At a Glance
Click Start Settings Control Panel. Click 'Add/Remove Programs'. The 'Currently installed programs' list in the 'Add or Remove Programs' tool lists all of the Windows-compatible programs that have an uninstall program or feature. Remove a controlled application using a specific application uninstaller. Sophos Home keeps you safe using a layered approach. Cybersecurity is not one-size-fits-all, so we’ve customized how Sophos Home protects devices based on the operating system. Windows PC; Mac; Android; Apple iOS. If installing via Apple Remote Desktop with UNIX commands, the command needs to be altered slightly sudo './Sophos Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/tools/InstallationDeployer' -install The customer will be prompted for the password of the account that is currently logged in.
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Detection of ransomware in progress
- Low price per computer
- Cloud-based remote configuration
Cons
- Bug in current version that requires repetitive log in to view activity history
Our Verdict
Sophos Home Premium has the most extensive and up-to-date approach to fighting malware at an unbeatable price.
Sophos released its latest version of what it simply calls Sophos Home (free) and Sophos Home Premium (paid) just before we began testing, and as such it may have a leg up on competitors that have revisions in progress. As it stands, the set of features, cloud-based configuration, and price make it the outstanding entrant in the field.
On its anti-virus performance, it’s not perfect, but it’s close. AV-TEST found it detected 98.4 percent of macOS malware, over 95 percent of macOS PUA, and over 99 percent of Windows malware. Those scores could be marginally better, but these databases are constantly being updated. During our real-world tests, it knocked out macOS malware as soon as it was unzipped from an encrypted archive. It also prevented us from loading web pages with malicious software via the WICAR test site.
Note: This review is part of our best antivirus roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them.
Sophos doesn’t have a full standalone app to manage its operation. Rather, you use the cloud-based Web app in a browser to handle configuration, operation, and remote management of other systems. Sophos appears in macOS as just a system menu item with a few options, such as the ability to perform a manual scan. Because the software protects a system in real time, the scan function is needed only if protection is otherwise paused.
The cloud-based approach allows Sophos to push updates to its interface without requiring a user download, and it has the most robust remote management of any of the software packages we tested. Only Sophos seems to put all controls in the cloud, while other AV software that offer Web-based controls have just a subset, such as initiating a remote scan.
Sophos markets this as a way to help family members, especially ones not at the same address. That’s apparent both from the licensing, with a $50 a year fee covering up to 10 computers (Mac and PC), and from how the license owner can send a link for another person to install and join the family group without additional steps for setup. Then the administrator can configure and run scans remotely.
As one of only two companies offering ransomware-specific file monitoring, Sophos rises to the top with a proviso: We were unable to independently test the feature separately, although we had it demonstrated for us by the company and examined said demo in-depth. (More on that in a moment.) That’s because Apple’s silent XProtect feature has definitions for all known ransomware, blocking it from running. XProtect uses virus signatures, so cannot protect against new ransomware malware or variants, but will block anything already discovered.
The demo Sophos showed us used an in-house ransomware test package developed by its research side. We examined script on our own, and it’s straightforward—we didn’t find any weird gotchas or wired demos in it. As the demonstration virus infected files, the originals were retained and not deleted, and by the time three files had been hit, Sophos Home Premium halted the attack and alerted the user. It’s possible to have legitimate software that encrypts or modifies a set of files, and thus the software provides an alert and won’t allow the putative file to delete documents.
Sophos Home also includes outbound network blocking to known malicious servers, malicious website blocking, web filtering for parental control, and alerts for mic and webcam usage. Sophos handles the web and network stuff via its kernel extension, which examines all traffic and allows central management of options.
The bottom line
Sophos Home Premium is the best in show, providing effective malware protection, PUA protection, ransomware monitoring, and additional features that often require separately licensed software. Its cloud-based configuration and generous licensing makes it possible to protect a household and an extended family, giving it an edge over its nearest competition.
If you’re considering Sophos’ free version, it’s quite good but lacks enough of the Premium version’s features that we recommend the free version of Avast Security instead.
Version tested: 2.0.2
Editor’s note: Updated 4/20/2018 to clarify how we evaluated the performance of Sophos’s ransomeware detection.
Since we began writing last year about the consumer-hostile trend in mobile apps that we’re calling fleeceware, the number of apps we’ve discovered that engage in this practice have only increased. In the first two articles we wrote about fleeceware, we covered various Android apps in the official Play Store charging very high subscriptions for apps of questionable quality or utility.
In this latest round of research, we found more than 30 apps we consider fleeceware in Apple’s official App Store.
Many of these apps charge subscription rates like $30 per month or $9 per week after a 3- or 7-day trial period. If someone kept paying that subscription for a year, it would cost $360 or $468, respectively. For an app.
Like we have seen before, most of these fleeceware apps are image editors, horoscope/fortune telling/palm readers, QR code/barcode scanners, and face filter apps for adding silly tweaks to selfies.
Many of these apps lack any extraordinary features that aren’t already present in many other apps, including truly free apps. It’s debatable that the apps provide “ongoing value to the customer,” as required in Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines for app subscriptions, section 3.1.2(a).
When “free” isn’t really free
Many of the fleeceware apps we see are advertised within the App Store as “free” apps, which puts the apps at odds with section 2.3.2 of the App Store Review Guidelines, which require developers to make sure their “app description, screenshots, and previews clearly indicate whether any featured items, levels, subscriptions, etc. require additional purchases.”
If you think one of these apps is free and install it, the app presents you with a “free trial” notification immediately upon launching the app for the first time. This notification prompts the user to provide payment card details. In some cases, most of the useful features of the app will only be usable if you sign up for the subscription. Some users may sign up to subscribe without reading the fine print, which includes the actual cost of the subscriptions.
Fleeceware in Top Grossing app charts
While the Apple App Store does not publish the number of downloads for any given app within the app’s listing in the store, the company does keep track of how much money apps make. Many of these fleeceware apps are listed among the top grossing apps, at the time of writing. It’s fair to say these apps are generating plenty of revenue for developers, of which Apple keeps a 30% cut during the first year.
Zodiac Master Plus, one of the apps on our list of fleeceware, is listed as the 11th highest revenue-generating app. Another app, named Lucky Life – Future Seer, is earning more revenue than even the extremely popular Britbox, one of the UK’s most popular subscription streaming TV services.
One third party source estimates App Store revenue, which includes all types of purchases, to be $13 billion dollars in 2018, just in the USA.
After one year, Apple gets 15% and the developer’s share increases to 85% of the subscription price.
Advertisements drive more people to fleeceware
If you find yourself wondering why users would even consider installing apps such as these, it’s probably thanks to advertising. These apps are advertised through various popular platforms, including in YouTube videos or on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and even in ads that appear within other apps.
When users visit the app’s page in the App Store app, they’ll find a high number of five-star reviews. While we have no evidence that these are manipulated or artificially inflated reviews, that is another criteria by which the App Store may take action against developers. These advertisements offer a high return on investment, given the high subscription charges.
But not all the reviews are upbeat about these products. Here are a few examples of negative user reviews that illustrate how ads attract users to the apps.
Negative reviews and vulnerable users
These apps also have lots of negative, one-star reviews from users complaining about the challenge of canceling subscriptions and getting refunds, with many iPhone and iPad owners wondering aloud why apps that exhibit this type of behavior exist on Apple’s official App Store.
Sophos Apple App
In one instance, one user posted a complaint about being charged £148 (about US$170) over a 5 month period, when his child accidentally subscribed to one of these apps, and he didn’t notice the subscription charges right away.
The negative reviews for some of these products are devastating.
Both iOS and Android face a fleeceware problem
Fleeceware is a problem on both the Android and iOS mobile platforms. The list below is representative of the fleeceware apps we’ve seen at the time of this writing. App publishers also have the ability to introduce new fleeceware apps by releasing new apps with the same subscription policies, or by converting a previously free app into fleeceware by changing the app’s profile in the App Store, though Apple developer policies prohibit this behavior.
Sophos Apple Store
Users should remain vigilant and carefully scrutinize the terms for purchasing or “subscribing” to apps promoted through in-app advertisements. If $30 a week seems like a lot to spend on astrology, a barcode reader, or an app that will show you what you’ll look like when you’re 80 years old, find another app.
How to cancel your subscriptions
If you have one of these fleeceware apps and want to change or cancel your subscription, please follow the instructions below
iOS
This is how you can do it on Iphone as described in Apple support page here.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap your name, then tap Subscriptions.*
- Tap the subscription that you want to manage. Don’t see the subscription that you’re looking for?
- Choose a different subscription option, or tap Cancel Subscription.If you don’t see Cancel Subscription, the subscription is already canceled and won’t renew.
*If you don’t see “Subscriptions” in the Settings app, tap iTunes & App Store instead. Tap your Apple ID (which is usually your email address), then tap View Apple ID. Sign in, scroll down to Subscriptions, then tap Subscriptions.
Android
Sophos Apple M1
Instructions for cancelling Android app subscriptions from Google’s Play Store support page:
On your Android phone or tablet, open the Play Store.
- Check if you’re signed in to the correct Google Account.
- Tap the hamburger menu icon Subscriptions.
- Select the subscription you want to cancel.
- Tap Cancel subscription.
- Follow the instructions.
Sophos Apple Mac
Fleeceware Apps List
| App Name | Weekly | Monthly | Yearly | Rank* | Download** | Revenue** |
| Seer App:Face, Horoscope, Palm | $7.99 | $29.99 | $79.99 | #153 | 20k | $20k |
| Selfie Art – Photo Editor | £8.49 | £24.49 | £89.99 | #14 | 500k | $700k |
| Palmistry Decoder | $8.99 | $69.99 | #23 | 300k | $600k | |
| Lucky Life – Future Seer | $8.99 | $24.99 | $69.99 | #40 | 200k | $200k |
| Life Palmistry – AI Palm & Tag | $7.99 | $24.99 | $79.99 | #39 | 100k | $200k |
| Picsjoy-Cartoon Effect Editor | $7.99 | $79.99 | – | <5k | – | |
| Aging seer – Faceapp,Horoscope | $7.99 | $8.99 | $59.99 | – | <5k | – |
| Face Aging Scan-AI Age Camera | $8.99 | $59.99 | – | <5k | – | |
| Face Reader – Horoscope Secret | $2.99 | $9.99 | $59.99 | – | <5k | |
| Horoscope Secret | $9.99 | $29.99 | $74.99 | – | <5k | – |
| CIAO – Live Video Chat | $19.99 | $74.99 | #66 | 60k | $80k | |
| Astro Time & Daily Horoscope | $7.99 | $19.99 | $49.99 | #106 | 20k | $30k |
| Video Recorder / Reaction | $2.99 | $9.99 | $49.99 | <5k | ||
| Crazy Helium Funny Face Editor | $4.99 | $9.99 | $49.99 | #384 | 70k | $7k |
| Banuba: Face Filters & Effects | $7.99 | $24.99 | $79.99 | #50 | 70k | $100k |
| QR Code Reader – Scanner | £8.99 | £12.49 | #444 | <5k | $40k | |
| QR Code Reader & Barcode PRO | $9.49 | $47.99 | #103 | 80k | $90k | |
| Max Volume Booster | £9.99 | £19.49 | £48.99 | #134 | 20k | <$5k |
| Face Reading – Horoscope 2020 | $4.99 | $15.99 | $69.99 | – | <5k | – |
| Forecast Master 2019 | £8.99 | £19.99 | #134 | <5k | $10k | |
| mSpy Lite Phone Family Tracker | $49.99/quarter | $99.99 | #3 | 1mil | $700k | |
| Fortunescope: Palm Reader 2019 | $9.99 | #876 | 80k | $200k | ||
| Zodiac Master Plus – Palm Scan | $8.99 | $22.99 | $83.99 | #9 | 200k | $500k |
| WonderKey-Cartoon Avatar Maker | $7.99 | $18.99 | $79.99 | #18 | 30k | $60k |
| Avatar Creator – Cartoon Emoji | $8.99 | $67.99 | #52 | 200k | $100k | |
| iMoji – Cartoon Avatar Emojis | £7.99 | £19.49 | £87.99 | #55 | 10k | $20k |
| Life Insight-Palm & Animal Face | $8.99 | $22.99 | $69.99 | #26 | 400k | $600k |
| Curiosity Lab-Fun Encyclopedia | £7.99 | £25.49 | £87.99 | #80 | 10k | $9k |
| Quick Art: 1-Tap Photo Editor | £7.99 | £25.49 | £87.99 | #157 | 20k | $8k |
| Astroline astrology, horoscope | $8.99 | $19.99 | $49.99 | #20 | 200k | $300k |
| Celeb Twin – Who you look like | $5.99 | $19.99 | $59.99 | #682 | <5k | – |
| My Replica – Celebrity Like Me | £7.99 | £19.99 | £49.99 | #56 | 90k | $70k |
| TOTAL (estimated in USA) | 3.5 Million (approx. 3,680,000) | $4.5 Million (4,644,000) |
* Highest Ranking Based on Sensor Tower Top Grossing iPhone Apps Category Rank history in their specific category between Dec9-Mar2 2020 in USA
Sophos Apple Dep
**Sensor Tower data, worldwide, as of Jan 2020
Acknowledgement
Sophos Apple Mac
Thanks to researcher Xinran Wu for his assistance with this post.