Guides
GhostLock Motion Alarm Setup: Tune It Right
Set up the motion alarm so a lifted phone screams and a pocketed phone stays quiet. Sensitivity, placement, and testing explained.
What the motion alarm does
The motion alarm is the heart of GhostLock App: arm it, set the phone down, and the accelerometer watches for movement. Lift the phone and the siren fires at full volume, even on silent. Grab the free build from this site if you have not installed it yet.
Out of the box the sensitivity sits in the middle. That is right for a desk or cafe table, but pocket carry needs tuning, which is where most false alarms come from.
Tune the sensitivity
Desk and table use: leave sensitivity at the default or one notch higher. You want the alarm to fire on a genuine lift, not on a table bump from someone sitting down hard.
Bag carry: drop sensitivity one notch below default. Bags shift and swing; the calibration filters most of it, but a gentler threshold avoids embarrassing sirens on the bus.
Pocket carry: use the dedicated anti-pickpocket mode instead of the raw motion alarm. It watches for the pull-out motion signature rather than any movement, which is far more accurate in a pocket.
Test before you trust it
Arm the alarm, set the phone down, and lift it. Then try your real scenario: slide it into your bag, walk around the room, sit down hard. Adjust one notch at a time until genuine lifts always trigger and ordinary handling never does. Two test rounds beats a false alarm in a quiet office.
Learn the GhostLock feature set in full, and if the alarm ever refuses to sound, work through the alarm troubleshooting guide before changing anything else.
Quick answers
Why does the motion alarm go off in my pocket?
The sensitivity is too high for carry use. Lower it a notch, or switch to anti-pickpocket mode which is designed for pockets.
Does the motion alarm work with the screen off?
Yes. The guard runs as a foreground service and keeps watching with the screen off, as long as battery optimization is not killing it.
Can I schedule the motion alarm?
GhostLock arms manually per session. Arm it when you set the phone down and disarm with your code when you pick it up.