McAfee Mobile Security Review: Middle of the Road
Our Verdict
McAfee has lots of free features, merely you tin practice better in terms of malware protection. Get Bitdefender if you tin afford $15 a year and Kaspersky if you can't.
For
- Helpful tips throughout the app
- Lots of free features
- Useful guest mode
Against
- Irritating ads in free version
- Expensive premium tiers
- Simply average malware protection
Tom's Guide Verdict
McAfee has lots of gratuitous features, but you lot can do better in terms of malware protection. Get Bitdefender if you lot can beget $xv a year and Kaspersky if yous can't.
Pros
- +
Helpful tips throughout the app
- +
Lots of free features
- +
Useful guest manner
Cons
- -
Irritating ads in free version
- -
Expensive premium tiers
- -
Simply average malware protection
McAfee Mobile Security offers an abundance of free features and a paid tier that removes the ads from the app. Unfortunately, unlike the similar Avast Mobile Security, the paid tier is pretty expensive compared to other best Android antivirus apps, and McAfee removed many of its well-nigh useful features in the summer of 2021.
While McAfee has earned decent malware-protection scores in lab tests over the terminal couple of years, it hasn't matched the consistency of Bitdefender Mobile Security or Norton Mobile Security. Those cost, respectively, half as much and the same price equally McAfee's Premium tier.
Unless you are specifically swayed by the extras found in McAfee, or are willing to put up with the ads and go with the free version of the app, this app is going to be a tough sell for most people.
McAfee Mobile Security costs and what'south covered
As with almost all the antivirus products I tested, McAfee Mobile Security relies on a freemium marketing model. McAfee offers a remarkably robust free tier that includes features like Wi-Fi security that are more typically restricted to paid tiers. (The anti-theft feature has been discontinued.)
Upgrading to the everyman-cost paid service isn't cheap, at $29.99 per yr or $2.99 a calendar month. That gets you safe web browsing, phone back up and freedom from in-app ads. The Guest Mode and App Lock features, which we institute pretty useful, were removed in the summer of 2021.
The side by side step up brings a built-in unlimited VPN service, but the cost jumps all the way to $79.99 a year or $nine.99 a month. Yous should absolutely look at stand-lone VPN options before going with this offering from McAfee.
Equally with most of the other apps I tested, there are corresponding desktop antivirus products from the same brand, and the value for multiple devices is more in line with the rest of the market.
McAfee AntiVirus Plus covers Windows, macOS, iOS and Android devices for $59.99 per yr for 10 (in practice, unlimited) devices, and new subscribers could go this parcel for as low every bit $24.99 when I wrote this review. Pricier McAfee packages go you more than bells and whistles, merely with any of them yous'll become access to some of the best Mac antivirus software and all-time antivirus software overall.
Malware protection
A Deep Scan of my Google Pixel 3 phone with McAfee took approximately iii seconds. Beyond being impressive, this made me wonder if annihilation was actually happening. Just every bit you'll see, the app does have a good malware-detection rate.
More: Best Complimentary Antivirus
McAfee's web protection is available only to Premium subscribers, and information technology supports a handful of widely used browsers, including Chrome, Samsung Internet, Opera Mini and Firefox. Attempting to visit a malicious exam website produced a warning in all supported browsers, with the options to either Continue Me Safe by navigating away from the site, or Open Anyhow.
Malware performance
In 3rd-party lab tests of malware-detection rates, McAfee usually does very well, just its results are sometimes erratic and generally fall just a bit beneath the very best.
In the most recent evaluations conducted by High german lab AV-TEST, in May 2021, McAfee detected 100% of three,316 "real-time" threats encountered online and 100% of ii,978 "widespread" Android malware samples collected in the previous four weeks.
Those friction match the scores of Bitdefender Mobile Security, Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus and Norton Mobile Security. Avast Mobile Security detected but 99.8% of the "real-fourth dimension" threats but 100% of the widespread malware.
Google Play Protect lagged far behind, with terrible detection rates of 74.vi% of real-time malware and 79.6% of widespread malware, the lowest scores of July. (The other two apps that I reviewed in 2019, Qihoo 360 Security and Lookout Security & Antivirus, no longer submit samples to AV-Examination for evaluation.)
Nigh of the apps accept pretty consistent scores of 100% from one testing round to the next, but McAfee falls a chip short from time to fourth dimension with regards to the "real-time" malware, often coming in at 99.7% or 99.9%. However, its scores are better than they were in 2019.
MORE: Don't Trust Google Play Protect to Shield Your Android
In-depth evaluations conducted past Austrian lab AV-Comparatives in July 2019 saw McAfee Mobile Security detecting 99.nine% of real-time malware, matching the detection rates of Avast, Bitdefender and Kaspersky. Google Play Protect got 83.ii%; Lookout, Norton and Qihoo 360 Security were non tested.
Unfortunately, although AV-Comparatives has done two more sets of annual Android evaluations since so, McAfee Mobile Security has non been included.
Anti-Theft (discontinued in summertime 2021)
McAfee Mobile Security had a solid collection of anti-theft features, even for users of the costless version, with support for remotely triggering an warning, locking your device, locating the device, taking a picture with the Thief Cam, wiping your data and performing a full factory reset.
"The free version includes large ads and constant prompts to upgrade."
I tested all the features other than wiping and factory-resetting my device, and they worked within three-5 seconds of my issuing the command via the web portal at mcafeemobilesecurity.com.
The portal was simple but nicely done, with a full-folio map and a pocket-size overlay bearing icons for the various available options bachelor. McAfee had a unique take on the thief cam: Rather than trying to capture a photo without the unauthorized user noticing, it created a fake alarm on the device and snaps a photo when the person taps to dismiss it.
Retentivity Booster (discontinued summertime 2021)
I'm never sold on these supposed performance enhancers. Operating systems do a pretty skilful job handling these things on their own. At least in my experience, McAfee's memory booster cleared out a negligible amount of memory, which would typically fill up upwardly again in brusk guild.
My Watch
Like the Bitdefender and Kaspersky antivirus apps, McAfee's tin can collaborate with a Article of clothing Bone smartwatch. McAfee's app can allow you know when the watch gets out of Bluetooth range of the telephone, and besides notify you of an insecure Wi-Fi network or when the telephone's battery gets low.
Privacy Check
This feature is similar a less-well-implemented version of the Privacy Report on Norton Mobile Security. Information technology feeds y'all information about any app that you could too observe in the app-settings bill of fare of your device. McAfee does sort your apps by level of privacy concern and, at a certain threshold, puts them into a separate tab labeled Privacy Alerts.
Safe Wi-Fi
This characteristic scans the Wi-Fi network to which you are connected to meet if it lacks a password or encryption. Safe Wi-Fi as well will report if your Wi-Fi connection has been hijacked, but I was unable to exam that characteristic.
Storage Cleaner (discontinued summer 2021)
Unlike with Memory Heave, I think there is validity to a storage cleaner, as I'm regularly forgetting near some picture show, evidence or podcast I downloaded that could hands be cleared off my device. Apparently, you tin can do this yourself, simply it is convenient to see all the potential trash in 1 place and to clear it all away in merely a few clicks.
App Lock (discontinued summer 2021)
An increasingly common and useful feature amidst Android antivirus apps, this permit you lot create a secondary level of security using a Pivot or your fingerprint to lock specific apps. You lot could use this for apps that you actually don't want someone else to admission should you hand them your device unlocked.
The user interface in McAfee's app lock was a bit of a mess, with too many tabs and odd alignment issues, merely the feature worked just fine.
Invitee Mode (discontinued summertime 2021)
This subset of App Lock was quite a useful addition, equally information technology allowed you to create a Invitee account and select which apps that business relationship could access. Rather than e'er having certain apps locked in case you handed your device over to someone else, this characteristic allowed you to just quickly enable the guest mode when necessary.
VPN Guard
Again, I strongly recommend that you lot look into stand up-solitary VPN options rather than paying $50 a yr to upgrade to this built-in pick with McAfee, simply I didn't have whatsoever issues with the actual functionality. I had no significant slowdowns on my Wi-Fi speeds while using the VPN.
VPN Guard lets yous choose from a number of server locations across the earth, although there is just one choice for the U.S. You lot tin can choose to automatically connect to your VPN when on Wi-Fi or cellular data, just y'all tin also flag trusted networks that won't trigger your VPN.
Arrangement impact
To evaluate the affect of running McAfee Mobile Security on my device, I conducted multiple tests using the Geekbench iv Android benchmarking tool on my Google Pixel 3 phone running Android 9.0 Pie. I offset established a baseline performance for the device before McAfee was installed, and so ran additional tests following installation and during a total scan with the antivirus app.
MORE: Best Unlocked Smartphones
With McAfee Mobile Security installed but not actively scanning, I saw a v.32% decrease in the baseline Geekbench 4 score. In that location was a slightly greater functioning subtract, of 8.19%, during a total scan.
This was but skillful plenty for seventh out of viii apps in the passive category and fifth out of eight in the active category. However, in both cases McAfee's results were non far from the apps just in a higher place it in the rankings and well alee of showings from the concluding-place entry, 360 Security.
Setup and support
McAfee has one of the most straightforward setup processes of all Android antivirus apps. It shows you a screen of all the permissions that y'all volition need to grant, along with an caption of why each is necessary. I was done setting the app up in less than two minutes.
Unlike many of the costless options, McAfee actually offers online chat support 24/7, along with the McAfee support forums and noesis center. Premium subscribers proceeds 24/vii phone back up.
Interface
The user interface for McAfee Mobile Security reminded me quite a flake of Avast Mobile Security. In both, a large box dedicated to malware scanning dominates at the tiptop of the screen, with admission to four other chief functions below it. Both are quite a bit more convoluted in the ad-supported costless versions, due to the large ads and constant prompts to upgrade.
As you dive deeper into the McAfee app, you definitely striking some more outdated-looking screens. App Lock is one such example, with a tabbed interface that doesn't seem to line up quite correct, merely even these screens remain intuitive.
One nice thing McAfee does is place fiddling question-mark icons next to most features. Click on i, and you'll go a reasonably thorough explanation of what that feature does.
McAfee Mobile Security review: Bottom line
McAfee has a few clever ideas and a refreshingly simple setup process. Simply unless yous are willing to put upward with ads to stick with the gratis version, there'southward simply no reason to opt for McAfee Mobile Security over Bitdefender Mobile Security or Norton Mobile Security every bit a paid solution amid the all-time Android antivirus apps.
UPDATED with discontinuation of several features. This review was originally published Oct. x, 2019.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/mcafee-mobile-security
Posted by: corbintury1971.blogspot.com
0 Response to "McAfee Mobile Security Review: Middle of the Road"
Post a Comment