BlackBerry Protect allows you the ability to wirelessly backup, restore and locate your BlackBerry® smartphone. In the event that your BlackBerry smartphone is misplaced, lost or stolen, BlackBerry Protect provides features like: remote device wipe, remote device lock, ‘Lost and Found’ screen, locate device on a map, remote activation of the BlackBerry smartphone loud ringer, and wireless device backup and restore.
BlackBerry Protect Setup
First, the user would need to download and install the BlackBerry Protect application on their BlackBerry smartphone. After completing the initial registration, you’ll be given the option to backup the data on your BlackBerry smartphone. You will be able to decide what you want to back up – contacts, calendar, memos, tasks, browser bookmarks, and/or text messages. You will even be able to choose how often your BlackBerry smartphone is automatically backed up (i.e. daily, weekly, and monthly). Also, once the first back up is completed, only incremental data is backed up (i.e. new data since the last backup) to reduce data usage. Remember to always check with your wireless service provider to determine any additional charges that may be incurred through your use of the wireless network.
Misplacing your BlackBerry Smartphone (Loud Ring Feature)
When you misplace your Blackberry around your house, simply log into the BlackBerry Protect web portal where you can activate the loud ring feature – this makes your BlackBerry smartphone ring loudly for one minute, even if you had the profile set to silent. It also changes the default profile to ‘loud’, so you can call your BlackBerry smartphone to try to locate if you didn’t find it while it was initially ringing.
Dealing with a lost BlackBerry Smartphone (Lock, Lost and Found screen, Locating and Wiping Features)
In another situation, let’s say that you was out running errands, and when you got home you couldn’t find your BlackBerry smartphone. You realize you must have left it at one of the stores you was at. In this case, you want to be sure that if someone finds your BlackBerry smartphone, they can’t access any of your personal information on your device, and you want to try to locate the device so that you can hopefully get it back.
First, you would log onto the BlackBerry Protect web portal, where you would lock your BlackBerry smartphone and set a password.
Next, you would set the ‘lost and found’ screen with a message and contact information in case the device is found – this way they know who owns the device and can get ahold of you to let you know they found it.
Next, still from within the BlackBerry Protect web portal, you can use the ‘view current location feature’, which will use the built-in GPS functionality in most BlackBerry smartphones to help show you the current location of your BlackBerry smartphone. This will give you a good idea of where to find it.
In the worst-case scenario, if you can’t find your BlackBerry smartphone and no one has called to say they have found it, you can use the Remote Wipe feature to delete all the information off the device, including the data stored on the device and on the Micro-SD card.
Getting a new BlackBerry Smartphone (Restore from Backup Feature)
Once you have a new BlackBerry smartphone, you can wirelessly restore all your backed up data from your old device onto your new device. So, even though you lost your BlackBerry smartphone, all of your information can be transferred to your new BlackBerry smartphone.
***Blackberry Protect is compatible with BIS user only***
