Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition Review

The anti-malware side of Android apps may not be particularly necessary yet but these types of programs can still be of some use in terms of privacy and anti-theft features. With that in mind, does Trend Micro Mobile Security fit the bill?

Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Ed.

If you try this Android security app you can get it for nothing for 3 months. But is it worth having?

As you may already know, I don’t believe the direct threat of Android malware is as severe as some solution providers might have you believe. Therefore, I think it is important for any such security app to offer other features such as anti-theft in order to be worthy of consideration. Or be totally free of charge.

Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition is free at all times for the app scanner and for everything else for the first 3 months after you install it.

If you’ve tried other security apps before then the first thing you’ll notice is that this one is a little light on features, especially if you only have access to the vanilla free version – in that case an app scanner is all you get.

With the paid version you’ll also get access to:

• Parental Controls
• Fraudulent Website Blocker
• Remote Device Protection
• Filter Calls And Text Messages (by number or keywords)

The scanning function that comes with both versions of the app is pretty basic. It does exactly what you would expect it to and in short time (mere seconds on my tablet).

The effectiveness of Android malware scanners isn’t particularly easy to guage so here is a link – to AV-TEST.org – where you will see that this is rated far from being the best.

The other functions, only available in the paid version, are certainly more impressive however.

The ability to track, lock or wipe a phone or tablet that has been lost or stolen is certainly useful and is, to my mind, the area in which such apps need to focus for the time being. The Scream function is also useful too, allowing you to find a misplaced phone (even if it is set to silent) or to make a thief jump in a big way.

Like other comparable apps, Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition allows you to track a missing device through a web portal using Google Maps. This is a highly desirable feature in my opinion.

Just like most other Android security apps, Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition comes in two forms – a paid for version and a free one.

The free version only offers an app scanner which doesn’t offer much value in my opinion (but, hey, its free).

The additional features that come with the paid version are the ones that you most probably want so you would need to consider whether this app is worth paying for (£19/year UK price) or not. Before you do though, consider the competition, as there is plenty of it!