Stop, thief!

iPhones are so great that if you leave one lying around long enough someone is going to try and take it. Step forward Burglar Alarm… Free!, which will set off a siren whenever someone tries to pick up your device.

Setting up Burglar Alarm… Free! is very easy. In order to equip the app you need to press down on the thumbpads which will then ‘scan’ your prints and arm the alarm. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t actually scan your fingers but it’s a cool idea nonetheless.

Once the alarm is set up, a flashing radar-style beam circulates the screen as if searching for intruders. As soon as the iPhone is picked up (or indeed, just nudged a little bit) the screen starts flashing and a loud siren plays repeatedly. This can only be deactivated by holding your finger on the screen then entering a PIN number that’s been configured by you.

Burglar Alarm… Free! is great fun for catching out friends and family who try to take a sneaky peak at your iPhone while you’re out of the room. However, there’s a major loophole in the app which, if they detect will render it useless. That is, the alarm can be shut off at any time simply by hitting the iPhone’s home button to exit the program. The developer of Burglar Alarm…Free! really needs to find a way of overriding this in order for the app to be genuinely useful.

Burglar Alarm… Free! is a clever gimmick, but it’s not smart enough to be a foolproof security system for your iPhone.