Meet TARA, the perfect protector

I remember losing my newly bought cellphone to a thief inside the mall 8 years ago. There was no struggle, it was fast. I never saw the thief.  I knew I lost my phone,  when I reached inside my messenger bag. My bag was forcibly opened. I had a phone tracker then, I located my mobile phone somewhere along Grace Park, Caloocan to Bagong Barrio. I even negotiated with the thief, texting using other phone, that I would pay him php3k and agreed to meet up with him, but it did not push through of course. He or she replied "no" and I cursed him/her to no end. And that was the end of it.

Now, there is this new mobile phone app that would protect your phone from thief. TARA (Theft Alarm and Recovery Application)  is the revolutionary mobile app and is the first telco-enabled kill switch  to combat mobile phone theft

Jun Lozada, CEO of Galileo Software Services.

The statistics are sobering. Mobile phones are the usual target of criminals who sometimes resort to violence in order to steal a commodity that is easy to resell 41 % of Filipinos have experienced phone theft*.  Every year, thousands of Filipinos lose this piece of personal property that not only costs money but also contains valuable information that includes phone numbers, photos, videos, access to emails, personal accounts and even credit card data.

"When a person is a victim of mobile phone theft, it leaves him or her feeling helpless. It can be a traumatic experience where the victim often feels as if he has been violated. There are also deaths that have been attributed to robbery attempts. Hold-up and 'snatching' incidents have been a commonplace scenario in our streets," explains Engr. Jun Lozada, the technology and communication expert who is the president and CEO of Galileo Software Services Inc.

"We need to feel safe whenever we go out. This is why we developed TARA (Theft Alarm and Recovery Application). It is like a seatbelt for your mobile phone. As our tagline says… No mobile phone/device should be worth a life, not even a scratch.”




And with most smartphone users using their phones to access almost all personal and professional data, now more than ever, the need to protect one’s self  is at its highest.  The subscription to TARA is a small price to pay for one’s peace of mind.

It also calls attention to the thief by screaming “magnanakaw! magnanakaw!” when it is activated.

Telco-enabled, works without Internet or cell phone load
TARA is a Filipino-developed revolutionary mobile app that aims to prevent mobile phone theft with its kill switch feature that makes it unusable by thieves and their resellers.  It is the first of its kind in the country/ possibly in Asia and the world. What makes TARA the perfect protector in the Philippine scenario is that it works even without wi-fi access, internet data, or cell phone load.  It is the first and only telco-enabled kill switch that protects the users, their phones and their phones contents in any situation. It also calls attention to the thief by screaming "magnanakaw! magnanakaw!" when it is activated.

The Back-up and Restore feature lets owners back-up their contacts which they can restore later on, even on a different phone. They can also upgrade this feature to back-up photos, videos and more files.
Soon with TARA, mobile phone owners can use the Red Button feature that they can engage in order to send out a notification to a prearranged contact number. It is the go-to SOS button designed to protect phone owners. Activate the Red Button to enable the floater (which works even when the phone is locked), and hold it for 3-4 seconds to send an SOS message, with a time stamp and location, to one’s emergency contact.

To avail of the TARA protection, android mobile phone users can download the app on Google Play and register their basic information. After a free-30 day subscription, they are given the option to renew their protection with affordable rates of P15 weekly, P50 monthly or P500 yearly.

"With the launch of the TARA app, we can offer a solution to the alarming cell phone theft situation in the country. TARA is the first of its kind level of security that enables the user to lock his phone entirely rendering it useless to a thief. It also provides the service of tracking its current location as well as wiping out and recovering its contents," Lozada says. "We Filipinos may feel helpless about other things such as the worsening traffic or the country's economic and political situation, but with the sense of security that even ordinary citizens can get from this app, they will not feel as helpless about the protection of something that is very personal for them."

To know more about TARA, you can visit the TARA website at www.tara.com.ph . For inquiries about the app you may call the TARA Hotline : LANDLINE - 656 – 8272.
SMART  -  0998 965 7419
SUN  -  0943 131 0544