Best Antivirus for Android Phones

[Bot]

Content source

http://news.softpedia.com/news/best-antivirus-for-android-phones-518203.shtml

Android has often been targeted by malware writers across the world, with some infected apps even ending up in the Google Play store, so security solutions like an antivirus are becoming more popular among users of this particular mobile platform.

Security institute AV-TEST performed a new research to determine the applications offering the best malware protection on Android, comparing them to Google’s own Play Protect in order to figure out if third-party solutions are better or worse.

With Play Protect used as the starting point, it turns out that all security solutions included in the test performed better, though some of them provided pretty disappointing results.

First and foremost, let’s start with the best. Six different security solutions for Android got the maximum score, namely the ones from Trend Micro, Symantec, Sophos, Cheetah Mobile, Bitdefender, and Antiy. All got a 100 percent score after tests for performance, usability, and features.

Security products from Tencent and McAfee also scored pretty well with 99.9 percent score, while solutions from G Data, Ahn Lab, and Avast coming next with 99.8 percent.

Google Play Protect performance
On average, Android security tools managed to detect 95.7 percent of the latest Android malware in real-time and 98.4 percent of the samples of malware discovered in the last 4 weeks.

F-Secure’s SAFE security solution for Android got the lowest score with just 2.5 points for protection and 6 points for usability, despite having the security features that are considered to be critical for such a mobile product.

Surprisingly, however, Google’s Play Protect got a score that’s well below expectations. Google’s own anti-malware shield integrated into the Play store detected only 65.8 percent of the latest Android malware in real-time and 79.2 percent of the samples discovered in the last 4 weeks, according to the results. It was the only product that hasn’t received the AV-TEST certification.

You can see the full results in the photo gallery below and click the links above to download the APKs for the security products for your own Android device.

 

[vemn]

Wow what's AVL? Not a popular brand in my area. looks good. Maybe I can try that...

 

[zzz00m]

I've used Avast mobile since the day 1. No reason to change. Tried another one briefly, but it seemed to bog the phone down, and caused unneeded popups. Went back to Avast. It is unobtrusive, and I can only hope it is doing it's job!

I use an older Android phone, still on v4.4, and that seems to be very compatible.

 

[DJ Panda]

I'm still not entirely sure if I need a AV for my new phone. I don't download apps outside of playstore and don't download anything hardly in playstore either. I'm usually concerned about my battery life and such..

 

[Huchim]

I'm still not entirely sure if I need a AV for my new phone. I don't download apps outside of playstore and don't download anything hardly in playstore either. I'm usually concerned about my battery life and such..

I'm exactly in the same scenario like you, I only have adguard to get rid of annoying pop ups and obviously ads on chrome since I use it a lot (youtube, facebook, news, forums, twitter) even anti-theft features are already on android

 

[Trooper]

Still using nothing. Google Pixel XL here (first gen). Used Adguard but it killed my battery life. Back to using DNS66 of late.

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

Symantec for Android is an excellent, stable and very effective product. It's the only reason I retain a license for Symantec is their mobile offering.

 

[novocaine]

Google Play now has Play Protect, why need 3rd party AV?

Google Play Protect

 

[RoboMan]

Point to take into account, is that Play Protect is one of the many security add ons lastest Android versions have. Since Nougat, lots of security features have been added and Oreo has been reinforced even more.

-Permission Manager: you have listed every permission every app uses and have the option to disable a specific permission on an app. For example, there's no need why AirBrush Photo Editor would need your location, you can disable that permission from the app settings.
-Wipe, track and block phone: it's already included on Google's security options, no need to install Avast for that.
-You can create extra system accounts with less privileges to maximize security on daily basis.
-Device Administrator: built-in tool to enable and disable who can administer your device.
-Unknown sources: by default, and just in case you downloaded an infected Play Store app, no apps will be able to download from anything but the original Play Store-
-Credential storage: manage, install, or clear certificates on your device.
-Trust agents: set features like Trusted Places or Trusted Voice.
-Usage access: manage what apps have access to app-usage data on your device.
-App veryfing: Google will run a verification every time in a while to check apps and their permissions.

 

[zzz00m]

Saw this today regarding Play Protect:

Android's New Google Play Protect System Miserably Fails First Security Test
Android's New Google Play Protect System Miserably Fails First Security Test

 

[antreas]

You don't need antivirus!

 

[enaph]

You don't need antivirus!

I second that. Even my 8 yo son is using a tablet without any AV and today I've scanned this device with Malwarebytes and Zemana - they didn't found even single threat.

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

Saw this today regarding Play Protect:

Android's New Google Play Protect System Miserably Fails First Security Test
Android's New Google Play Protect System Miserably Fails First Security Test

Play Protect isn't so hot. But Norton's integration with the store seems better IMO. Also I like Norton's Android Link-Checker that checks and validates any links you click on with your device. I think that is an important protection technology on Android.

More often than not what I see from mobile devices are malicious links, background telemetry and intrusive logging. It's surprising what is blocked on Pi-Hole and/or UTM's from mobile devices.

 

[dvdke]

i use cm security for my smartphone.

 

[Jack Sparoow]

What about Zemana antivirus?!

 

[amico81]

we don't need any antivirus for our smartphones. but if you are nervous or in panic...save your battery and use bitdefender free for android. And that's that!

 

[dvdke]

there are no malware for smartphones/android?

 

[mlnevese]

there are no malware for smartphones/android?

There are but you are unlikely to find one unless you usually download cracked or pirated apks.

 

[dvdke]

There are but you are unlikely to find one unless you usually download cracked or pirated apks.

thx
mlnevese,for safety i use cm security.

 

[Exterminator]

I use Kaspersky primarily for the tools.