Expert review
Positives
- Excellent virus protection
- Detailed web protection
- Best VPN in its class
Disadvantages
- Lacks anti-theft protection
- Relatively expensive
Our verdict
It’s not the cheapest, but for the base price you actually get a lot, including a good VPN service. Excellent extra security on social media is a plus, but more features would have been nice.
Price upon review
Free
Best prices today: Norton 360: Mobile Security
Norton 360 Mobile Security is part of the manufacturer’s multi-license Norton 360 security suite, but can also be purchased separately for mobile only.
You choose between a subscription without VPN and identity monitoring for dark web leaks, and a subscription including this. Both are relatively expensive: the simplest subscription costs €12.99 per year or $19.99 in the US and the full version with VPN for £22.98, again for the first year.
Norton doesn’t have a free version, but you can get a full refund within the first 14 days. Don’t forget to unsubscribe from the Google Play Store before then if you don’t want to continue paying. It is too available for iOS.
After installation, an initial virus scan and the usual hassle with all the permissions the app needs, I’m greeted by a clean and uncluttered interface. It makes good use of the limited screen real estate, but it can be a little difficult to intuitively understand where your various functions are located.
For example, VPN falls under the privacy section and is the only function there. Then why don’t we just call it VPN? However, there are not that many individual functions, so you learn that quickly.
Scanning and VPN
You perform a manual virus scan by swiping down on the screen, and swiping up to find a security report. It records app and user activity and also gives you a detailed list of installed apps and their risks, how much data they collect, what permissions they request, and more.
Norton blocks access to malicious websites in apps such as Chrome, Instagram, Facebook and Outlook. Probably more apps too, but these were the relevant ones I had installed on my test phone. Even links in text messages are scanned before you can click them.
You can also get a quick icon to Norton Safe Search, a separate search box that provides safe search results. The same feature is also available in the Windows version of Norton 360.
The VPN (if you choose this plan) is one of the better ones I’ve tried, with fast servers, or at least fast enough, all over the world. There aren’t as many to choose from as, say, McAfee’s service, with servers in about 30 countries. But even on the other side of the planet they are fast enough to stream from video services, for example.
Whether that means you can always escape regional locks is no guarantee, but no VPN can claim that.
Identity monitor and more
Identity Monitor, which tracks sensitive information on the darknet, lets you log five email addresses, five phone numbers, ten credit card numbers, and some other information like gamertags and passport details.
Norton’s service provides the same alerts as its competitors about everything I want to monitor, but is much less intrusive compared to McAfee, which doesn’t take into account if I manually mark an issue as resolved. It is much more discreet and smooth.
All of Norton’s features are individually very good. It’s 100% virus-resistant, it offers excellent protection for web browsing and links in instant messaging, texting and email, and the VPN service is really good if you’re willing to pay for it.
But that’s it, you don’t get any bonus features like backup, call management or anti-theft. Then the somewhat high price can make it difficult to justify a purchase.
Specifications
- Norton 360 mobile security
- Android 8+
- Current and previous two versions of Apple iOS
- Privacy monitoring
- Browser protection
- Safe search
- VPN
- Wi-Fi control
- Number blocking
- Identity monitoring
This article originally appeared in our sister publication PC for Alla and was translated and adapted from Swedish.
