Useful Android App – Lookout Mobile Security

This is a must have app for any Android user. It is free and extremely useful. Lookout Mobile Security allows you to scan your device for viruses, back-up date to a free online account and helps you to locate your device if it is lost or stolen.

Although there are no known viruses for Android, it does not hurt to have a scanner there just in case, especially considering that this one is free. You can turn the virus scan off if you feel you don’t need it, set the regularity of scans and it will also scan any new apps that you download automatically.

In the settings you can configure whether or not notifications are shown and personally I turn this off in order to save on battery. I have also configured the backup options to my own liking. Using Lookout, you are able to backup photos, contacts and call history. If you have a gmail account, there is no need to backup contacts as this can be done automatically using Android. However, I like the idea of backing my photos up every so often, even though they are saved on this SD card as well. Backing up photos does take longer and uses more battery, so I have it set to backup once a week. You are also able to set the time and day that the backup is performed, so I have this set to the middle of he night when I know my device is likely to be on charge.

The third feature of Lookout is device location. If your device is lost, or stolen, you can access it remotely from the account that is created when you sign up to Lookout. You can then make the device ‘scream’ or simply determine its location using GPS. If the GPS is turned off when the phone is lost, the location i determined if/when a backup is performed, which gives another reason to have a regular back scheduled.

Overall a great app and well worth downloading.