More phones run Android than any other mobile OS, and there’s a correspondingly large variety of malware. Based on our testing, these are the best antivirus apps for keeping your Android devices safe.
When you play a game or use a browser, do you ever think about where that software came from? Yep, a dedicated team of coders and designers worked hard to create that entertaining or useful program. Unfortunately, there are teams just as dedicated to creating software for nefarious purposes, from stealing login credentials to holding your data and devices for ransom. And their malicious creations are just as likely to target your Android devices as your desktop computers. You need security software—think antivirus —for your Android, both to fend off malware and help you deal with loss or theft. There are plenty of options to choose from. We can help you pick the security solution that’s right for you and your situation. Android protection doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The products listed here are all cross-platform solutions, with protection available at least for Windows, macOS, and Android. Most of them also offer some form of iOS protection, though with a feature set that is limited by the closed nature of Apple’s operating system. Note that the ratings apply to the product as a whole, on all platforms. They don’t necessarily reflect the quality of the Android product. Bad test scores on Windows might drag a product’s overall score down even if its Android edition tested fine. Testing Results From the Labs Do these Android antivirus utilities work? We look to three independent testing labs to find out. Almost all the listed products appear in results from at least one lab; three show up in all of them. Researchers at AV-Comparatives challenged each Android antivirus product to defend against over 3,000 prevalent Android malware samples found in the wild. In the latest round of testing, Avira, Bitdefender, G Data, Kaspersky, and Trend Micro scored a perfect 100%. The latest test from AV-Test Institute hit 15 Android antivirus solutions with thousands of malware samples. Researchers also installed thousands more non-malicious programs, to make sure that the antivirus didn’t wrongly identify them as malware. They assigned each product up to six protection points for blocking malware, six points for minimal impact on performance and battery life, and six usability points for refraining from mistakenly blocking valid programs. All but one of the products we follow scored a perfect 18 points, while Sophos came close with 17.
