I have always been against security and antivirus apps on Android for 2 reasons:
1. The number of malware that the average person sees is little to none.
2. The phones couldn’t handle the extra app running all the time.
But is today’s world it looks like both of these things have changed a bit. My Samsung Galaxy S4 can handle the extra load on the processor and it seems to do alright on battery life the extra work…
So with that said I would like to discuss LookOut. I can remember that I fought against lookout for a long time, even at a time when I was paid a little spiff for selling the premium version of it at work. I disagreed with it so much that I didn’t make a cent off that spiff… I may have even talked people out of it…
But I decided to give it another shot. I like to install apps, even 10 or 20 a day at times… I have my S4, an Android tablet, and even Android on my TV (thanks to the OUYA). I thought, “What could it hurt?”.
Well this time I liked it. It works pretty flawlessly. I can’t even see a difference in the performance or battery life, plus it has a ton of features that make the free version of the service a “can’t pass up” deal.
What features, you ask? Take a look at the list:
Locate a lost device – Even if the battery dies with the phone lost in the couch cushions. Right before the battery dies the phone sends out a “beacon” with the gps and tells the service that the phone died and where it is at that time. Plus (if you catch it before the battery dies) you can make the phone “scream”. It remotely turns on an obnoxious alarm so that you can easily find that phone that fell under your car seat…
Remote locking and wiping – Just like the big corporate guys with their ability to remote wipe through an Exchange server YOU have the ability to remotely lock, or wipe your phone in a situation like it being lost or stolen.
Lock Screen Camera – Probably the coolest feature out there. if someone tries to unlock your phone 5 times incorrectly (although it feels like 2 sometimes) you will get an email with a photograph of the person and a map where the phone is located… Very cool if you lose the phone and want to try and hunt it down.
New App/File Scanning – Any time you download ANYTHING, or install an app it will scan the file for known issues. Although I whipped up a buggy app using the MIT App Inventor and installed it and it came back fine, but there was no malicious files in it, just a bunch of buttons that didnt work…
So my overall opinion is that I am very satisfied with the app and I will keep it on my phone for a while and let the funny pictures of my 4 and 7 year old kids keep rolling in…