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Have you ever gotten a virus or had someone hack your account? With all the private data you store on your computer, it can be a gut-wrenching feeling. Today’s smartphones offer the same worries. Your phone can contain all of your contacts, web browsing history, private messages, photos, videos, and access to lots of online accounts. Luckily, the likelihood of your phone data and access being compromised is minimal, but it’s always better to play it safe. There are several options out there to help you protect your smartphone from potential threats, but the one I am going to review today is called TrustR from Rookie Systems.
Identify Smartphone Security Threats
TrustR is an app that scans your device to locate security issues found in other apps. The system that it uses is based on a large database of known security issues and is updated by security professionals daily, according to the developer. The operation couldn’t be easier. After installing the app, you press a giant button (aptly labelled “Press”) and it scans your device, comparing installed versions applications against their central database. From there, it identifies matches in three categories:
Existing Security Problems – These are all the apps that have some level of insecure data or some other issue that may compromise your data or device.
Malicious Apps – These are apps with known malicious behavior such as theft of information or spying built into the app.
Patched Apps – These are apps that had a problem at one point that has since been resolved.
The free version shows the first three threats, and the paid version ($3.99) shows you all threats. After you’ve discovered potential threats, it is up to you to upgrade or remove an app or decide that the threat doesn’t warrant removal or upgrading.
How Well Did It Work?
As mentioned, the app is incredibly easy to use, which is refreshing for a security application. This is because Rookie Systems smartly decided to stick to what’s important.
I was not too surprised to see a few popular apps I use daily had very minor infractions that I’m not worried about. I was a little surprised to find that my PayPal app had a pretty serious man-in-the-middle hole in it several upgrades ago. It’s been fine for a while, but I wonder how long the hole was there before I upgraded.
Although it wasn’t listed as a paid feature, the paid version of TrustR asked for permission to send me push notifications. I agreed, thinking that this would generate a warning when I installed a new app. Sadly, when I removed and then re-installed the WordPress app, there was no notification. I can only imagine, then, that this allows TrustR to periodically alert me if a new threat is added to their database that matches an already installed app. The more I think about it, it would be great if TrustR did both.
Over all, four bucks seems like a jump from free without additional features (other than the unlimited warnings) but it also feels like a good price for piece of mind. Download the free version and list your top three problem apps in the comments below.
This review, although sponsored, contains my honest opinions of the product reviewed.