Earlier this week, Lookout Mobile Security announced a premium service to go along with their popular free Android security suite. The free version is already pretty loaded with features, including the ability to scan your apps for spyware and malware, backup and restore your contacts, and help locate your phone if you lose it.
Lookout Premium, which runs for $2.99 a month, adds increased privacy with the new “Privacy Advisor”, the ability to lock and wipe your phone remotely, and the ability to backup photos and call logs. This all sounds pretty good in theory, but how does it actually measure up? Continue reading below to find out in our official review of the new Lookout Premium.
I must admit that before installing Lookout Mobile Security, I never really gave much consideration to a security app for my phone. However, due to some recent news about possible Android security flaws, perhaps its time to start taking anti malware and spyware apps more seriously. The new Premium service does not add anything new in terms of the scanning features, although this is still a nice feature to have in case a malicious app is somehow installed.
The next feature, Privacy Advisor, scans your installed apps and tells you which of them can track your location, read your identity info, and access messages. I was rather surprised to learn which apps have access to my SMS messages, such as a couple of the Gameloft titles I have installed like Assassin’s Creed. I’m not too concerned about it, but for anyone that is wanting to know what apps have access to these types of phone services, this is certainly a nice feature.
Lookout Premium also adds the ability to backup your photos and call history in addition to your contacts, which is a pretty nice addition in my opinion. My one complaint here is that it does not currently back up text messages, although when speaking with Kevin Mahaffey, Lookout’s CTO, I was informed that they are looking into this for future releases.
The final feature of Lookout Premium is the ability to lock and wipe your device remotely, which I feel is the biggest selling point here. You can already locate your phone and sound an alarm to help you find it in case it goes missing, but suppose your device ends up in the wrong hands? As long as its on and has a Wi-Fi or data connection, you can lock your phone out remotely through the Lookout website, and even wipe your data if you so choose. If you have a lot of sensitive data on your device, I think this is worth the $2.99 a month alone.
After using Lookout Premium for a couple of days, and trying out all of the new features, I can safely say this is an excellent security solution for Android. With Lookout Premium, you’ll never have to worry about a malicious app sneaking its way onto your device, you will always know which apps are accessing what thanks to the Privacy Advisor, and you can rest easily knowing that if you lose your phone, you can lock it out completely and wipe your data to avoid any sensitive material being seen by the wrong people.
I think this app is well worth the $2.99 a month, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is concerned about securing their mobile phone from bad apps and prying eyes. Hit up our download link below to try out the free version of Lookout, and if you want to have all of these extra features, you can upgrade to Premium directly from the app.
Download: Lookout Mobile Security
Also, be sure to check out our Lookout Premium contest for your chance to win a free 1-year subscription! You can also get more info about Lookout by checking out their website.