## McAfee+ Premium for Mac Review: Good Protection, But With Some Quirks
Looking for reliable antivirus software for your Mac? McAfee, a well-known name in cybersecurity, has recently added AI phishing detection to its suite of features, making it even more appealing. While Apple’s macOS includes built-in security measures, third-party solutions like McAfee often provide an extra layer of protection, extending their reach to cover your iPhones, Windows PCs, and Android devices with a single subscription.
McAfee is a top contender in the Windows antivirus world, but its performance on Macs can vary. I put McAfee+ Premium through its paces on my MacBook Air to see how well it integrates and how much protection it offers.
### Tiers and Pricing
McAfee offers a variety of price tiers for Mac owners, although their free antivirus app is exclusive to Windows users. You can explore the features before committing with a 30-day free trial, and the starting price of $30 per year makes it an affordable option. If basic protection is enough, you can find excellent free antivirus apps for Mac. However, a subscription typically provides a more comprehensive safeguard. For example, the annual $36 McAfee Essential plan covers five devices across macOS, iOS, Windows, and Android. The $45 McAfee+ Premium plan offers unlimited device coverage and adds features like an uncapped VPN, privacy monitoring, and social media alerts. The more expensive McAfee+ Advanced ($80) and McAfee+ Ultimate ($200) tiers include identity theft insurance, ransomware coverage, financial monitoring, and additional benefits. Remember that these prices apply to the first year only, and renewal rates could be significantly higher.
McAfee also caters to families with plans covering two adults and offering free child accounts. These family subscriptions come in at a lower cost than buying two individual plans, making them a good value proposition.
### Design and Setup
McAfee+ Premium for Mac comes with the McAfee Total Protection app. The setup process is fairly straightforward: download the DMG file, open the installer, and grant the necessary permissions to protect your MacBook. The app provides a quick overview of its features, syncs your account, and checks for updates. McAfee gives a guided tour of the app, highlighting key areas like protection status, feature activation, and support options. I followed the initial suggestions to clear the red warning status, but encountered a snag when trying to activate the firewall. It seemed macOS’s built-in firewall was interfering, so I temporarily disabled it and tried again, but to no avail. I decided to address this issue with customer support later.
To access disk information, McAfee Total Protection required specific permissions. This time, the activation button worked, directing me to the relevant section of System Settings to toggle switches for four McAfee apps. However, I only found two out of the four mentioned, plus an additional app called McAfee Network Extension. I enabled all three and made a note to ask support about the missing apps and the extra extension. I ran a full scan, allowing the setup to continue while it searched for malware in the background. I was informed that the scan could take up to 48 hours.
Next, I set up identity protection, which included an online and dark web scan for my email address. I also enabled McAfee’s virtual private network (VPN). Interestingly, it defaulted to a server in Argentina. I opted for a closer location to avoid slow internet speeds, but the app crashed. I decided to restart my MacBook to get a clean slate after encountering multiple unexpected events. The missing disk access toggles for GenUtility and VShieldScanner finally appeared. I enabled them and tried the VPN again. This time, I was able to choose the correct country without any crashes. Shortly after, the virus scan finished, taking only half an hour to verify that my MacBook’s 256GB SSD was malware-free.
With everything working except the firewall, I consulted the help button. The help guide that opened didn’t provide any useful tips to fix the firewall issue. While the app design is pleasant, I encountered several glitches during setup and ultimately had to reach out to support to get everything running smoothly.
### Features
McAfee+ Premium comes packed with extra features like a password manager, VPN, and identity theft protection, which are nice additions. However, the primary purpose of antivirus software is to protect my computer and data from hackers and malware. While I can conduct spot checks to identify obvious vulnerabilities, independent cybersecurity research labs are more thorough. I checked AV-Test and AV-Comparatives to see how McAfee for Mac performed in their assessments. Unfortunately, the most recent tests were four years old. From 2018 to 2020, McAfee Endpoint Security received a perfect six out of six for protection, with a minor miss in 2017 dropping the rating to 5.5. While encouraging, these older tests are not entirely relevant to the current threat landscape. If you want the assurance of rigorous third-party testing, Bitdefender for Mac boasts a nearly perfect track record over the past seven years, and Norton’s Mac antivirus software is equally impressive.
AV-Test had up-to-date information on McAfee’s Windows app, showing a perfect protection rating over the last four years. Based on these findings, McAfee+ Premium should offer reliable antivirus protection.
I used Wicar’s malware test website to gain firsthand experience with McAfee’s effectiveness on my MacBook. McAfee+ Premium’s Total Protection app and WebAdvisor browser extension successfully blocked all browser exploits. The software also detected and quarantined all infected downloads, neutralizing 13 threats in total.
I also tested the VPN included with McAfee+ Premium. I measured download speeds of around 200Mbps on most servers, fast enough for browsing and downloading, but perhaps not ideal for streaming. While there was a choice of 48 countries, when I selected the U.K., BBC’s iPlayer still detected that I was accessing the website from another country.
### Support
McAfee+ Premium includes 24/7 support via live chat, so I knew I could get help resolving the firewall setup issue. I initially searched for the answer myself and found a solution that involved installing an extension, removing McAfee Total Protection, and starting over from the beginning. I opted for the chat button in the bottom right of McAfee’s support center, enduring a brief chatbot interaction before requesting a human representative. I had to provide my account email and phone number to proceed. An agent joined immediately and asked how they could help. Within minutes, McAfee support offered a much simpler solution. It turned out that there was one more extension to enable, a critical step that wasn’t mentioned during setup and was buried three layers deep in System Settings. Unfortunately, the first agent stopped responding. I refreshed the page, and another agent came on to assist. The connection interruption might have been due to enabling the extension. Overall, the support was prompt and helpful.
### Privacy and Security
McAfee’s privacy policy states that it may share certain data with third-party advertisers. However, I haven’t noticed any increase in spam or ad tracking after being on McAfee’s list for three months. If you have concerns about data sharing, you can use McAfee’s opt-out request form. McAfee’s internal security appears to be strong, with no records of data breaches. You can rest assured that your personal and financial information should be safe from hackers.
### Conclusion
McAfee+ Premium for Mac is a comprehensive cybersecurity solution that includes malware prevention, a fast VPN, a password manager, and more. The company has recently added AI enhancements to block potential scams on mobile devices. In my tests, McAfee effectively protected my MacBook. However, it’s worth noting that security researchers haven’t verified its effectiveness in ongoing tests across a wide range of threats.
I discovered a recent support document addressing the firewall setup issue, indicating that McAfee is aware of the problem. Installation bugs should be resolved immediately as they are the first impression users have of the software. At that moment, I had doubts about McAfee’s commitment to Mac users. However, McAfee support quickly resolved the issue, and everything seemed to function correctly after that fix. Price-wise, McAfee offers one of the best deals on antivirus software. However, be mindful of potential price increases at renewal time. For a wider range of options, check out our guide to the best antivirus software, which summarizes our reviews of several top cybersecurity solutions.
