Android is so fashionable that it’s an enormous goal for cybercriminals that need your cash. They’ll get it any means they’ll, whether or not it’s utilizing ‘keyloggers’ to steal your passwords, or another malicious software program that spies in your exercise and sends the hackers private particulars.
There are many different methods, too, from phishing messages and different scams that try to trick you into handing over that info, together with tapping on hyperlinks to harmful webistes.
To guard your self, you need to set up and use a safety app. With out one, you actually are leaving the door open to those threats as a result of Android itself doesn’t provide a lot in the way in which of safety.
The excellent news is that safety apps don’t value a lot and also you may even discover a free one does every thing you want.
What you are likely to need to pay for are additional options equivalent to identification safety, a VPN and possibly a password supervisor.
Our prime decide is Bitdefender Cellular Safety & Antivirus. It affords wonderful safety from viruses but additionally has helpful anti-theft options, a built-in VPN, the power to guard particular apps with a PIN and way more.
Finest Android antivirus apps 2024
1. Bitdefender Cellular Safety & Antivirus
Professionals
- Wonderful malware safety
- A number of helpful additional options
Cons
- VPN restricted to 200MB/day
- Free model consists of antivirus solely
Value When Reviewed:
9,99 €
There are two variations of Bitdefender for Android. One is the fully free Bitdefender Antivirus app and the opposite known as Cellular Safety for Android, which isn’t free.
The previous does one job solely: protects your Android cellphone or pill from viruses. And it does a improbable job: in AV-Take a look at’s most up-to-date report, Bitdefender caught 100% of viruses thrown at it, all with out affecting the cellphone’s efficiency or battery life.
That may sound nice, however you get much more safety within the Cellular Safety & Antivirus app. One of the crucial helpful is warnings of probably harmful hyperlinks in SMS and different messages and notifications that can assist you keep away from being scammed.
App lock is nice, too. Not solely does it allow you to forestall entry to particular apps utilizing a PIN, however you may configure it so apps stay unlocked for 30 seconds after you shut them or swap to a different, or keep unlocked when your cellphone is on a trusted Wi-Fi community (equivalent to your own home’s).
There’s additionally Internet Safety which warns you of internet sites that may very well be dodgy, whether or not you’re utilizing Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge or one of some different net browsers.
Add to that the identification safety, which alerts you if any of your e mail addresses are present in breaches, and a few helpful anti-theft options and it’s an excellent all-round safety app.
Sure, you additionally get a VPN, however it’s a restricted, cut-down model of Bitdefender’s full VPN service. It’s nearly okay for a little bit of net shopping, however you’re higher off with a separate VPN app. There are just a few different limitations: it doesn’t to dam calls, again up information or have any parental controls, however for every thing else it’s a wonderful package deal.
If you’d like safety for simply your Android machine, Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android prices a really cheap $14.99 / £14.99 for the primary 12 months. The choice is to purchase Bitdefender Total Security which helps you to set up the app on as much as 5 units, together with PCs, laptops, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones and tablets.
2. Norton Cellular Safety
Professionals
- Prime-notch safety
- App advisor warns of harmful apps earlier than set up
Value When Reviewed:
29,99 € per 12 months
Norton used to supply free Android antivirus, however not does. This implies you’ll need to pay, however there are numerous choices from the single-device subscription (Norton Mobile Security) that prices $14.99/£9.99 for the primary 12 months, a Norton 360 for Cellular single-device subscription for $39.99/£24.99 and Norton 360 Deluxe which protects 5 units for £89.99/$119.99 per 12 months, however discounted to £29.99/$49.99 for the primary 12 months.
Every little thing is built-in right into a single app: there’s no must run separate apps for antivirus, VPN and ID safety.
Like Bitdefender Cellular Safety, it scored full marks in AV-Take a look at’s newest report, blocking 100% of threats and having no influence on efficiency or battery life.
In addition to malware safety you get warnings of probably harmful textual content messages, web sites and Wi-Fi networks. Nevertheless it’s the App Advisor which actually shines, alerting you to presumably dodgy apps within the Play retailer earlier than you even set up them, in addition to put in apps utilizing an excessive amount of information or exhibiting suspicious behaviour.
Past this, as long as you’re subscribed to a model of 360 and never the essential Cellular Safety, you additionally get to make use of Norton’s no-limits VPN and its darkish net monitoring service. All variations include name blocking and misplaced or stolen machine restoration.
Learn our full
Norton Cellular Safety assessment
3. Avast One Important
Professionals
- Good free model
- 5GB per week VPN
Cons
- Fixed nagging to improve
Value When Reviewed:
Gratuit
One Important is the most recent safety suite from Avast and it’s out there for Home windows, Mac and iOS in addition to Android.
You may use it for free and get numerous options with out paying. However you’ll see numerous messages to ‘Go Premium’, together with when ‘Superior points’ are discovered throughout the preliminary scan. Actually, these are merely options you’re not getting as a free buyer, which is a bit cheeky.
The excellent news is that though numerous permissions are required for every thing that Avast can do, these are solely requested if you attempt to use that characteristic, equivalent to cleansing out junk recordsdata and ‘Internet Defend’ which warns you of harmful websites earlier than you go to them.
In addition to top-tier malware safety, there’s a built-in VPN that provides you a beneficiant allowance of 5GB per week. You may’t select a location except you’re a paying buyer, however for privateness when shopping the net or utilizing public Wi-Fi, it’s a real bonus.
There’s additionally the choice to verify for any information breaches, and you’ll enter an e mail tackle to verify even for those who’re utilizing the app with out having created an Avast account.
Paying prospects get notifications when their e mail is noticed in a knowledge breach, however free customers need to verify manually.
There’s no call-blocking, no warnings about dodgy hyperlinks in textual content messages and no anti-theft options, however for those who’re simply after free antivirus, One Important is a superb selection for Android customers.
If you happen to did need to improve, it prices $50 / £39.99 for the primary 12 months and $99.99 / £79.99 thereafter, however this covers any 5 units. You may get Avast One here.
4. Eset Cellular Safety for Android
Professionals
- Free model with wonderful antivirus
- A number of helpful options in Premium model
Cons
- No VPN or ID safety
- No password supervisor
Eset Cellular Safety is accessible in two variations. You may obtain it from Google Play and use it fully freed from cost.
For no cash in any way, it affords real-time monitoring and does a wonderful job of holding Android telephones free from malware. Actually, when famend impartial check lab AV-Comparatives put Cellular Safety by its paces not too long ago, it achieved an unbeatable 100% Safety score and gave zero false positives (in different phrases, it by no means flagged authentic apps as harmful).
Higher nonetheless, there are a great deal of different options, though for just about all of them you’d must subscribe to Cellular Safety Premium. That’s honest sufficient, and it’s nice worth at solely $14.99/£8.99 per 12 months. You can even benefit from the 30-day free trial to see for those who just like the options first.
The principle dashboard breaks issues down into three sections, Safety, Privateness, and Gadget.
Inside Safety you’ll discover each transient and detailed experiences, with an summary of your machine, in addition to shortcuts to Anti-Phishing instruments, Cost Safety and Community Inspector.
They’re all equivalents of their Home windows counterparts, which suggests you’ll get warnings for those who’re about to go to a doubtlessly harmful web site, the power to scan your own home Wi-Fi for threats and Cost Safety, which scans any finance-related apps for threats every time you utilize them.
Anti-theft options enable to you set your cellphone to lock routinely if somebody removes the SIM or enters the flawed PIN 3 times in a row. It may possibly additionally take a photograph with the front-facing digital camera after the machine is locked so you may see who’s utilizing it.
It’s potential to trace a misplaced or stolen cellphone through the Eset Dwelling portal in an online browser, which can present its tough location on a map. You may add contact particulars which can be proven on the lock display screen, enabling a misplaced cellphone to be returned to you.
App Lock permits you to shield delicate apps with a PIN code and a name filter can be utilized to dam spam callers. Many Android telephones have this characteristic already, although.
There’s additionally a characteristic that does a phone-wide safety audit, offering perception into which apps in your cellphone have which permissions, for those who’ve enabled developer mode or different settings that aren’t nice for safety.
What’s lacking is a VPN, password supervisor and identification safety. You get these provided that you signal as much as Eset’s dear Dwelling Safety Final package deal which covers Home windows, macOS and iOS in addition to Android.
5. Avira Free Safety
Professionals
- Filled with options
- Good malware safety
Cons
- A number of upselling without spending a dime customers
- Didn’t block 100% of malware
Value When Reviewed:
Gratuit
Avira is well-known for providing free antivirus and Android customers can nonetheless profit from this. Actually, though you’ll need to put up with fixed reminders that you simply’re not paying and due to this fact lacking out on some protections, you do get lots without spending a dime.
If you first set up the app you get the choice to check out the darkish mode and, though it takes you straight to the Profile faucet with a big Log In button, you don’t must create an account to make use of Avira Safety without spending a dime.
The Dashboard tab is one thing of a misnomer because it merely presents a Sensible Scan button together with an ever-present choice to improve to Safety Professional and get a week-long trial. It doesn’t, as you may moderately count on from a dashboard, provide you with an summary of the present state of safety.
Within the Safety tab, there’s no antivirus to be discovered: you’ll see the Anti-Theft choices together with Internet Safety, which is locked without spending a dime customers. That’s a blow, as warnings of malicious web sites are a useful characteristic.
Privateness options are in depth, together with name blocking, ID safety, a VPN, Permissions Supervisor and App Lock (which makes use of a sample to stop entry). ID safety permits you to verify if an e mail tackle has been included in any breaches however you may solely get steady monitoring (and alerts) for those who create an account – honest sufficient. Different options equivalent to App Lock are solely usable for those who create an account, too.
The password supervisor and microphone safety are reserved for paying customers, and the VPN limits you to 100MB per day and prevents you from selecting a location.
In AV-Take a look at’s most up-to-date report, Avira blocked 100% of threats, managing to cease 99.8% of the 3300+ samples used, however did detected 100% of widespread Android malware. When others equivalent to Avast managed 100% in each checks, you’d be forgiven for considering Avira is greatest prevented. However these are nonetheless nice outcomes and much better than working no antivirus in any respect.
To unlock most options, Safety Professional prices $11.99 / £6.99 per 12 months. That’s good worth, however to get limitless VPN use and the password supervisor requires an Avira Prime Mobile subscription which is $25.99 / £21.49 yearly.
FAQ
Is free Android antivirus any good?
Sure, it may be for those who select properly. One disadvantage of sure free Android antivirus apps is a scarcity of real-time monitoring. This implies they’re not always watching out for malware. As an alternative, they wait till you open the app and press the ‘scan’ button to verify for any issues.
Free antivirus, usually, doesn’t embrace all of the options you get if you pay, equivalent to VPN, identification safety and extra.
What’s the very best free Android antivirus?
Bitdefender Cellular Safety. It has real-time monitoring and has a wonderful observe report in impartial checks.
What’s the very best antivirus out there for Android?
Bitdefender Cellular Safety is the very best general. There’s a free model, however if you need additional safety together with identification safety, a VPN and extra, you need to pay for the premium model.
Does Android want antivirus?
In contrast to Apple units, which solely enable downloads from the iOS App Retailer to guard customers from bogus apps, Android permits you to set up APK recordsdata (that are apps) from any supply as soon as you alter a easy setting in your cellphone’s Settings app. Downloading apps from unknown sources isn’t usually an excellent concept as they may very well be contaminated with viruses and malware.
There may be additionally a less-strict approval course of for the Google Play Retailer than Apple’s App Retailer, and it’s no secret that apps contaminated with malware can seem on the Retailer now and again.
If you happen to’re on the lookout for safety for all of your units together with Home windows laptops, PCs, Macs, iPhones and iPads see our suggestions for the very best antivirus software program.
Android antivirus shopping for information: what to search for
Good antivirus software program will warn you of phishing emails, doubtlessly harmful messages (and the hyperlinks in them) and doubtlessly harmful web sites.
Along with virus safety, the very best Android apps might need extra options equivalent to anti-theft to will let you lock and/or wipe information from a stolen handset, and even take images or audio recordings of the thieves.
One other helpful characteristic generally present in safety apps for Android is name blocking. In case your cellphone is continually affected by nuisance calls or spam texts, you may be capable to block the callers in order that they don’t interrupt your day.
Some apps embrace schedulers of their call-blocking services, so you may divert all calls from the workplace to voicemail at evenings and weekends, for instance.
The flexibility to password shield entry to particular apps could be invaluable for fogeys who routinely hand their cellphone over to kids to play video games and fear that they may stumble onto one thing they shouldn’t, or run up horrendous payments by buying apps. However this additionally prevents anybody from choosing up your cellphone (even when it’s not locked) and utilizing any app they like.
It’s vital to decide on an app you belief, as a result of checks carried out by AV-Comparatives discovered that lower than a 3rd of all Android antivirus apps truly work. The positioning examined 250 apps and located that solely 80 of them managed to detect a minimum of 30% of malicious apps with none false alarms. And antivirus software program which doesn’t work correctly is of no worth.
For testing how efficient antivirus apps are, which is a specialist and intensely time-consuming course of, we use the outcomes from well-know safety software program check labs AV-Take a look at and AV-Comparatives. They always check these apps for defense, efficiency and value. You may learn these experiences your self to search out out precisely how every app carried out in every check.
Whereas an app can present a superb degree or safety from malicious software program, hackers are sometimes reliant on customers to make errors or be fooled into putting in the malware themselves with out realising what they’re doing. With this in thoughts, listed here are recommendations on the right way to shield your self on-line and eight methods to guard your self from cybercrime so that you simply don’t make it straightforward for individuals who would search to do you hurt.
