Most people with smartphones and laptops have programs and apps downloaded from Softonic. They have MS Word to create documents, Adobe Photoshop to edit images, Corel Draw to design graphics, etc. In other words, Softonic saves you a lot of time that you need to visit the respective websites to download programs one after the other.
So then, it’s easier and faster to download programs and apps from a single platform. But is Softonic safe? The article reviews the popular platform featuring tons of apps and programs from various developers to confirm whether it’s safe or not.
Let’s get started.
Softonic Explained
Softonic International launched Softonic.com in 1997 in Barcelona, Spain. The aim was to offer a software hosting service. Because of that, users can now find a variety of applications and software programs for their mobile or desktop devices.
The Windows software platform is accessible in multiple languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Developers seeking publicity upload their apps and programs on Softonic. But the developer hub was closed following safety concerns. Today, all developers seeking to upload their software must contact the site’s sales team and follow the procedure in order to ensure safety. Apps and programs presently on the platform are genuine and free from viruses.
Is It Safe to Use Softonic?
Renowned and new developers have uploaded genuine apps and programs on this platform, and users download them without charges. Some apps have free and premium programs, so Softonic either allows direct downloads or redirects users to the program developer. But the same developers can create unsafe apps, which causes users to question Softonic’s safety.
In fact, the platform had to discontinue its downloader in 2015 after malicious links impersonated it. As a result, several users raised complaints about these viruses and malware. To minimize any risk of downloading harmful apps, users should avoid unknown apps. For instance, popular programs such as Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, and Netflix are provided by renowned developers. Further, the platform provides the latest versions of these apps, and it’s easy to confirm before downloading.
The second way of protecting yourself against harmful apps and programs is to go through the reviews before downloading anything from Softonic. While the Windows software platform has taken measures to protect its users, you too can take precautions by downloading apps with positive reviews and high ratings. So read the comments and look at the ratings. For instance, most downloaded apps have 4+ stars out of 5. The VLC media player has 4.1 stars and around 84,000 ratings and reviews from its users. This confirms that Softonic is safe.
The third way of keeping off apps with viruses and malware on this platform – which is still rare – is by looking at the Softonic Security badges. A clean app has a badge green in color, the ones with a warning are in yellow while the blocked ones are in red.
Lastly, Softonic has gone a step further and uses 50+ world-renowned antivirus services to scan its associated files and URLs. The measure is to block harmful app developers who are not ready to to adhere to the Softonic policy because they know theirs are unclean.
Therefore, all threat-free apps have a clean badge (green in color) because they are 100% safe to download from Softonic. Apps with a yellow badge go through multiple scans to weed out the malicious ones and upgrade the clean ones. Users should stay away from any app with a yellow badge until Softonic confirms that it’s safe for download.
Verdict
Is it safe to download an app or program from Softonic? The answer depends on the color of the badge the apps you want to download has. If you download those with yellow badges, then you’re most likely to end up with apps with viruses and malware. So then download only the clean ones, and Softonic will always be a safe platform for you to download your apps and programs. By the way, you can find a lot of apps in Setapp. It is the ultimate productivity pack that offers 240+ top macOS apps for any purpose: productivity, lifestyle, Mac hacks, and more.
