"Why would you want to turn off your Android phone remotely," you may ask? Well, there's no set reason justifying such an action. However, possible reasons may include wanting to turn off your phone if it's been locked in the office or your friend's car for the night to conserve battery to last you through the next day, turning off your friend's phone for fun, or simply for the novelty. Well, XDA Senior Member RavinduSha came out with an app called Remote Turn Off on the XDA Forums.

Remote Turn Off is a simple app, allowing users to remotely shut down the phone with the app installed. Requiring root access, the installation process consists simply flashing the provided zip file or moving the APK from the ZIP file to the /system/app folder manually and setting the correct permissions. To turn off the phone, users must text the phone number 'power#off,' with the first run requiring a permanent grant to root access by the app. The phone can be shut down with a text message from any phone number, however the shutdown code cannot be changed. There's also no app icon in the app drawer, as not to add to the already cluttered and disorganized app drawer many users have.

Remote Turn Off provides a function that may be useful for many users, but lethal if the code falls into the wrong hands, especially 'pranktious' friends. Originally developed for personal use, RavinduSha has made 'Remote Turn Off' available to all users for free. So if you would like to install this onto your phone, or your friend's phone, remotely, you can find more details and download in the original thread.