BuddyGuard Beta 4 Released
 

Hello!

We wanted to let all of you know that we've released our Beta 4 update to BuddyGuard, the remote access application for your BlackBerry that allows you to find, lock or wipe your phone when you've misplaced or lost it.

For those not familiar with the app, BuddyGuard allows you to send command messages by SMS or email to your BlackBerry. The supported commands are Lock, Alert, Locate, List, Wipe and Help. BuddyGuard will secure your device when you lock it to prevent unauthorized access, even if your phone is rebooted.

Here's the change log for Beta 4:

• Enhanced the Alert sound to be much more noticeable, making it easier to find your phone when misplaced.
• Fixed an exception that occurred on some devices during the phone reboot. This exception would cause BuddyGuard to ignore commands.
• Fixed an issue with the Alert not playing on the 8330.
• Support for using the subject line when sending commands by email messages.
• Improved the reliability of the Locate command.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Lock screen to not be displayed on some devices.

You can get the FREE beta at the BlackBerryAPPS Store or on App World (simply search for "BuddyGuard) or by visiting m.terramobility.com/bg from your BlackBerry browser.

How is this different from SmrtGuard Free or SmrtGuard Pro?

The products are similar—support for Alert, Locate, Wipe, etc.—but there are some key differences. Here's a summary of some of the important ones.

• BuddyGuard allows you to send commands by email and SMS. When you're away from home and you lose phone, time is critical. Sending commands by SMS allows you to immediately secure your phone when don't have access to email or a PC.
• You can secure your phone using the Lock command, even if you don't have a system password set. BuddyGuard will lock your phone, making it inaccessible, and display contact information to make it easy for whoever finds it to contact you. And importantly, BuddyGuard will keep your BlackBerry locked until you enter your password, even if someone reboots it or pulls the battery. This is a great alternative to wiping you phone when you're unsure if you’ll be able to recover it.
• The BuddyGuard application is password protected, ensuring that its settings can't be accessed by anyone but you.
• BuddyGuard runs completely silent in the background; when you Alt-Escape to switch apps it won't be listed in the running apps list. This is important so that if someone finds your phone they won't be able to tell that it's being protected by BuddyGuard.
• BuddyGuard is currently in beta and is free for all of its functionality. We're frequently adding new functionality (four betas in only 2 months), with more to come. Also, once the beta program is over, BuddyGuard will be a one time purchase, not a reoccurring subscription.

If you're interested please feel free to try out the beta. We'd loved to hear any feedback you might have; simply select the "Send Us Feedback" menu item in the app and let us know.

there's many programs out there that do tracking and wiping just fine as well - at least smrtguard does data backup as well and can view it online which is important to me...b/c let's be honest, if u lose ur phone or gets it stolen, ur data is most likely lost.

We agree--backup is an important feature for this type of application. Expect to see that in a BuddyGuard release in the future. We also have some other key features planned, so watch for when the app's icon turns yellow indicating that an update is available.

BuddyGuard Beta 5 - v0.7.2.0
 

We've released our next update, version 0.7.2.0, which adds some functionality and fixes some issues reported by Beta users. Here's the change log:

• Enhanced Wipe command to delete entries for Calendar, MemoPad and Tasks
• User is prompted if a BIS account is used for the Notification email (not recommended)
• Fixed "Send Us Feedback" menu item failure
• No longer send "invalid password" replies on device reboot
• Miscellaneous fixes

Receiveing mail and sending commands
 

I am using a shaw.ca account to send mail to my buddy guard, it does not work, the email gets through and sits on the blackberry

I know what I am doing as I can use a different email that's on my Black berry and it works fine.

Problem, I have recommended this awesome product to 3 other people all of whom have shaw.ca account. When we send the mail it goes to their machines and does not disappear as it does on mine,, Disappearing and of course sending the location or whatever back to the sender.

I ahve checked, its not being spammed.

any ideas? OH and the email addresses are setup in the BIS

@LateNiteOwl:
There are couple of of possible causes; here's what I would recommend checking.
1) Do the standard battery pull for a minute and try again. Not likely to fix this particular case but always a good point to start at.
2) Check the app permissions for BuddyGuard, and make sure that they are all set to Allow.
3) If you're placing the command in the email body, try putting it in the subject line instead.
4) The emails need to be received in the Messages app, rather than by a third party email client (shouldn't be an issue for you since the email account is set up for BIS).

If none of the above fixes the problem, could you run a test, capture the device Event Log and sent it to our support using the "Send Us Feedback" menu item in the app? Also, are you sending from a shaw.ca account to a shaw.ca account (should work, but would be helpful to know).

Wirelessly posted

Wow, thanks for a quick reply:

ok,
1. I do a battery pull daily using the Quickpull program
2. All are set to Allow
3. I did that, tried both areas, same results.
4. Yes, confirmed it is in the BIS

I will see where I can run the test, capture the event log and send it through.

Yes Shaw account to a shaw account. AND also from my corporate account to the shaw account, same results.

Are BOTH the sending shaw.ca address and the receiving shaw.ca and your corporate address all email addresses (i.e. with service books) on your BlackBerry? If so, that may be your problem -- especially if you do not use BIS filters to filter out sent mails from being delivered back to your phone.

While I could test this (I have several shaw.ca email addresses also), I set up BuddyGuard to specifically not use an email address that I have a service book for. Instead, I use a web-based address, gmail to be exact to send from, and send the command messages to my @rogers.blackberry.net address; for two reasons: 1) "instant" response -- shaw.ca addresses are pulled on average only every 12 minutes, and 2) gmail send is also instantaneous plus I can access it anywhere and there is no risk of losing the mail after a certain amount of time like there is with webmail.shaw.ca (not that this would affect many).

I also use an unknown [to the BB] address for commands in case the person who may have stolen my phone can figure things out (although they probably could just delete my shaw.ca service books) if they are BB-savvy.

Wirelessly posted

Hmmm,, I think they are. I am not 100% certain what "service books" is, but I am thinking that it is a separate accounts on my BB, ie they do not all appear in one? I will see if there is something I can set.

Wirelessly posted

However!! grin, always one of those, my friend has a strictly shaw account on her BB and is having the same problem as I, as does her son when I tried to set him up as well..

Wirelessly posted


And one final thought, my corporate account sends emails back and it works, so why would shaw not follow the same rule?

I have just finished testing shaw to shaw, and it works fine for me. However, I did not send the emails from my phone as part of the test (since, under real situations, you won't have the phone anyways, so I used webmail.shaw.ca to send the BuddyGuard command messages. Both shaw addresses are valid on my BB (set up in BIS).

My command emails were deleted by BuddyGuard as expected and were acted upon by the application. My reply email was not, which is acceptable because under real circumstances it would not be wise to use an address that is on your BB to send commands from. As I mentioned earlier, I use a gmail account which is NOT set up on my BB to send commands from. I can however, send those commands from that gmail address TO any of the email accounts set up on the BB (I have tested 4 now: two shaw.ca, 1 gmail, 1 rogers.blackberry.net).

Two things which I mentioned previously:

1) are you using BIS filters to filter out duplicate sent mail for all your shaw addresses? Here is a post explaining how to do it and more importantly, why. You may be looking at the duplicate email instead of the original email (which BuddyGuard already acted upon), thinking that BuddyGuard is not working.

http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/phones...ry-inbox/1520/

2) I would recommend not using shaw.ca addresses due to BIS polling delays. Personally I use gmail to send commands from (again, using an account not on my BB) and send to my @rogers.blackberry.net address instead of my three shaw.ca addresses amongst others on my BB. Mail sent to your BIS account (in my case, @rogers.blackberry.net) is instantaneously sent to your BB where BuddyGuard can act upon the command and reply; whereas shaw.ca accounts are polled for every 2 - 12 minutes. Gmail and Yahoo addresses are just as good but other ISP's poll time may vary like shaw's does.

Hope this helps; if not, feel free to PIN me as I think we've highjacked this thread...

Wirelessly posted

Not using BIS to filyter anything right now. However I could setup a filter for BuddyGuard to test this, its a great idea and I am into it, just to be clear what should i be filtering ALL messages from BuddyGuard are not let through? or? Sorry just trying to wrap my brain around it.

No, just filter messages FROM yourself not to be sent to the handheld. I do this for each email account (e.g. for , I set a filter not to send messages FROM to the handheld).

If you have a look at the article I linked above, it should walk you through the process.

Wirelessly posted

Thank you!! I have added the filter as suggested and tested, same results. :( I am working with the development team to try and find a solution, I must say these people are great, I will keep you posted.