Usethisinstead
Don’tuse
CleanMasterpromises
to remove junk butit’s
complete rubbishitself
Usethisinstead
Don’tuse
Don’tuse
Usethisinstead
VideoCompress is
supportedbyads
butyoucan remove
them for just 99p
ThisQR codereader
looksusefulbut it’s
designedto ripyou off
SmartVideo
Compressor is one
of 17 iOSappsinfected
with aclickerTrojan
44 27 Dec 2019-7Jan 2020
CleanMaster
Thishugelypopularapp promisesto
remove junkfiles from your Android
phone,boostitsperformance, protect
your privacy andphonesecurity, and
safeguar dyou from viruses.With overa
billion usersand afive-starrating, it’s
gottobebrilliant –right?
Digthrou gh theless enthusiastic
reviews, however,and you’ll see
complain tafter complaint regarding
excessiveand intrusivefull-screen
adverts, and aggressivenag screens
pushin gyou
to upgrade
to the
paid-for
Premium
version.
Userswho
have
upgraded
complain
they stillsee
adverts
afterwards.
The
amount of
spaceClean
Master
free sup
is su spect,
and it’s
amassive
resource
hog,causing
anyphone
it’s insta lled on to slowdownrather
than speed up,while drainingthe
battery. Usersalso complain that some
of th eadverts it displa ys have overly
sexual content.
FilesbyGoogle
bit .ly/files491
5
If youwantanapp that canfreeup
spaceonyourphone,boost
RESOURCE HOGS
removethementirely.Youcanalso
upgradetotheUnlimitedversionofthe
appfor£4. 99.
QRCodeReader
Ifyourphone’scameradoesn’thave
abuilt-inreaderforQRcodes,thereare
plentyofappsthatofferthisuseful
functionality.QRCodeReader-Barcode
scanner&QRCodeScannerisn’tthe
mostelegantlytitledofthesesolutions,
butthat’snotevenitsbiggestproblem.
Theapp,whichhasnowbeen
removedfromGooglePlay,displayeda
delugeofannoyingfull-screenadsand
pusheduserstosubscribetoathree-day
freetrialto
unlockall
itsfeatures.
Afterthetrial
expired,
theapp
automatically
charged
anannual
subscription
of$ 95 .That’s
morethat
£70forthe
privilegeof
usingaQR
scanner!
AndroidPolicedocumentedits
findingsontheappat bit.ly/apolice 491.
TrendMicroQRScanner
bit.ly/tmqr 491
4.4
TrendMicroisawell-respectedsecurity
company,sothefocusofitsQRscanner
isonmakingsurethatanybarcodesyou
scan aresafe.Should acode trytotake
yousomewheredangerous, it will be
blockedand reported insta ntly .The app
is entirely free and thereare no third-
partyadverts to pester you. It canscan
QR codes
directly
through your
device’s
cameraor
by reading
saved
images.
evencreateyourownphototheme.
SwiftKeyKeyboardsupportsover3 00
languagesandletsyouenableuptofive
atthesametime.Italsoofferstap-to-
typeorswipe-to-typefunctionality,to
makecomposingmessagesabreeze.
SmartVideoCompressor
Ifyou’vecapturedsomevideofootage
youwanttosharewithfriendsand
family,butyourfilmistoolargefor
emailoryourfavouritemessagingapp,
thenSmartVideoCompressor,foriOS
andiPadOS,canhelp.Thesoftware
claimstoreducethesizeofHDvideoby
70 -80%andprovidelivecompression
progress.Soundsgreat,right?
Unfortunately,SmartVideo
Compressorwasoneof17appsfrom
IndiandeveloperAppAspect
TechnologiesthatWandera(bit.ly/
wandera4 91 )foundtobeinfectedwith
clickerTrojanmalware.Thissimulated
useractions–openingwebpages,
clickinglinks
inthe
background
andmore–
tofraudulently
collectad
revenue.
Apple
removedall 17
oftheinfected
appsfromthe
AppStoreas
soonasitwas
informed
aboutthem,butthere’sachanceyou
maystillhaveoneinstalled.
VideoCompress-ShrinkVids
bit.ly/shrinkv491
1.3
Thisapp –also availablefor Android–
canshrinkyourmobilevideossothey’re
easiertosharevia email, messag ing
apps and online.It
worksasdescrib ed
butisf undedby
ads, which youcan
choose to make
person alised or
non-personalised,
or pay99p to
Free up spaceon your phoneusing the
marvellous free FilesbyGoogle
Youcan trust
TrendMicro to
scan QR codes
for hidden
security
threats