Recover lost Android phones with Contact Owner

Contact Owner allows you to easily create a custom message on your lock screen.

(Credit: Taylor Wimberly)

The thought of losing your Android phone can be quite frightening, but a free app from the Android Market can give you some comfort. If your lose your handset, Contact Owner will display your contact information on its lock screen.

Setting up Contact Owner is easy and only needs to be performed once. Simply launch the application, select a contact, and choose which information to display. You can pull the information directly from your stored contacts list or type it in manually.

Once the message is saved, it will show automatically each time your phone's lock screen is engaged. On the downside, there's no option for activating it remotely and uninstalling the application is the only way to remove the message.

Contact Owner also offers the capability to add a custom message before and after the contact information. You can enter a greeting to anyone who finds your phone and you can include the phone number of a family member or friend in case you are unavailable when someone is trying to find you.

While the application doesn't offer the protection of Find my iPhone, it is a step in the right direction. The Android platform certainly has the flexibility for a competing app, and I expect that we will see a similar services in the future. Until then, visit the Android Market and install Contact Owner for free.