GetCocoon

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on January 08, 2013

A lot of people don't realize that browsing the Web on your smartphone can be just as dangerous as browsing the Web on your PC. Your phone is just as susceptible to malware as your computer. GetCocoon is a browser for your phone that offers you a layer of protection. However, we found its performance spotty, and the lack of privacy options for unpaid members left a lot to be desired.

When getting started, you have the option of logging in with a username and password, or selecting the Browse Without Logging In option. We selected the latter option, only to be taken immediately to a screen that required us to create an account, so there's really no way around creating an account. Once logged in, the main Cocoon page appeared with a search box to enter our keywords in. There are banner ads that appear at the bottom of your screen, which is kind of annoying, especially if you have sloppy tapping techniques, but, hey, it's a free app.

Below the ad is your navigation bar, which includes backward and forward arrows, a share button for e-mailing links, and a new-page button. Tapping the icon that looks like an infinity symbol brings up other nav buttons, and this is where you want to go to adjust your privacy settings, but only if you're ready to pony up $19.99 for a year-long membership. If not, you're mostly stuck with what the app gives you. The only options we could change were the logout timer and the Block Facebook Tracking feature. On top of that, browsing with GetCocoon was at times extremely slow. There were even times when we could not pull up a particular page -- the wheel in the URL bar just kept spinning until we had to get out of it and get back in to search.

All in all, we found GetCocoon to be more trouble than it's worth. And we really have no idea if it actually protected us while browsing, because nothing appeared telling us if certain sites were blocked or if we were visiting a safe page. We recommend skipping this app.