LogDog is an Android app and service that wants to protect your online presence, by keeping an eye on where and when your accounts are accessed, LogDog is sort of like a watchdog for all of your online accounts. One-in-four online accounts is hacked, and while there are password managers out there, and ways to be extremely vigilant in your approach to your passwords, LogDog takes a simple approach. Rather than give you extra work, it takes care of things so you don’t have to, it’s always watching your accounts such as your Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Yahoo and Evernote accounts with more accounts coming soon. LogDog never keeps any of your passwords or login information, you log into these services directly and you’re only alerted of activity out of the ordinary to help you stay vigilant and informed when things go wrong.
To get started protecting your key accounts, all you need to do is download LogDog from the Play Store. For those on iOS, there is a version in the works and those interested can sign up here. When launching the app you’ll be introduced to what LogDog is all about.
A nice touch is that users are reminded that LogDog never actually keeps any of that information for itself. Setting up any one of your accounts is nice and simple as well, you just need to choose our first one from the list on the right menu (accessible any time by pressing the + icon).
As you can see, there’s a decent list of different accounts that LogDog currently protects, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Yahoo and Evernote. LinkedIn and Instagram options are coming soon. As an example, let’s go ahead and add a Dropbox account to LogDog. You don’t give this information to LogDog, it’s the same log in menu that would appear if you were signing into Dropbox in another app, for instance.
While it is a good idea to add more than just one account when setting things up you can add more accounts whenever you want to, and if you’re conscious of losing information from any of the supported services. Adding more accounts not only protects more of your information, but it gives LogDog a better picture of what’s going, should anything go wrong. For instance, if you only have one account added and it’s accessed overseas, then you’ll never know if the same hack is happening on your other accounts. By adding more accounts, you better protect yourself and give LogDog more information to help inform you.
Here I have added the three most important accounts to me, my Google, Facebook and Dropbox accounts. If I had a Yahoo or Evernote account, I’d be smart to add those in as well. Over a period of a week, LogDog will monitor your accounts’ activity to better educate itself should someone or something try and access your account from someone new or different.
Should something happen, like for instance unusual activity from different locations at the same time, LogDog can now list the ISPs that have accessed your Google account, making it even simpler to see that this wasn’t you or your family accessing your account.
You can easily dismiss this alert or act upon it, but that’s not all. LogDog is smart enough to figure out that, let’s say I’m in the UK – with my phone – and someone in Germany tries to access my account, LogDog will know that I’m not in Germany. Assuming of course that the majority of people will travel with their phone – which they will.
Leading on from this location alert, LogDog can also tell you if your account is being accessed from two different locations, which is a surefire sign that something fishy is going on.
This will also result in a popup notification as well, giving you the option to go ahead and fix it right away.
With LogDog, you can check up on multiple accounts at once, and fix them there and then from within the app which is a great way of keeping on top of hacks or whatever with minimal fuss.
Plus, LogDog is always watching, like a faithful watchdog and it’ll let you know of something irregular the moment it sees it.
Online security is something that we should all take very seriously, after all the majority of us access the web, and even sign in to a lot of other sites and services, through our Google and Facebook accounts. LogDog is a great compromise as I see it, it’s vigilant enough to keep a watch on your accounts, but users don’t need to setup some fancy password manager and they don’t need to changing their passwords. This is more about letting you know when something doesn’t seem right. So for instance, if my Gmail account was accessed from a different part of the UK or outside the UK, that’d be a red flag and I’d be told about it. This then gives me the option to change my password and reauthenticate other devices that might be logged in. LogDog is all about being vigilant and on top of things before they happen or spiral out of control, and it’s a low-key way of doing just that. I do wish however, that there were more accounts included, like an option for a Microsoft account, but the majority of big services are covered here.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – LogDog runs quickly and if something does go wrong, you’re alerted to unusual behavior nice and quickly.
- Features (4.5/5) – This approach won’t be to everyone’s liking, and it’s not exactly the ideal solution, but for those that are fairly smart with how they log in to their accounts and don’t want the hassle of a password manager, LogDog is a great compromise.
- Theme (4/5) – LogDog’s Android app looks fine, and it’s super-easy to navigate and setup, which is always nice to see.
- Overall (4/5) – A solid and dependable way of keeping an eye on your precious online accounts, LogDog gets the job done so you don’t have to.
Pros
- Easy to setup, it’s just like logging in to the different services themselves.
- Offers Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Yahoo and Evernote account protection with more coming.
- Alerts you as soon as it notices some unusual activity on your account day or night.
- Completely free to use, with no hidden fees or anything like that.
Cons
- More accounts would be welcome, like a Microsoft account or even Apple ID protection.
- Protects Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Yahoo and Evernote but doesn’t offer WhatsApp protection, which is one of the biggest messaging platforms for younger users.
LogDog is a great app that offers users a way of keeping an eye on their accounts all in one place, and as soon as something out of the ordinary happens, they’ll know about it. While it can’t fight back on your behalf, knowledge is power and knowing where your account has been hacked can help you troubleshoot a breach and of course change your password and block hackers out. It protects Google, Facebook and Twitter but WhatsApp protection and more would be a great way of improving things overall. LogDog has been around for a while now, and we’re sure that it’s only going to get better, so start protecting your account today.