LifeLock Reviews

NortonLifeLock Features, Plans, and Prices

Identity and Credit Monitoring

Note that each plan includes the mainstays like identity and social security monitoring, lost wallet protection, address change verification, dark web monitoring, and data breach notifications. But that’s where the plans begin to diverge. Here’s what you can expect from each plan tier.

Restoration Services

Device Security

Phew! That’s more functions than top-tier services like Identity Guard or ID Shield offer, especially in the device protection category. Identity Guard, for instance, offers only a secure browser and a password manager under that category, while with the highest NortonLifeLock plan, there’s a total of seven functions and counting.

Of course, you have to ask yourself, “Are all those features necessary?” To help you figure that out, we went ahead and signed up for the Ultimate Plus tier.

Purchasing NortonLifeLock

While we love a service with an extensive list of features, we didn’t like NortonLifeLock’s plan structure at all. It was overwhelming, even for us who test identity protection services on the daily. We would have preferred something like Aura’s plan structure, where all tiers offer the same feature sets but for a varying number of users. With LifeLock, you’ll need to choose a tier of service first, and then choose whether to go with an individual plan, couples plan, or family plan.

Fortunately, once we decided to go with the Ultimate Plus plan, the buying process was straightforward. First, we provided our email address and password. One quick note on passwords: We recommend making your account password at least eight characters long and including special symbols. The more random, the better.1 That’s because you’ll input a lot of personal information to your account, so you want to make your account as secure as possible.

Next, NortonLifeLock offered us their identity protection services for families and children. They would’ve bundled the services together had we agreed, but since we’re single and we only wanted to test out the individual service, we settled with the original plan we purchased. However, we can see how the added protection for children benefits parents and families.

Children are a prime target of identity thieves, mainly because their records are clean. Another reason is that child identity theft often goes unnoticed until the child grows up and tries to take out a personal or business loan.2 The perpetrator would be long gone by then, so if you have kids, consider adding them to your plan.

If you want to learn more about ways to protect your little ones, we recommend reading about our latest findings for identity theft protection for children. And if you’re interested in complete family protection, then you’ll definitely want to read our guide on the best identity theft protection for families.

Next, we entered our payment information. Truth be told, we got a little frustrated here. NortonLifeLock really wants you to sign up for an annual membership, and even though we selected monthly billing, we had to flip a little toggle away from the annual billing default back to monthly — essentially selecting it twice.

Norton LifeLock Monthly Billing vs Annual Billing

We were right about to hit “submit” when we realized we were about to pay ten times what we were anticipating. Yes, in the long run annual billing will save you money, but if you’re just looking to try out the service, you probably don’t want to drop $300 out of the gates. No biggie, just know that we recommend monthly billing when you’re just testing the waters.

So once we had the appropriate plan selected, we were able to activate our membership. But first, we had to actually download the service onto our machine.

Getting Started with Norton LifeLock

This is pretty unique, but it’s understandable since a significant portion of the services we purchased center on cybersecurity and device protection.

Once we clicked “Get Started,” we were prompted to download a .zip file. We consider ourselves pretty tech-savvy, so this wasn’t really a big deal to us, but we really appreciated how NortonLifeLock walked us through the process.

Norton LifeLock Installation Process

Once we executed the file, we were walked through an install process. In the same vein as before, guiding you through every important step along the way. Even if you’re not a “computer person,” this service can still be for you!

Norton LifeLock – Installation Successful

Once everything was installed and our computer was restarted, we were able to start setting everything up. Something important to note — NortonLifeLock runs as both its own local program as well as having a browser-based dashboard. Let’s start by taking a look at the local program.

Program Setup

Upon first boot of the program, we had a few options to activate. Device Security (i.e. virus protection) was already activated, so we moved on to setting up the VPN.

Norton LifeLock Device Security

What’s a VPN? Glad you asked. VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network.” The easiest way to describe it without using a bunch of techno-speak is as a personal tunnel between your computer and the internet. If everyone else’s computer is getting to the internet using heavily trafficked surface roads, you’re getting there via your own private thoroughfare no one else can access.3 That means hackers and other cybercriminals are less likely to learn your patterns and get the best of you.

The VPN can also protect your identity because it uses encryption to protect all incoming and outgoing data from your device, including account details and passwords. If you’re someone that needs a little extra online protection, the inclusion of a VPN in NortonLifeLock’s subscriptions is going to be good for you.

Turning on the VPN was easy enough, and we were happy to find there were some dials and knobs we could fiddle with. That said, keep in mind that the VPN is included only in the Norton 360 with LifeLock bundles. That means you’re going to have to fork out extra money to get this added security feature.

Norton LifeLock App

Next, we set up the password manager that came with our plan. The password manager is an excellent tool, especially if you’re like us and have dozens of accounts on various websites. For starters, you never have to memorize your passwords, as they are stored securely in the “vault.” And another thing is, your passwords are safe in the “vault” thanks to encryption.

Now, the setup process was easy enough. We installed the extension to our browser, and after authenticating ourselves, we created a vault right on the extension itself.

Norton LifeLock – No Vault Detected

For added security, this vault is password-protected, but NortonLifeLock does not store this one password. Another way of saying that is that it’s unrecoverable. Commit this one to memory, or your vault will be inaccessible.

Once that password was created, we had access to our vault where we could store the login credentials for all of our various services and sites. No more guessing the password we created for our car insurance provider’s website a year and a half ago! We think you’ll like this feature.

Norton LifeLock Password Manager

Next on the list was our cloud backup. Our subscription came with up to 500 GB of cloud storage, which means it could easily handle the entirety of our desktop’s hard drive.

Unfortunately, this function wasn’t as easy to access as the others. When we tried to set it up, we were met with various error messages. Finally, we clicked on the “help” tab and found out that our subscription’s cloud backup was only available on machines running Windows. Kind of disappointing that we can’t use something we paid for, but looking back at the list of services, they were clear from the get-go that some functions don’t work on Macs.

That covers it for the program side of NortonLifeLock, next we were on to the online portal to set up our credit monitoring and identity theft services.

Online Dashboard

Upon logging in to our online dashboard, LifeLock immediately greeted us with a tutorial. This is, in our opinion, what sets premium services apart from average ones. Identity Guard and IdentityForce both have similar walkthrough features, and both are among the best identity protection services we’ve tested.

To make the most out of your LifeLock subscription, we recommend that you go through each slide and study how every feature works. Doing so certainly helped us familiarize ourselves with our LifeLock subscription’s features, and as we said earlier, there were a lot of features.

Norton LifeLock Password Manager

Once that was complete, we were redirected to our dashboard. The first thing we noticed was we already had one alert, so we wanted to check in on that first.

Norton LifeLock Alert

Now, we know a thing or two about identity theft, and we’ve reviewed a lot of services, but this was the first time we’ve seen a Home Title Notification, so we were a little nervous. Usually these alerts are things like our email address being found on the dark web seven years ago. Fortunately for us, this wasn’t a problem. It was simply alerting us that a property was found associated with our name. The property belongs to us, so there was no need for further action.

If action was needed, though, NortonLifeLock’s alerts provided us with next steps, similar to what we saw with IdentityForce. This is really helpful to make sure the appropriate action is taken when necessary, or for keeping anxiety under control.

Once that was taken care of, we wanted to make sure NortonLifeLock was monitoring everything we wanted it to. By clicking on “Monitored Info” in the top navigation bar, we were able to add information that wasn’t automatically imported from the setup process like our mother’s maiden name, our driver’s license number, and even our gamertag. Note that the level of detail here is exactly what we like to see, and we’re sure you’ll feel confident in your protections. And we know it might seem tedious, but filling in the blanks on the “Monitored Info” helps NortonLifeLock protect every important aspect of your identity.

Next, we moved on to the section where we could access our credit score. Our subscription gave us monthly Equifax credit scores and yearly three-bureau credit scores and reports. We weren’t very impressed by the readily available data on the dashboard, but when we downloaded the reports, that’s where we saw the information become more complete.

To make things clear, these monthly scores and yearly reports are different from credit monitoring. We only had access to our scores and reports monthly and yearly, respectively, but LifeLock monitored our credit files on a daily basis and around the clock. Just something to keep in mind.

Norton LifeLock Payment History

From there we moved on to the Identity Lock function. Similar to ID Watchdog, here we could lock our TransUnion credit report to prevent thieves from opening up cards or requesting loans in our name. We were also given links to freeze our credit reports at the remaining two bureaus as well as place bank security and utility security freezes.

A quick note on locks and freezes, though. Both are useful tools in preventing identity theft, but locks are easier to set up than freezes, which require contacting the credit bureau directly. We highly recommend doing this. While credit monitoring is a useful tool in detecting identity theft, freezing (or locking) your accounts is a preventative measure.4

Next on the navigation was transaction monitoring. Here, NortonLifeLock can compile all of our financial accounts in one place to monitor for suspicious activity, and it enables us to set thresholds so we’d be alerted if large amounts of money are moved around.

Norton LifeLock Transaction Alerts

This is a great feature, particularly for people like us who don’t religiously check our account balances. We saw something similar with Identity Guard and really liked the functionality. But If you’re not using a service like this, you really should be checking your account balances daily or at least have your bank issue transaction notifications to your email or phone number.

Next, we explored a unique service we’ve only seen offered by NortonLifeLock — Online Privacy Monitoring. Using this service, NortonLifeLock monitors data brokers for personal information that these companies use to build profiles based on browsing history and public records to sell to marketers and advertisers.5 NortonLifeLock scans these data brokers, and can request that a file be deleted on your behalf:

However, it’s important to note that the privacy monitor assistant that will actually get your file removed is not included with the subscription. That’ll cost an additional $49.99, but since you already know which data brokers have your information, you can contact them yourself and ask that your data be removed.

Norton LifeLock Privacy Monitor Assistant

Finally, we took a look at the ID Restoration tab. Since we don’t have any active cases, there was nothing to see here. Which is actually good news — identity theft restoration is an extremely labor-intensive and costly process — particularly if you’re doing it on your own. Luckily with NortonLifeLock, we had access to their team of specialists who handle everything from initial complaint to resolution, and we were assured up to $1 million in identity theft recovery insurance. For context, this is the industry standard, as we see with services like IDnotify and CompleteID.

So that’s that! We found the desktop experience to be robust and complete. There were no major hiccups, and everything worked the way it was intended. We were plenty happy with the service as it was, and we felt all-around protected and confident that our identity was in good hands. But we wanted to check out the mobile app as well. Well, actually it’s apps… we’ll explain that next.

Norton LifeLock – Mobile Security

NortonLifeLock On the Go

So the first thing to note here is that the full NortonLifeLock suite of services is actually broken up between two apps — Security and LifeLock Identity.

Norton LifeLock App Icons

The first gave us access to our VPN and let us know if our connection was secure and encrypted, as well as provided us with information about potential security threats on our device. The second app gave us access to our credit monitoring and identity theft protections that we went through earlier.

Frankly, we’re not big fans of that approach. Switching between two apps when all you want is to protect your identity is not ideal, especially since we’ve tested similar services that roll all their features into one, easy-to-use app. And with Aura, its Security & Protection app comes to mind.

Norton LifeLock – Attention Required

Norton LifeLock – No Unread Alerts

On the bright side, both apps felt designed with user experience in mind. They’re not the usual identity theft protection apps that feel like afterthoughts to the service. The navigation felt intentional and optimized for mobile use. So while you may have to switch between the two NortonLifeLock apps, you are not going to have a lot of trouble using them. Big time bonus points for NortonLifeLock here.

NortonLifeLock: The Takeaway

So after using NortonLifeLock for a considerable amount of time, we’re happy to say we’re more than pleased with the service. Their unique cybersecurity functionality and services were meaningful additions to an already robust array of protections. We weren’t too happy that some of these functions were only available on PC, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t too big of a deal.

We loved that the apps were fully built-out and didn’t feel like afterthoughts — something really unique in this industry that makes NortonLifeLock stand apart. We were enthusiastically happy with this service, and we’re confident you’ll have a similar experience if you decide to go with NortonLifeLock.