Mobile phones are becoming more and more expensive when it comes to flagship devices from the most famous companies. No wonder that customers are quite eager to use contracts with telephone operators, which allow them to take the telephone in installments under a several-year contract. However, it happens that customers pay their installments late, and there are even cases that they do not pay their liabilities at all. Then what should do telephone operators? Some operators install special software on the phones they sell to lock the phone in these cases, but from now on remotely blocking the phone by operators may become easier.
A special application called "Device Lock Controller" has appeared in the Google Play Store. As described, it allows mobile networks to remotely block access to the phone in the case that the customer hasn't paid his obligations regarding the installments for the phone. If the phone is blocked remotely using the application, the user will be able to call emergency calls and will have access to the device settings, but the other functions won't be available. Importantly, this is an official app from Google. The company even published an explanation that the application appeared in the Google Play Store by accident and it will be available only to operators, and downloading is impossible by individual users.