Lookout Security Antivirus Review 2022 — Is It Any Good?

Over ten years , Lookout has been a mobile security company. Although “Security & Antivirus“, its Android product is just branded with the company’s name, the program itself is branded with the company’s name. With over one million reviews on Google Play Store, and a 4.5-star average I was eager to see if it lived up to its praise.

Security

Lookout’s “security” tab is divided into apps and web. App scanner scans user’s apps and flags any known trojans, viruses, or malware.

It was easy to find the Test Virus app from Itus Mobile Security. It also flagged Multiple Accounts of Zhuoan Technology for malware. This program allows you to clone popular messaging applications such as WhatsApp or Facebook. It has always worked well for my, and I have since researched it.

The company has stopped submitting to independent benchmarking tests. It’s hard to determine how effective it is in detecting malware. According to my knowledge, scans are only performed on apps and not the filesystem. It is also impossible to schedule scans, and manual running them is not an option.

Fast VPN, but difficult to disconnect

The web security module sets up a VPN connection to block malware and phishing sites. The connection was fast and reliable and blocked access to five known URLs I tested. This resulted in popup notifications and an HTTP error that appeared within Chrome.

The program did not provide any user-friendly way to disconnect it. This surprised me. I was unable to locate a “disconnect VPN” option in the main menus. So, I had to navigate to my phone’s connectivity settings to get back to normal, unencrypted browsing. The WiFi tab did little more than inform me that I wasn’t connected via a VPN. If it was, my home connection was automatically considered “unsafe” and provide graphics about the dangers of using unsafe connections.

The privacy tabprovides an easily accessible list of apps that have been granted permissions to your handset. This includes read/write access to your Google Calendar. You can click on individual apps to view their permissions on your device. While most of the functionality is already available in the stock menus and Lookout has done an excellent job making it more accessible.

Features

Lookout is not only a security tool, but also includes the following:

Anti-Theft Protection with Advanced Lock-Down Options

This amazing feature allows you to remotely lock the phone in case of loss or theft. You can trigger the theft-protection sequence for certain conditions, such as SIM card removal or airplane mode being disabled. The program will take a picture of the suspect thief and send it to the wp-signup.phped email address.

The program worked well. I was able to take one clear photo with my forward-facing camera. I also received an alert email within seconds. You can also remotely lock your device, trigger an alarm sound to embarrass potential thieves, or wipe the system memory remotely to protect sensitive data.

Breach Reports from Around the Mobile Web

Lookout also has a “Breach Report”, which aggregates reports of data breaches across a wide range of Android apps. If any of these apps are running, you will see them under the “your services” screen. This screen also contains information about recent data breaches. Even though I wasn’t directly affected by the breach, I was able read the report about it that covered more than 50,000,000 users.

Backup Contacts, Photos and Call Logs

Lookout also includes a tool that automatically backs up contact, photos, and call logs. You can choose which backup to run and when to connect to WiFi or another mobile network. This tool is not likely to be useful for Android users who synchronize photos and contacts with Google’s cloud.

Use it quickly

Easy to use and navigate , Lookout is. Multiple theft alerts are simple to set up and configure. The company also provides plenty of information through its menus. After wp-signup.phping, users have online access to the portal that allows them to activate remote device triggers as well as view the location of the device on a world map. There are also basic device information such as the model number, carrier and handset model. These details are required in order to report theft to law enforcement.

Support

Lookout claims it has the “best mobile security team in the world”. It certainly provides decent user resources, although these are a bit short of the claim.

The online help provides detailed information to resolve common problems. Although there were few photos and videos, the knowledge base links to company blog posts that provide clear steps-by-step instructions and lots of screenshots.

It was a little bit of work to find the personalized support channels , which only offer ticketing support . Although I was able to get a prompt response to my test question, a live chat service would have been helpful.

Pricing

Lookout is a freemium model. It offers a 14-day trial to allow users to test the product. Although I was not impressed by many of the premium features, it is a good value for money. The backup function, theft alerts and remote lock and wipe are not available in the free plan.