo carries its location.
Learn more
How it works
Alert24 does not send push messages to your phone. Instead, every device you sign in on has a small record in the cloud, and the app on that phone keeps watching its own record while it runs. When you press Take Picture or Find My Device, the website or the other phone writes a flag into that record. Your phone sees the flag, carries out the action, and clears the flag again.
This is why two things matter: the phone must be online, and the Alert24 background service must be running. The service starts with the phone, and a check every 15 minutes restarts it if Android stopped it. A command sent while the phone is offline waits until the phone reconnects.
- Only the Google account signed in on the phone can see or command that phone.
- Commands are read by the app, so the phone must be on and connected.
- You can have several phones on one account. Each one appears as its own card.
Set it up before you need it
Four steps in the app. They take about two minutes and you only do them once per phone.
- 1
Sign in with Google in Alert24 on the phone
Open the side menu and sign in. This account is the key to your phone. Use the one you can sign in to from any browser.
- 2
Turn on Remote Access on the app's home screen
Slide the Remote Access control. Android will ask for location and camera. Choose Allow all the time for location, otherwise the phone cannot answer Locate while the screen is off. If either permission is missing, the switch turns itself off again.
- 3
Optional: add a backup number in Access via Phone
Open Access via Phone in the side menu and verify your number with the SMS code. The number is linked to the same Google account, so you can sign in with it from a borrowed phone.
- 4
Open Remote Access on another phone with the same Google account, or sign in at alert24.in
In the app, Remote Access is in the side menu. On the web, go to Sign in to Remote Access. Your phone should show as online in the device list. Send a test Take Picture to be sure.
Access via Phone: a backup number
When your phone is stolen, you may not remember your Google password on a friend's device. A verified phone number gives you a second way in. In the app, open Access via Phone, enter the number and confirm the code that arrives by SMS.
The number is attached to your Google account, not used on its own. When you sign in with that number on alert24.in, the site opens the same account and shows the same devices. A number that was never verified in the app is not linked to anything, and the site will tell you so.
Online, offline and "Remote Access is off"
The device list shows two states for each phone. Online means the app on the phone reported in within the last two minutes. Offline means it did not: the phone may be off, out of coverage, in flight mode, or the app was force-stopped. Commands you send to an offline phone are kept, and the phone carries them out when it comes back.
Remote Access is off is different. The phone is reachable, but the switch on its home screen is off, so it ignores every command. That happens when you never turned it on, or when the location or camera permission was removed later. Nothing can be done from the web in that state; someone has to turn it on in the app.
- A command that is still pending after about a minute was not received. Check the online state and try again.
- After a force-stop, the phone can take up to 15 minutes to start listening again.
- A factory reset removes Alert24 and ends Remote Access for that phone.
Security: only your account can command your devices
Your phone's record, its location and its photos are readable only by the verified Google account that was signed in on the phone. The rules are enforced on the server, not in the app, so a different account cannot list your devices or write commands to them, even with the right link.
Intruder photos taken by your phone are uploaded to storage that belongs to the same account, and you can delete any photo from the app. Photos from Phone Access Snap never leave the phone. Read more in our privacy policy.
Premium and free
Remote Access is part of Alert24 Premium. The alarms and intruder photos on the phone itself stay free.
| Free | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Alarms, intruder selfie, app lock, trusted places | Yes | Yes |
| Turn Remote Access on for this phone | Yes | Yes |
| Remote Access screen: ring, locate, take picture, lost mode | No | Yes |
| Intruder photos in remote views | First 5 | All |
| Ads | Shown | Removed |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the app on the second phone?
No. Any browser works: open alert24.in and sign in with your Google account. If the second phone has Alert24 installed, you can also open Remote Access in the side menu there.
Can I use Remote Access from an iPhone or a PC?
Yes, through the browser. The phone you protect must be Android, but the device you sign in from can be anything with a web browser.
Does the thief see anything?
Take Picture and Locate are silent. Find My Device is deliberately loud and shows the alarm screen. Marking the phone lost is silent too; the photos are taken without a preview.
What if my phone is offline?
Your command waits in the cloud. The moment the phone reconnects and the app is running, it carries the command out. Alert24 cannot locate a phone while it is offline; the last known location stays visible in Location History.
I signed in but my phone is not in the list.
Open Alert24 on the phone once while signed in with the same Google account; that registers it. If you used a different Google account on the web, sign out and use the one from the app. See the troubleshooting on the sign-in page.
Is Remote Access free?
It is part of Premium. Turning it on for your phone is free, but the screen that sends commands needs a Premium subscription. Current prices are shown in the app and on Google Play. See Alert24 Premium.
Set up Remote Access while your phone is still with you
Install Alert24, sign in with Google and turn on Remote Access. If the phone ever goes missing, you will be glad you did. Read the what to do if your phone is stolen guide next.