Smartphones have become one of the integral parts of our lives. People use them for different purposes, not only for communication, they also store most of their personal and sensitive data. In this era of privacy concerns and threats, is it safe to store your private data on your phone? I say it’s safe unless it is secured with proper protection. If you are not having an anti-virus on your device, then you are putting yourself at risk.
For this, you need to install the best mobile anti-virus software to detect and prevent malware. It also has a few features such as backing up your data, tracking your phone, sent commands when the phone is lost, take a picture of the thief with device’s camera, and locating your phone using Android Wear Smartwatch, etc. So, we have brought you a list of the Best Android Anti-Virus apps for Free.
All of these antivirus apps are tested and approved by the AV-TEST Institute. Many of them do much more than run automatic scans, and they’ll actively try to prevent malicious web pages and files from being opened or downloaded in the first place.
1. Avast Mobile Security:
Avast Mobile Security Antivirus is one of the most full-featured Android security apps on the market. It protects a lot of users on multiple platforms. This antivirus giant also has a free app for Android users, over 100 million downloads in the Play Store. A single click scans for dangerous apps and corrupted files and provides complete protection against viruses and malware.
The app integrates features like Call Blocker, Anti-Theft, Power Saver, RAM booster, Firewall, Web Shield, Wi-Fi Scanner and many more that allows you to secure your data. Another best feature is ‘in-app locking’, where it asks you for a PIN before opening particular apps. This prevents malware from launching apps. Having all these excellent features, Avast Mobile Security is a worthy contestant for best antivirus for Android.
2. Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus:
Kaspersky is an amazing security app and has a good reputation with the big players like Avast, Bitdefender. It is one of the best antivirus apps for Android. According to AV-Test’s trails, Kaspersky is very good at picking up on malware, with 99.9% of detection rate. It also blocks malicious sites or links before you click them.
It has a free version and also a paid version. The free version has features like scanning apps for malware and viruses and its premium version has features include real-time protection, app-locker, anti-theft and more.
3. McAfee Mobile Security & Lock:
McAfee Mobile Security is a free virus cleaner, protects and enhances your Android device’s performance with amazing Anti-Theft, Lost Phone Finder, App Privacy Protection, Antivirus, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Malware, Virus Removal, Performance Optimization, SMS Backup, Contacts Backup, and Security features.
The best things about this software are it has an intuitive interface and provides tutorials for every feature. McAfee will also block access to potentially malicious websites, as well as allow you to keep a blacklist of nuisance callers and texters. The app is a trustworthy antivirus app for Android.
4. Bitdefender Antivirus Free:
Bitdefender is a big name in the community of security. This doesn’t run in the background which frees up system resources and saves battery, but the user has to schedule scans manually to be safe. The app also offers real-time protection and scan apps as they are installed. There’s also a nifty Privacy advisor tool and adds a layer of security to your smartwatch via its WearOn technology which alerts you if you leave your phone behind.
To access more advanced features of Bitdefender such as Malware scanner, account privacy, web security, Anti-theft, and App locker, you can try out the paid version.
5. Avira Antivirus Security:
Avira Antivirus is equally reliable like its other competitors on the list. It is fully-featured and most of its features are available in the free version itself. It not only scans downloaded files, content on your phone, but also scans external storage units and show how each app rates on a privacy scale.
The integrated ‘Identity Safeguard’ regularly checks if the email addresses in your contacts list have been involved in any major data breaches. The app is controlled by a web-based management portal, which is extremely useful if you want to set up a common policy over multiple Android devices. With the premium version, you can get extra protection such as camera protection, additional browser security, etc.
Whatever software you use with your Android phone or tablet, you’d be wise to have an antivirus or a security app installed on your device.
