Battle Best free antivirus for Android--or no antivirus?

[conceptualclarity]

Just recently started my second smartphone ever during a really difficult period, and am really surprised to see it has no preloaded antivirus. My prior phone had Lookout. Do you agree with those who say no antivirus for Android? If you disagree which one would you choose? And please tell me its pros and cons.

Any other security products you would run on Android?

The phone is a T-Mobile REVEVLRY+, based on Motorola.

 

[oldschool]

I use bitdefender free on every family device, but not on my own one

Smart!

 

[ForgottenSeer 77194]

Who do you mean by They?

Android OS does not spy or steal users' data. - Android Open Source Project

"Many games and simple apps"

 

[DJ Stylbator]

Ad blockers are an absolute necessity on phones, if you think you are bombarded by ads on the web, phones are way worse, mainly if you play the so called "free" games... This is a screen shot from my new phone bought back in July just to give an idea...

View attachment 269499

You can change your DNS mobile settings to Adguard DNS. Its a same thing

 

[Razza]

The thing is if you don't install sketchy apps you probably don't need a antivirus, saying that I do have Bitdefender on my family members android devices it more just incase they install crap by mistake plus you web browsering is protected by Bitdefender web protection plus it uses my spare slots up on my Bitdefender family pack 15 devices I got cheap.

Ads blocking wise adguard is good if SSL intercept is on, but DNS level ad blocking is going to getting more and more ineffective as time go on as more and more sites and apps are getting wiser and starting to use the ad domain for non ad content that is needed for it work.

I use adguard at home, I've noticed recently I have to whitelist more and more domains since they are using the domain for tracking/ads for legitimate assets needed for app /website functionality.

 

[Julioporter]

I use bitdefender

 

[DJDANY]

huawei have avast and i cant unistall (huawei p20 lite)

 

[Moonhorse]

I installed avg free version to my all family devices, adguard blocks ads inside the application and battery usage is normal even with the antivirus enabled so i dont see any downsides using avg

The main point i use avg is that it blocks malicious pages , gives me somewhat peace of mind

 

[Balrog]

Bitdefender + Adguard on every phone/tablet in house.

 

[Bot]

It is advisable to have an antivirus installed on your Android device as it can protect it from different types of malware and viruses. Although Android has some built-in security features, they are not always enough to keep your device fully protected.

As for the best free antivirus for Android, Avast and AVG are both great options. They offer a range of features such as malware protection, anti-theft tools, and privacy tools. However, some users might find them to be too intrusive as they collect some personal data in order to provide the best protection.

Another alternative is Malwarebytes, which is a popular choice among Android users. It offers basic malware protection and is lightweight and easy to use. It also offers a premium version with additional features such as real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and privacy protection.

Apart from antivirus, it is also recommended to have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) installed on your device to protect your online privacy and security. NordVPN and ExpressVPN are both highly rated and offer excellent security features.

In conclusion, having an antivirus and a VPN on your Android device is highly recommended to ensure the best possible security and privacy.

 

[TairikuOkami]

AV on android works differently compared to Windows AV. Most AVs just scan for known malicious apps, google store already does that on a regular basis.
The only advantage is scanning for malicious links, but you can do that with a good DNS. Another benefit might be a check for bad wifi/permission settings.

 

[ForgottenSeer 94633]

At home on all Android devices I use Bitdefender, ( now in March my paid plan ends). When it ends I plan to switch to Arcabit Android Antivirus

 

[Moonhorse]

AV on android works differently compared to Windows AV. Most AVs just scan for known malicious apps, google store already does that on a regular basis.

Trend micro can scan for malicious app pre install so you wont end up downloading the app at all


Currently im using adguard for android, with ControlD DNS + Trend micro set to hypersensitive mode for blocking malicious urls

 

[TuxTalk]

Norton 360 if you have premium you can also install on mobile devices.

 

[Trident]

Norton 360 if you have premium you can also install on mobile devices.

Web filtering from Norton is quite effective, tested by opening links from my junk folder.

And similar to Trend Micro described by @Moonhorse it pre-scans apps before you install them. What I like about it is that web-filtering doesn’t require VPN to be created/used specially for that. Trend Micro also supports certain apps without VPN but I’ve found it to slow devices down. I would prefer Norton. But it’s not free.

 

[Moonhorse]

Trend Micro also supports certain apps without VPN but I’ve found it to slow devices down.

Aswell you cant use two vpns same time, so cant use adguard + edge, instead i have to use google chrome + adguard as you can use only chrome without vpn

anyways im back to avast on all family devices, tried f -secure but it drains battery too fast. Might give a norton a go later

 

[Trident]

anyways im back to avast on all family devices

I didn’t like Avast because it didn’t block that many dodgy links - not as many as Norton, Bitdefender and Trend. On Windows it blocks them, Web Shield probably supports heuristics that inspect the page content. But relying just on its blacklist it doesn’t block a lot. Vodafone here in the UK uses the Avast base for its Secure Net and it rarely blocks something too.

My inbox is always overflowing with junk and this is what I use to test

 

[ForgottenSeer 98186]

Security softwares for phones are terrible at preventing or detecting app exploits and in-app security breaches.

Bitdefender (or Norton) without the VPN.

Android security depends a lot, even more so than on a PC, upon the user's digital behaviors and how familiar they are with typical Android security issues.

 

[Trident]

Android security depends a lot, even more so than on a PC, upon the user's digital behaviors and how familiar they are with typical Android security issues.

Mostly depends on which brand/model will be chosen as well. Some deliver timely updates, others deliver one for the whole lifetime of the device (TCL 20 5G, I am looking at you). And yes, it depends on how inclined users are to download weird apps as well.

Real-Time Behavior-Based Detection on Android Reveals Dozens of Malicious Apps on Google Play Store

Note: all applications mentioned in this research have been taken down and are no longer accessible.

www.bitdefender.co.uk

 

[Moonhorse]

On Windows it blocks them, Web Shield probably supports heuristics that inspect the page content

I have seen similar to occur

My inbox is always overflowing with junk

Avast premium has this hoax filter, i dont know whats the correct name....but it lets you set up a avast as default browser and will warn you when opening anything from email, but after you pass this its lotto if web filter kicks in or not

not as many as Norton, Bitdefender and Trend

Trend micro on high / hyper sensitive will block better than avast, but often it gives false positives though

I can believe that norton / bitdefender does better blocking malicious pages aswell as they do on desktops too

Im just keeping avast for now, its doing well on malware hub too

 

[Trident]

Avast premium has this hoax filter, i dont know whats the correct name....but it lets you set up a avast as default browser and will warn you when opening anything from email, but after you pass this its lotto if web filter kicks in or not

Scam protection or something it was called… don’t remember as well. Trend Micro has something weird going on with Android or at least had. As you search, if the search result contains a dot, it will produce a block. For example if you type “malware.tips tests” in the search engine, a block will appear for “malware.tips” even though it’s not a site you are trying to open. I had reported this and they said it’s by design.

Im just keeping avast for now, its doing well on malware hub too

It is a capable product indeed.
I haven’t observed any difference on how much Norton and Bitdefender block on desktop vs on a mobile device.