It's not just the UI - the fact that you input a bunch of passwords and never see the thing again makes for terrible usability. Here are my humble suggestions:

- make the user pick a MASTER PASSWORD in like all caps on the first screen upon install
- have the app config present on the phone itself, by using the MASTER PASSWORD to access it - this way, if the user fracks up the config, they can go and change the array of passwords needed
- have only one password! and have all commands derive from it, like:

MASTER PASSWORD block phone
MASTER PASSWORD email reports off
MASTER PASSWORD sms reports on hourly
MASTER PASSWORD take pic of burglar

or something... of course, for this to work you need to intercept the SMS before it's shown (not sure if it's possible). But even if the burglar sees it, it's a good enough arrangement for me to choose it over multiple passes (which is also good).
- have the file with the passwords somewhere known by the user

Hey, just my two cents