Lookout Life Review 2024: Does It Provide Enough Antivirus Protection?

Lookout Life claims to be a security and antivirus product, but it’s more focused on anti-theft and anti-fraud. No third-party testing, confusing pricing, and features that require you to simply trust it’s working all add up to make this a less-than-satisfactory addition to your mobile security stack. 

The anti-theft and identity theft protection features do seem to provide the protection it claims, and the Wi-Fi scanner is a nice touch, but can this app stand on those alone? 

Lookout Life review at a glance

Price	$2.49-$9.99/mo
Free plan	Yes
# of devices protected	5
Malware scans	Real-time scanning only
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	N/A
Firewall	Yes
Phishing protection	Yes
Compatibility	Android, iOS
Extras	Identity monitoring, identity theft insurance
24/7 customer support	No
Details	Get Lookout

Our experience

Overall we thought Lookout was fine. We tested it on our iPhone 13, though the iOS app is missing features like Privacy Advisor, which consolidates your apps that can access your private information and scans every app you download, Remote Lock, and Remote Wipe. 

The Device Security features alerted us to our outdated operating system and Safe Wi-Fi determined whether our Wi-Fi was safe. Theft Alerts could help you locate your lost device if you don't already have an app like Find My iPhone in use. The ID Scan that searched if our email address has been compromised was probably the most visually useful feature. 

There was little setup, and the download and installation were easy. Most features come toggled on, but you may be required to toggle on some of the features when you start up. Also, we had to grant permission for the DNS proxy and then activate it.

Who is Lookout Life best for?

• Recommended for Android users wanting anti-theft and anti-fraud protection

Lookout Life is an app available for Android and iOS devices. T-Mobile customers may be familiar with Lookout as the free version comes preinstalled on T-Mobile Android phones. 

Lookout may be for you if you’re looking for anti-theft or anti-fraud for your mobile device. Features include real-time protection while surfing the web, a locator if your phone is lost or stolen, and a Wi-Fi scanner that checks public Wi-Fi for safety. Other personal safety features include email scanning to check if your email address was part of a breach and ensuring you’re running the most current (and safest) version of your phone’s operating system.

Lookout Premium Plus builds on these features by offering identity theft protection features. This include identity monitoring and protection of your personal information and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance in the event of identity theft. 

It’s worth noting that Lookout touts itself as an antivirus, but that doesn’t seem to be the key focus of the features available. In 2024, Lookout was acquired by F-Secure, of F-Secure antivirus, but it doesn't seem to have integrated those features into the app.

Lookout Life prices and subscriptions

Lookout has three plan tiers, Basic Free, Premium, and Premium Plus, that run from $2.49-$9.99/mo. The cost will depend on how much protection you're seeking and your preferred term length (annual or monthly). 

We weren't able to find a plan breakdown on the website,  so the information in the table below is directly from the app and from scouring the help center. 

	Lookout Life Basic Free	Lookout Premium	Lookout Premium Plus
Price for the first year	Free	$2.49/mo (billed annually)	$4.99/mo (billed annually)
# devices supported	5	5	5
Compatible with	Android, iOS	Android, iOS	Android, iOS
Manual and auto scan
Phishing protection
Firewall
Real-time protection
Ransomware protection
Parental controls
Performance optimization tools
VPN
ID scan
Data breach reports
Identity monitoring
Identity theft insurance

Lookout Life security features

Lookout Life has several useful features for keeping up with online best practices. 

Malware and antivirus scan

Lookout’s malware and antivirus scanning is technically built into the Safe Browsing feature via the Safe Browsing scanners and ID Scan. It performs real-time scans of apps and websites you’re using on your phone to check for potential threats but not much more than that.

It also allows you to toggle the feature off and on depending on your needs. There doesn’t seem to be a difference in speed and load time if the toggle is on or off for Safe Browsing. Neither of these options provides strong antivirus or anti-malware scanning, but at least there’s something.

Phishing protection

Lookout includes phishing protection and anti-spam features, but we couldn’t really determine whether these features worked. We went into our email spam folder and didn’t see a difference in the email presentation. No alerts came up on our phone or appeared in the app. 

The app does show flagged URLs in the Safe Browsing feature, but it doesn’t mention if those come from email or web browsing. The app also fails to mention if those addresses contain any spyware, adware, or other more aggressive forms of malware.

Firewall

The Domain Name System (DNS) proxy offered with Lookout is an easy toggle after you’ve installed the app. You will have to give permission to enable the feature in your phone’s settings. 

Lookout walks you through how to enable this feature. Its protection is built on a triple tier of encryption, authentication, and integrity, assuring it has thoroughly checked the website you’re visiting.

Real-time protection

Real-time protection is probably the most apparent feature of the Lookout app. Located in the Safe Browsing tab, Lookout gives you real-time updates about URLs that are flagged. Although there don’t appear to be any alerts as you’re browsing, the app runs in the background collecting information. 

There didn’t appear to be any ad blockers or overt malware alerts included with the app.

Ransomware protection

Again, this is built into the Safe Browsing feature. It says it stops ransomware from downloading to your phone, but we didn’t see any instances of the app specifically stopping ransomware. It’s a “take our word for it” situation. The feature is supposed to work in real time, so you can continue to look at the URLs blocked in the app.

Anti-fraud protection

Anti-fraud protection is the flagship feature of the Lookout app. However, there's no fraud protection with the free version, which seems odd conisdering its prominence.

The ID Scan and Breach Report features are available on the Premium version. ID Scan searches the internet to see whether your email was a part of any security breaches. Breach Report will allow you to search specific sites or apps to see whether they have been breached. 

Both of these features are reactive rather than proactive, so it doesn’t protect you from a breach. The app just lets you know if your information has been exposed.

If you upgrade to Premium Plus, you’ll also receive the Identity Monitoring and Protection suite. The Identity Monitoring service is a proactive feature. This service will alert you if your data is being used someplace it shouldn’t by monitoring both the dark web and regular web for your personal information.

You also receive up to $1 million in losses if fraud happens as a direct result of Lookout failing to secure your data. Plus, you'll get 24/7  restoration support from Lookout's team of ID restoration experts.

Bonus features

In addition to the anti-fraud tools mentioned above, Lookout includes a few other notable features.

Social Media Watch

Social Media Watch scans compatible social media sites for posts or mentions that may harm your reputation or expose you to identity theft. It works with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Scans look for these qualifiers:

• Potentially offensive posts and replies
• Offensive content associated with your account
• Foul language
• Sexual content
• Drug or alcohol references
• Personal information made public

Signal Flare

If your device is lost and running out of battery, Signal Flare automatically saves your device’s location at the last moment before it runs out of battery.

Theft Alerts

If Lookout thinks your phone may have been stolen, it will email you and let you know. You can then log in to the Lookout website to see where your device may have been taken.

Lookout Life test results

It’s difficult to know whether some of Lookout's purported features are working. Usually, this can be backed up by third-party testing sites such as AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives. Unfortunately, recent data for Lookout simply isn’t available.

Lookout hasn't participated in third-party testing for several years. Its most recent AV-TEST show that it struggled a lot with malware protection, while its most recent AV-Comparatives score show that it detected the majority of malicious apps and had no false positives.

We review the available test results below, but take them with a grain of salt due to how dated the results are.

AV-TEST results

• Result: Aced the usability tests, but struggled with the protection test

AV-TEST is an independent research institute that tests antivirus programs with its extensive collection of digital malware samples. It runs tests focusing on three major test categories:

• Malware protection: Can the antivirus detect and block antivirus?
• Performance: Can the antivirus have minimal impact on device performance?
• Usability: Can the antivirus correctly detect cyberthreats?

Test type	Android 11 score
Protection	1.5/6
Performance	N/A
Usability	6/6
Total	7.5/18
Date	January 2016
Link to test	Link

  

The most recent tests found are from January 2016, which is forever in tech, especially if you’re talking about malware protection. Even with those tests, its detection and response rate was significantly below the industry average, and the product was much different than the one offered today.

AV-Comparatives test results

• Result: Approved by AV-Comparatives, though it had a lower score than most popular antivirus programs.

AV-Comparatives is another independent organization we refer to for third-party test results. It creates a real-world environment to test antivirus software on Windows, macOS, and Android. 

Since Lookout is a mobile app, we only reviewed mobile security scores. 

Test type	Mobile security
Score	99.6%
Platform	Android
Date	January 2019
Link	Link

In January 2019, the Lookout app tested well enough with a 99.6% detection rate. Although it was surpassed by programs like Avast, Bitdefender, and McAfee, which all scored 100%, it still had a near-perfect score. Again, it’s unfortunate these tests were run on the old version of the app. 

Lookout Life compatibility

Lookout is a security product geared specifically toward Android and iOS products. Both T-Mobile and AT&T mention Lookout in their mobile sections.

Lookout Life customer support

Support is mainly a self-help situation with Lookout. The Support and FAQs page is the only option provided when you click on the Support links on both the website and the mobile app. 

The bottom of the support pages do have a link on text that reads, "Have a question? Submit a request." You'll be able to fill out a form for email support from Lookout.

Top alternatives

Lookout alternative is best for anti-fraud situations, but what if you're looking for an app that specializes in antivirus instead? Here are some recommended alternatives for more well-rounded antivirus:

FAQs

Bottom line: Is Lookout Life good?

We don't think Lookout Life is good, at least not for being advertised as an antivirus program. With no third-party testing, it’s difficult to say whether the product even works. The real-time scanners are an honor system on its part, and you have no control over scanning. Finally, the conflicting information on the collection and sale of data is confusing.

Even with the anti-theft and Wi-Fi scanning features, it doesn’t seem worth it to use this app. The best antivirus products also carry mobile protection, like Norton and McAfee.