iLocalis is an application that allows you to track your iPhone. I had a viewer tell me about this application about four days ago or so and Doug and I have been testing it ever since. When you search for iLocalis is Cydia, you will also see an iLocalis Daemon package. You just need to install the iLocalis package…it will install the daemon automatically. Once you have the application installed, you will want to open it. The first thing you need to do is register your iPhone.

Once you have registered your iPhone, you can login to the application. This will bring you to the main menu with the options; My Location, Friends, Share Map, Settings and Extend Accounts. My Location will give you a Google map (inside the application) of where you were when it last checked for your location. It will display how long ago that location was taken, show you a Google map, give you the exact time and date of the location and give you an estimate on how accurate the location is (in meters).

Back on the main menu, the Friends option allows you to track friends who also use iLocalis. When selected, you will get a menu where you can enter your friend’s user name. Once you have added a friend, it will send them a message asking them if they would like to be your friend – the options are Oh Yes! Me too! or Ignore. If you choose to accept a friend, you will have a few options on how much information that friends will be able to know/control. You will get a screen that will allow you to choose if that friend can locate you (see your current map location), message you (send you a message) and/or control your iPhone (which basically allows the friend to control a few things on your iPhone). It will also show what the friend has allowed you to do with their iPhone; Locate them, Message them or Control their iPhone. Once you have chosen the options, that friend will be added to your Friends list.

If you select a friend in your list, you will get a menu of the options that you have for that friend. If you have full access to that friend’s account (allowed to view location, send message and control their iPhone) you will get the options; Locations Map which shows their most current location, Send Message Box which allows you to message that friend, Call forwarding which allows you to type in a phone number in which all of that friend’s numbers will be forwarded to, Send Remote SMS which allows you to send a text message to any number but it looks like it is coming from that friend’s iPhone, Make Remote Call which allows you to make a call via your friend’s iPhone and Manage This Friend which allows you to change what you are allowing that friend to see/do with your iPhone via iLocalis.

Back on the main menu, there is also a Share Map option. This option allows you to email a url link of your current location. To do so, just select the Create New Sharing option. You can then choose if you would like to allow messages from the url to your iPhone and how long until the url expires.

The next option on the main menu is Settings. This is where you basically control the applicaiton. From here you can change the name of your device, change the interval for how often it checks for your location, get your device ID number, set your email address (which is suggested in case you lose your password), change the time zone to the correct time zone, change your password, turn the location service on/off, be notified if a friend is near you (if you turn this on, your iPhone will make a like dig noise if you are near one of the people on your friends list), change the sms remote commands and turn on/off the Twitter update. I found that the integration with Twitter is not too bad…it does send a tweet every 30 minutes (or whatever you choose for the interval) to Twitter giving you a link to a Google map of the location and the street, city, State and zip code of the location. However, it also adds is some weird info that is in a different language. I assume that it is information on how accurate the location is. After you have chosen all your settings, select Save Settings at the bottom of the page.

Now, one of the cool parts about this application is that you can control it via iLocalis.com. So, if you go to iLocalis.com you are able to see your last 20 locations, as well as turn the iLocalis tracking off or on, see the current battery percentage of your iPhone, make a remote phone call, activate call forwarding, show message box, send a remote sms and edit all your iLocalis settings. What is even cooler is that you can also view all your friend’s information. So, lets say you have a child who has iLocalis on their iPhone, you can see where they have been for the last 20 locations (about the past four hours or so if it is updating every 15 minutes). If you have full control you can also make a remote phone call, activate call forwarding, show message box and send a remote sms. This could come in really handy if you lose your iPhone or someone steals it! You can go on and track where it is or even send the iPhone a message saying, “I know where you are!” You could even have all your calls forward to a different number so the person who stole your iPhone isn’t answering your iPhone.

The last option on the main menu is Extend Account. When you install iLocalis, you get a ten day trial of the application. After that, it costs 5 EUR for a one year subscription to the application.

Overall, the application seems to work well. There are times when the location isn’t extremely exact but, it gives you the general area. It is definitly the nicest application of this kind that I have tested! Doug said that he has not experienced any issues with battery life while using iLocalis (I can’t speak on this because something else is massively draining my battery). If you are currently using iLocalis, let me know in the comments what you think of the app.

Screenshots:

When you first open NavizonGPS, after installing it, you will need to set-up an account. You will get a pop-up with the options to select Ok to set-up an account or to select Cancel if you already have an account. If you select Ok, it will open a browser in which you can register for an account. After you have created your account, you can go back to the application on your SpringBoard. This time when you open the application, select Cancel. This will bring you to the main menu.

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You will want to select the Account button in the upper right corner. Here you can enter your username and password. Once you have everything entered, select Done in the upper left corner. This will bring you to the main menu.

The Navizon Bar Plugin for Maps option will add a custom Navizon tool bar to your Google Maps. The tool bar allows you to launch the Navizon application by selecting the tool icon, search for your Buddies by selects the icon with two people on it and start the GPS (moving location) by selecting the Play icon. The GPS option will update your location every 15 seconds. To pause the moving location options, tap the pause icon. The Navizon tool bar will show up in Google Maps all the time, not just when launching Google Maps from Navizon. You can minimize the tool bar by tapping on the very right of it. To maximize it, tap it again.

The Tracking for Buddies and Alerts Option allows you to appear visible to your buddies. Which means, if you turn Appear Visible on, and one of your buddies selects search for buddies on their iPhone, you will show up in Google Maps on their iPhone. Only people you have approved as buddies are able to view your location and only when you have that option turned on. It is the same if you search for buddies on your iPhone, it will only display the location of your buddies who currently have Appear Visible turned on.

The Locate-by-SMS is a very cool feature. When enabled, it allows you to send a text to your iPhone that contains a keyword and it will send a text back with the current location of your iPhone. To set it up, you will need to turn Locate-by-SMS on and then you will need to enter a keyword into the Keyword section. You do not want it to by a common word because if someone sends you a text with that word in it, it would send them back a text with your current location in it. So, you want it to be a keyword you would only uses with the purpose of finding your iPhone. This is a great feature for if you have lost your iPhone or if you iPhone has been stolen or even to check up on your kids!! See Demo Video below.

Once you have everything set-up in the menu, you can select Locate Me Now. Every time you open Navizon, it will automatically Locate your current position. You can stop it by selecting the Cancel option in the upper right corner of the launch page. You can also have it automatically bring you to the Directions feature in Google Maps by selecting the Directions option in the lower left corner. It will locate current position and put those coordinates in the start field and you can then enter where you would like the directions to end. There is also one more option on the Locate Me Now launch page and that is Buddies. If you select Buddies it the lower left corner, it will locate your current location in Google Maps as well as all your Buddies.

Back in the main menu of the application, you can set-up your full account and get a lot more information by selecting the Account option and then the Manage Account on the Web option. NavizonGPS is available through the Ste Packaging source.

Demo Video of Locate-by-SMS feature: