MacKeeper is a cleanup utility for

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

. MacKeeper was developed by ZeoBIT, later acquired by Kromtech, and is currently owned by Clario Tech. MacKeeper has a troubled and litigious history. Zeobit settled a class action lawsuit accusing them of deceptive advertising and making false claims about MacKeeper's capabilities, and Kromtech unsuccessfully sued MacKeeper critics. Some versions are difficult to uninstall, and some versions have been flagged as undesirable by other anti-virus programs. In 2015, the personal information of 13 million users was publicly accessible on the web.

History

MacKeeper was first released in 2010 by Zeobit. Versions 1 and 2 received mixed reviews. A 2011 press release by Avira and ZeoBIT revealed that MacKeeper integrated Avira's antivirus scanning engine. In April 2013, MacKeeper was acquired by Kromtech. Kromtech was closely affiliated with Zeobit, and hired many former Kyiv-based Zeobit employees. In December 2015, security researcher Chris Vickery found that MacKeeper customer data was unsecured and publicly accessible on the internet, exposing the emails, phone numbers, and other information of over 13 million MacKeeper users; Kromtech rapidly secured the customer database. In 2019, a newly-founded company, Clario Tech, acquired Kromtech and MacKeeper.

Reception

Coverage

Many antivirus programs classified MacKeeper version 3 as a

potentially unwanted program A potentially unwanted program (PUP) or potentially unwanted application (PUA) is software that a user may perceive as unwanted or unnecessary. It is used as a subjective tagging criterion by security and parental control products. Such software ma ...

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

and prompted users to remove it. The official uninstaller "

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pieces behind", resulting in regular pop-ups to convince users to reinstall the app. ''

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'' recommended users avoid or uninstall the product.'''' Both ''

Tom's Guide ''Tom's Hardware'' is an online publication owned by Future plc and focused on technology. It was founded in 1996 by Thomas Pabst. It provides articles, news, price comparisons, videos and reviews on computer hardware and high technology. The si ...

'' and ''

MacWorld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...

'' have published

how-to The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is a dormant an all-volunteer project that maintains a large collection of GNU and Linux-related documentation and publishes the collection online. It began as a way for hackers to share their documentation wi ...

guides for deleting the software. Version 1 & 2 of the program received mixed reviews, with reviewers being divided as to the effectiveness of the software. Some versions of MacKeeper opened a critical security hole in customers' Macs; Kromtech later issued a fix. ''

AV-Comparatives AV-Comparatives is an Austrian independent organization that tests and assesses antivirus software, regularly releasing charts and reports that are freely available to the public and the media. Antivirus vendors have to meet various requirements r ...

'' found that MacKeeper warned of "serious" issues on a brand-new clean copy of

, which could only be fixed by purchasing the program. This was deemed

scareware Scareware is a form of malware which uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or the perception of a threat in order to manipulate users into buying unwanted software. Scareware is part of a class of malicious software that includes r ...

by cybersecurity journalist

Brian Krebs Brian Krebs (born 1972) is an American journalist and investigative reporter. He is best known for his coverage of profit-seeking cybercriminals.Perlroth, Nicole.Reporting From the Web's Underbelly. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved February 28, ...

. French news outlet ''

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'' called MacKeeper a scam, and criticized its reliance on "fear".

Computerworld ''Computerworld'' (abbreviated as CW) is an ongoing decades old professional publication which in 2014 "went digital." Its audience is information technology (IT) and business technology professionals, and is available via a publication website ...

described MacKeeper as "a virulent piece of software". MacKeeper's marketing tactics drew criticism. Zeobit was accused of employing aggressive

pop-under ad Pop-up ads or pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the World Wide Web. A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears ("pops up") in the foreground of the visual interface. The pop-u ...

s, planting sockpuppet reviews, and setting up websites to discredit its competitors. In 2015, PCWorld noted that MacKeeper ads were "all over the web", and that Kromtech claimed to be buying 60 million ad impressions a month. MacKeeper was in part promoted by affiliate sellers, who could earn a 50% commission for sales of the app. Some affiliates promoted MacKeeper in adware. After media criticism, Kromtech claimed it revamped its affiliate program. MacKeeper's usefulness was disputed by tech media; anti-malware, secure erase, backup, encryption, and anti-theft were either built-into macOS or available for free. Top Ten Reviews noted that other Mac anti-malware apps had better detection rates, resulting in a score of 7.5 out of 10. A July 2017

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assessment found MacKeeper only detected 85.9 percent of the tested malware.

Lawsuits

In January 2014, a

class action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

was filed against Zeobit in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The lawsuit alleged that "neither the free trial nor the full registered versions of MacKeeper performed any credible diagnostic testing" and reported that a consumer's Mac was in need of repair and was at-risk due to harmful error. In May 2014 a lawsuit was filed against Zeobit in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, alleging that MacKeeper fakes security problems to deceive victims into paying for unneeded fixes. On 10 August 2015, Zeobit settled the lawsuit for . Customers who bought MacKeeper before 8 July 2015 could apply to get a refund. Kromtech also filed at least two unsuccessful

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

lawsuits against MacKeeper critics. In July 2013 Kromtech sued MacPaw, the developers of CleanMyMac, which was dismissed before the hearing. In 2014, Kromtech sued David A. Cox, who had made a video criticizing MacKeeper; the judge dismissed the case. In July 2016, Kromtech sent a cease and desist letter to Luqman Wadood, a 14-year old technology reviewer who made YouTube videos critical of the app; Luqman said the videos were diplomatic.

Acquisition

In 2019, MacKeeper was acquired by a newly-founded company, Clario Tech. In November 2020, Clario released MacKeeper 5, which received 3.5 of 5 start reviews from TechRadar and Macworld. The app was certified by

. The new version includes a VPN, on-demand virus scanning, a memory cleaner, and a disk cleaner.

References