MacKeeper Works to Regain Mac Users’ Trust

If you’ve been using Mac computers for more than a couple of years, you’ve almost certainly heard of a software product called MacKeeper. It’s almost infamous, courtesy of overly aggressive affiliate marketers and frequent mislabeling as malware. Under new ownership, the software team is working not only to improve the app itself, but the branding and reputation. I had the opportunity to interview a member of the management team. I learned about the efforts underway to repair the damage done to the app’s reputation and regain Mac users’ trust.

MacKeeper Improves Its Security and Marketing Philosophies to Earn Mac Users’ Trust

During my interview with chief marketing officer Andrew Shvets, I learned about what previously went “wrong”. Ash, as he prefers to be called, talked about the explosive growth of the tool. This generated quite a bit of excitement among the developers. They saw the toll the aggressive, often deceptive, marketing tactics MacKeeper’s affiliate partners could have. For a while, though, the team focused on the explosive installation growth happening.

Content Manager Ruslana Lishchuk explained it this way. She pointed out that affiliate marketing partnerships can be trustworthy and legitimate ways to grow a business, but only with “appropriate set up, vetting, and precautions.” Without those, abuse happens, and that’s exactly what caused problems for MacKeeper. The team realizes it will take hard efforts to regain Mac users’ trust and is working diligently to do just that.

To boost sales, some affiliates started to rely on scammy schemes to trick people into installing MacKeeper. Those schemes had many shapes and forms, including fake websites designed to look legitimate, false virus alerts meant to make people worried about the health of their computers or safety of personal data, and low-quality “creatives” with MacKeeper’s branding.

Serious reputation problems grew and MacKeeper lost credibility. MacKeeper ended those relationships and is working hard to improve both the product and its reputation.

On to the Interview

When cybersecurity firm Clario bought MacKeeper in 2019, much of that work was underway. Clario helped guide even more improvements with an eye to building back Mac users’ trust. Today, MacKeeper has various security certifications and is even allowed a rare privilege on Mac hardware. MacKeeper has the low-level system privileges that make the app one of the few products to offer real-time antivirus and malware protection. I could go on for thousands of words describing what MacKeeper has done to make itself a trustworthy security platform for the Mac. I think it would be better to save that for my review of the software though. So, without further ado, here is the interview for you to learn the direction MacKeeper is taking for the future.