Norton Mobile Security 2014

Protecting your Android device from malicious apps and other forms of malware is a must. With a perfect malware detection score from AV-Test, Norton Mobile Security by Symantec has anti-malware protection down pat. However, the app's privacy, anti-theft and other security features aren't quite up to the same level as the competition. MORE: Best Android Anti-Virus Software 2014 Setup and interface We had some difficulty setting up Norton's app the first time. First, we signed up for a Norton account online via login.norton.com. We downloaded the Norton Mobile Security app from the Google Play app store and signed in using our Norton-account email address and password. We then tapped "Upgrade to Premium" in Norton Mobile Security. The app sent us an automatic email message with an embedded URL, instructing us to open the URL from our mobile device, a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4. But the URL simply took us back to Google Play. Returning to the Web portal and entering our Premium code didn't work, either. We finally uninstalled and reinstalled Norton Mobile Security to activate its premium features. This created another problem: Norton said we had already registered our device. We then factory-reset our phone and downloaded Norton Mobile Security from the Google Play store again. This time we made a new Norton account with a new email and password from within the app, then tapped "I have already purchased" to enter our promo code. This worked perfectly. Once you do get Norton Mobile Security up and running, you'll be greeted by a home page divided into six buttons: "Anti-Malware," "Anti-Theft," "Backup," "Call Blocking," "Web Protection" and "Norton Apps." (If you haven't paid for the premium version, you'll also see a gap at the bottom of the screen, then a bar suggesting you upgrade.) MORE: Mobile Security Guide: Everything You Need to Know Tapping each button launches a corresponding menu; you can also swipe to the left or right to cycle through the menus. Tapping our Galaxy S4's physical menu button launched Norton Mobile Security's settings menu, which listed a few more anti-theft features; other devices may have an in-app menu icon. Norton Mobile Security's interface looks attractive and is perfectly functional, but the gap at the bottom and the extra features found only under the settings menu give the app a slightly unpolished feel. Mobile-security apps from Lookout, McAfee and Avast feel more streamlined while containing more information. Detection and performance Norton's most recent build, 3.8 for Android 4.3, achieved a perfect score on AV-Test's malware detection scan, detecting 100 percent of the 2,191 types of malware the test threw at it. In our latest round of reviews, only McAfee and Kaspersky also had perfect scores. Lookout and Avast weren't far behind with scores of 99.4 percent and 98.7 percent, respectively. However, Norton Mobile Security did not detect the well-known EICAR test virus, which we downloaded using mobile Chrome, even after multiple scans. A Norton representative told us that Norton Mobile Security doesn't scan ".com" files (a type of DOS executable file) such as the EICAR test virus because they're no threat to Android devices. Nevertheless, the other four mobile anti-virus apps we tested found it. MORE: Best PC Anti-Virus Software 2014 Norton Mobile Security may also slow your phone's performance during a malware scan. Our Samsung Galaxy S4 scored 2,212 on the Geekbench 3 benchmark test before installing Norton, 2,322 after installation and 1,666 during a scan. The 656-point performance hit while scanning was smaller than McAfee's 1,064 or Kaspersky's 774, but more than Avast's 626-point hit. Lookout's delta during a scan was only 130 points. Anti-theft and data protection When you first access Norton Mobile Security's anti-theft features, the app generates a four-digit passcode for locking and unlocking your phone or tablet. From Norton's Web portal at mobilesecurity.norton.com, you can remotely lock the device, make it "scream" (sounding a klaxon-like alarm), locate it via GPS, wipe it of all personal data such as contact information and call history, or back up its contacts -- all standard anti-theft features. You can also activate Norton's anti-theft features by texting commands such as "lock" or "scream," followed by your four-digit PIN, to your phone. Of the four other mobile-security apps we tested, only Avast let users do this. The last anti-theft feature, Sneak Peek, lets you remotely take a photo with your device's front-facing camera. We like that these photos appear right in the Web portal, although the portal can store only the 10 most recent images. Sneak Peek can't be activated by texting. Norton's Backup feature lets you upload your phone's contacts to Norton's servers, from which you can also restore contacts to a device. The app doesn't back up any other content. For comparison, Lookout Mobile Security backs up contacts, photos and call history, and McAfee and Avast back up text messages, call logs, contacts and media files such as photos and videos. Avast also backs up apps. Of the apps we reviewed, only Kaspersky had no backup feature. Norton's Call Blocking feature lets you create a "Block List" of numbers that you don't want calling and texting your phone, helping eliminate spam. Lookout's app didn't have this feature at all, but Kaspersky, Avast and McAfee all offered much more nuanced control over calling and texting blacklists than Norton. Norton's Web Protection feature prevents you from loading potentially malicious websites in the mobile Chrome browser or default Android browser. It defaults to "on" as soon as Norton Mobile Security is installed. Lookout and Kaspersky's security apps had nearly identical features, but McAfee's Web protection covered only the Android browser. MORE: 8 Best Android Backup Apps Avast's mobile app, on the other hand, protected Amazon Silk and Boat Browser as well as Chrome and the Android browser. Avast also plans to add support for the popular Dolphin browser. Additional anti-theft features are available in Norton Mobile Security's settings menu, found by tapping the Android device's menu button or, on some devices, an in-app menu button. There, users can activate the SIM Card Lock, which will lock the device if its SIM card is removed, or set the device to wipe itself after 10 failed unlock attempts. Only Kaspersky also has this SIM card feature. Web console Norton's Web console is accessible from its main website at us.norton.com. From there, it takes some clicking, but you'll get to mobilesecurity.norton.com, where you can remotely lock, wipe, back up and locate the device, or make it emit that horrible wailing noise via the "Scream" button. The Web console also lets you activate the "Sneak Peek" feature. Premium vs. Lite Norton Mobile Security's premium version costs $29.99 for one year, or $49.99 for two years. The company's Lite version, which can be downloaded for free on the Google Play app store, includes the app's complete anti-virus functionality, as well as the ability to remotely lock your device via the Web portal or text messages. The other anti-theft features, as well as backup, call blocking and Web protection, are premium-only. Verdict Norton is a top anti-virus provider; even if it tripped over the EICAR test, its perfect AV-Test score counts for far more. The app also comes with most of the features an average phone user will want from a security app, as well as the ability to control the app via SMS commands and a feature that automatically locks a phone if the SIM card is removed. However, Norton Mobile Security is lighter on features than its main competitors, both for its Lite and Premium versions, and the features it does have can't be customized as much as other apps permit. Norton's data backup and call and text blacklists are also bare minimum, and it doesn't have a privacy adviser feature at all. Compared to McAfee Mobile Security, which also got a perfect AV-Test score, Norton's features are pretty limited. Norton Mobile Security gets the job done, but before you make your decision, remember that you have other options.