Get your answers to all Guardio questions.

Guardio is a Chrome extension. It’s a tool you add to your internet browser, in this case, a browser that uses Chrome technology, like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

Because Guardio sits on your browser it’s able to tell you if the website you’re opening, or the file you’re downloading is dangerous - in real-time. It warns you anytime you’re about to do something potentially dangerous online, giving you the ability to choose whether to continue or not.

Guardio also has identity protection. Guardio searches the very furthest reaches of the internet, including the Gray and Deep (also known as Dark) webs, checking if your email address, and any other pieces of your data, have been leaked in places you don’t them to be. You’ll get an alert just as soon as we find anything giving you crucial time to fix issues and protect your identity.

What is Guardio?

The simple answer is Guardio is a browser extension that has 2 main functions:

It protects you while you’re browsing online, warning you in real-time about dangerous websites and downloads, and keeping malware, malicious software, and nasty extensions away from your computer. It keeps you out of trouble.
Guardio protects your identity. It alerts you the moment your sensitive information is leaked online in a data breach. This means you can act in time to protect your identity from being stolen. It also allows you to manage your digital footprint, and control which companies have access to your personal data.

Is Guardio Legit?

Guardio is definitely 100% legitimate, and it’s also a great product. Over a million people use Guardio, and trust it to keep them, and their families safe online. And that number is growing daily.

But don’t just take our word for it. There are several ways you can verify for yourself if Guardio is legit.

First off, Guardio is a Chrome extension, so it’s listed on internet browser stores like Google Chrome Web Store, and Microsoft Edge Add-Ons. Look up Guardio you’ll see it has a four-and-a-half star rating, and there are plenty of customer reviews to read. And if you’re looking on the Google Chrome Web Store, you’ll also notice that Guardio has an Established Publishger badge, which in Google’s words means that it “has a good record with no history of violations.” In other words, it’s kind of a Google stamp that Guardio is genuine and legit. It’s worth noting that because some of our products deal with sensitive information, we are bound by some very strict rules and regulations from Google.

Second, Guardio has been written about in several industry magazines, such as Wired, TechRadar, TechCrunch, The Hacker News, and Security Week, among others. These publications are kind of tech-oriented and sometimes on the dense side, but on the other hand, they know what they’re talking about!

And third, in January 2022 Gardio secured $47million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global, with Emerge, Vintage, Cerca Partners, Union, and Samsung Next also participating. We consider that an absolute stamp of legitimacy.

Is Guardio Safe?

We love this question. You should question the safety of every site you open, every file you download, and every single link you tap, click or hit. Being worried about whether something on the internet is safe is the very reason Guardio exists. So first off, yes, Guardio is absolutely 100% safe. It’s a legitimate tool, made by a legitimate company that has to abide by very strict rules and regulations.

But more than that, safety and prevention are our business. Guardio was created so that customers stay out of trouble and away from dangerous sites and downloads, phishing, online scams, and identity theft. Our mission is to create a secure digital world for everyone - regular internet users, and businesses alike. Your safety on the internet is what we do.

And you don’t have to take our word for it. Guardio is a Chrome extension, so it’s listed on internet browser stores like Google Chrome Web Store, and Microsoft Edge Add-Ons. Look up Guardio you’ll see it has a four-and-a-half star rating, and there are plenty of customer reviews to read.

And if you’re looking on the Google Chrome Web Store, you’ll also notice that Guardio has both a Featured and an Established Publisher badge from Google. They give the Featured badge to “extensions that follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design.” The Established badge means Guardio has “established a consistent positive track record with Google services and compliance with the Developer Program Policy.” In other words, it’s kind of a Google stamp that Guardio is genuine and does exactly what it says.

Is Guardio Safe for Chrome?

Guardio is built specifically for Chrome. In fact, as well as Google Chrome, Guardio works on any Chromium-based browser, including Microsoft Edge, Samsung Internet, Amazon Silk, Vivaldi, Opera, and many others. So it’s not just that Gaurdio is safe for Chrome, it’s specially designed to make Chrome even safer.

Is Guardio Trustworthy?

Guardio is trusted by more than a million people already. In other words, more than 1 million people are using Guardio to protect their computer, their online identity, and their most intimate, sensitive data. Think for a second about what you have on your computer and what you do online: bank accounts, credit card accounts, insurance, social security details, photographs, medical records, even your favorite kind of pizza order.

But don’t take our word for it. Take a look at what our customers say about us - and yes, we publish the good and the bad feedback. Guardio is a Chrome extension, so it’s also listed on internet browser stores like Google Chrome Web Store, and Microsoft Edge Add-Ons. Look up Guardio you’ll see it has a four-and-a-half star rating, and there are plenty more customer reviews to read.

And if you’re already looking on the Google Chrome Web Store, you’ll also notice that Guardio has both a Featured and an Established Publisher badge from Google. They give the Featured badge to “extensions that follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design.” The Established badge means Guardio has “established a consistent positive track record with Google services and compliance with the Developer Program Policy.” In other words, it’s kind of a Google stamp that Guardio is genuine and does exactly what it says.

What is the difference between Guardio and ad blockers?

Traditional ad blockers block advertisements that aren’t necessarily harmful but can be distracting. Ad blockers can affect your browsing abilities because many websites that rely on advertising as their primary source of income won’t let you access them with an ad blocker enabled.

Guardio is an anti-malware program that removes existing malware from your device and prevents new malware infections. It does this by blocking harmful sites, extensions, and push notification providers that try to insert malware on your device. Harmful or intrusive push notifications or popups could indicate on malware that traditional ad blockers don’t block.

How is Guardio different from traditional antivirus programs?

Traditional antivirus programs allow threats to enter your computer and then take action to try and remove the threat. This means that the threat has the opportunity to do (sometimes irreparable) damage to your computer until it is removed. Frequent updates are required in order to update the database of known threats, so if you’re attacked by a threat that is still very new (and malware changes quickly), the traditional antivirus program may not even detect it.

Guardio works within your browser where most threats like identity theft, virus downloaders, scams, and more attempt to gain entry. This allows Guardio to block threats BEFORE they reach your computer and have a chance to cause harm.

Is Guardio available in my country?

Yes! Guardio is available worldwide. Our pricing is in USD, and currently, we offer support in the English language.

Is Guardio free?

Guardio offer a no-obligation, 7-day free trial to anyone wishing to experience Guardio before fully committing. After the trial period, Guardio offers a monthly subscription plan.

Protection & Technology

How will I know Guardio is protecting me?

Once installed, Guardio actively protects your browsing environment and scans every site, page, and service you visit. As long as you see the green icon on the top right of your browser, rest assured that Guardio keeps you safe and blocks away intrusive notifications, harmful sites, and extensions. You can visit your dashboard anytime by clicking on Guardio's icon to see what threats you're avoiding with Guardio by your side.

How often will Guardio scan my devices?

Guardio runs an initial scan to check your device for malware. Once you begin your membership rather than running scheduled scans, Guardio works all the time monitoring, checking, and blocking out harmful sites, extensions, and pushes. Guardio will alert you immediately if something is suspicious or harmful, and will remove abusive notifications to provide you with a clean browsing experience.

What happens once I install Guardio?

Magic! Guardio quickly scans your device for malware, abusive notifications, and information leaks. After this, you can begin your 7-day free trial and see how Guardio protects you as you browse the web.

Can Guardio get rid of popups?

Just as different stains require different methods to remove them, it's important to understand what popups you have on your device to know how to get rid of them. There is a difference between annoying yet harmless advertisements and harmful notifications that could indicate there is malware on your device. Guardio won't necessarily block out ads from sites you subscribed to that are legitimate and harmless, but will block out entirely anything coming from malware or that could lead to it.

Will Guardio remove the search and tabs that have taken over my browser?

Once you begin your free trial, we have a magical button that can perform a cleanup and restore any browser settings that have been hijacked.

Does Guardio work on mobile?

Guardio is a Chrome extension that works only on desktop, where most activity and threats take place. In the future, we may develop a mobile solution too.

Does Guardio work only on Chrome?

Not only! Guardio is available on Chrome and Microsoft Edge. We plan to make more adjustments in order to make Guardio compatible with other major browsers as well.

Account & Permissions

What does a Guardio membership include?

Your Guardio includes several protection features:

Online Browsing Protection: Guardio blocks out harmful phishing and scam sites by putting up a block sign, and alerts on suspicious sites with low authority.
Unwanted Notifications: By removing malware from your device, Guardio blocks out abusive notifications and explicit content. Guardio also traces the connections of push providers to give a more extensive blocking range.
Personal Information: Guardio informs you of past and new data leaks, when this happens we recommend you change your login details for those sites. You can monitor 5 different email addresses such as work, personal and other emails with one account.
Browser Extensions: Malicious extensions can reach your device in sneaky ways, and can also disguise themselves as legitimate services. Guardio removes these as soon as they reach your device and offers pre-install alerts to avoid any malware contact.
Personal Support: Guardio's support team is available for any questions and concerns, providing personal and professional service.
With a Premium account, you can protect five family members with one Guardio account. Each gets a separate account so that privacy can be kept.
With a Team account, you can easily add all your team members to keep your business safe.

Is my information kept confidential?

Absolutely. Guardio will never use your information in a harmful way, sell it, or share it with others.

Why does Guardio's extension require permissions when installing?

Any extension you install requires some permissions, and it's good to know what they mean and if you should accept them. The permissions Guardio requires:

"Read and change all your data on the websites you visit:"

In this case, it means that Guardio reads the page when you're on a website so that we can detect if it's safe or not. No changes are made to any websites. We take your privacy very seriously, and you can read more about it in our privacy policy.

"Display notifications:" Guardio alerts you on suspicious sites, malicious extensions, when something is removed, and other updates.
"Manage your apps, extensions, and themes:" Guardio requires this permission to remove the malicious extensions found.

Why do I need a Credit Card for the free trial?

We require a payment method when signing up to reduce fraud and prevent multiple free trials for one person. This enables a smooth transition for our members after the trial period and helps us deliver better service for all the honest customers. We promise we won't bill you anything during your free trial and you can cancel at any moment before your trial ends. All our credit card payments are protected by Stripe, so, you can rest assured about the safety of your financial data.

How can I reach you guys?

You can contact our awesome support team from our help center or write us an email to yourfriends@guard.io. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Will I be able to cancel Guardio?

Yes. You can also cancel Guardio directly from your dashboard. We don't recommend browsing without any protection but understand if it's not right for you at this time. We have a 30-day refund policy, and if you cancel during your free trial, you will not be billed a dime.

What is Guardio Subscription?

While you can use Guarido for free and enjoy some partial online security, full protection requires a monthly subscription.

A regular family account costs $9.99 a month, and lets you an additional 4 family members to your account.

If you want to use Guardio for a business or company, then you’ll need Guardio for Teams, whis has a subscription of $9.99 a month per seat.

Is Guardio Worth the Money?

It goes without saying that we are obviously biased, but we genuinely believe the answer is a very firm yes.

Consider for a second that Guardio is kind of like a real-time insurance policy. Insurance is something you pay for in case bad stuff happens. In this case, we’re talking about online security - so the bad stuff is getting scammed, phished, downloading dangerous files or opening malicious websites, and so on.

But Guardio actually stops the bad stuff from happening in the first place. Imagine if your car insurance actually stopped you from being in an accident. Well that’s what Guarido does for you when you’re online. It prevents you from getting into trouble. It doesn’t wait for disaster and then asses the damage (which is what regular anti-virus software does, by the way. Guardio is “preventative” insurance.

So again, is it worth the money? Absolutely. Protection you can see in action.

Is Guardio part of Google?

No, Guardio is not a part of Google in any way.

But let’s take a quick look at where this confusion might come from. Guardio is a Chromium-based browser extension. Chromium is, more or less, the basis of the code used to run web browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Samsung Internet, Opera, and more.

Chromium is open-source - in other words, it’s free for anyone to copy and use. And most of the Chromium code was developed by Google.

So what this all means is that Guardio was created to operate on browsers that are based on Google technology. But that doesn’t mean that Guardio is owned in any way by Google.