Recover Lost Smartphones with BlueRetriever

Problem: Your iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre or whatever goes missing. Some honest person finds it and wants to return it, but can't figure out how to contact you.

(Does your Pre have a good place to write your name and phone number? Mine doesn't.)

Enter BlueRetriever, a free service that aims to reunite lost phones with their owners.

Unlike services such as StuffBak and SendMeHome, which rely on labels you affix to your devices, BlueRetriever relies on wallpaper: For each device you register, you get a custom wallpaper image with the BlueRetriever URL, your unique device ID, and the all-important words "Return for Reward."

When someone finds your device, they head to the BlueRetriever site and enter your device ID. That triggers an e-mail notification that your device has been found, and then you and the finder communicate (via BlueRetriever's anonymous messaging system) to arrange the return.

It's up to you to choose a reward amount (from $10 to $100), which is delivered to the finder in the form of an e-gift card for one of various "partner" stores. (The finder gets to choose which one.)

I suspect those stores are responsible for BlueRetriever's funding, as the service is totally free for all parties. However, the reward is optional: You can choose to offer nothing more than "karma," though I think that's pretty lame. I'd gladly pay $25 to someone honest enough to return my lost iPhone.

BlueRetriever currently supports the following devices: iPhone and iPod Touch; Google G1; Palm Pre; and BlackBerry Bold, Curve, Pearl, and Storm. More devices will be added in the future, though obviously the service is limited to those that use wallpaper.

Speaking of which, assuming you're willing to ditch your current wallpaper (bye-bye, kids!) in favor of BlueRetriever's, I'd say using this service is a no-brainer. Phones get lost all the time, and if you don't want to muck yours up with a sticker or hope that the finder can locate your "if found" address-book entry, this is a simple, affordable, effective way to facilitate its return.