Android App Review: Trend Micro Mobile Security

Trend Micro have been in the online security / anti-virus business for a while, and now that business has extended to mobile devices.

Trend Micro Mobile Security is an app with a range of digital safety features. The main one is, logically enough, the anti-virus protection.

According to the Google play store: “Trend Micro Mobile Security provides 99.9% detection according to Av-test.org and is also certified by PCSL and AV-Comparatives.”

I can only assume this is good if they’re willing to brag about it.

The problem with anti-virus scanning is it’s a bit like a doctor – if either one tells you you’re healthy then you just have to take their word. Mobile Security assures me that there aren’t any viruses on my phone. I have to assume that this means there really aren’t any, rather than Mobile Security is just unable to find them.

Mobile Security comes in two versions, Free and Premium. With the free option you still get the anti-virus scanning and online data backup. With the paid version you get all that plus a Data Theft Scanner and Lost Device Protection, which lets you find and access a lost phone from your computer.

I went to the website, logged in and asked it where my phone was. After a long while where both my computer and phone appeared to be busily doing things, the website confirmed that my phone was indeed in my house. This is reassuring, and I’m sure it would have behaved just as well even if the phone wasn’t sitting right next to the computer.

Once I’d located my phone the website gave me options to lock it, wipe it, or make it ‘scream’, but all of these sounded too unappealing to bring myself to click them.

If I was going to find fault with Mobile Security it would have to be with the layout. While everything is arranged pretty logically – things are roughly where you’d expect, and easy enough to find – it’s not the prettiest layout, nor the easiest to navigate.

On a smaller screen some of the text is tiny, and you’re expected to scroll through cramped areas while there are wide borders of wasted space next to them. This is mainly a complaint about the main page, as later sections are more easily laid out.

This is minor though, as complaints go. On a bigger tablet screen it wouldn’t be a problem, and given how often you’d need to navigate through Mobile Security’s options (ideally never, after the initial setup) it’s not too much of a hassle.

Given that the free version gives you the anti-virus protection and 50mb of data backup, whether you want to put the money in for the Premium edition will rest a lot on how valuable you think the Lost Device Protection and the Data Theft Scanner are.

At roughly thirty-five dollars for a year’s subscription, it’s unlikely to break the bank, and like any insurance it relies on the fact that the worst case scenario of a stolen phone – or worse, stolen information – could wind up being a lot more expensive.