[UPDATED] 8 Best FREE & PAID Android Antivirus Apps 2020
Are you looking for the best free or paid android antivirus apps to secure your Android device? We know a lot of apps are available on Google Play Store, and when you search for the keyword “antivirus,” you get over 200 results.
Well, you do not want to download, install, and try each of them on your device, do you?. It’s hectic.
So, to help you out, today we bring you a list of 8 best antivirus apps (tried and tested) to keep your Android devices safe.
But before you begin with the list, let’s understand why you should use an Antivirus App on Android?
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Why You Need An Antivirus App?
Google’s Android operating system has over 2.5 billion active users and is an integral part of people’s lives all around the world.
Android’s popularity and influence have made it a very favorable target for hackers and other malicious attackers.
As a result, the Hackers try to attack and infect Android devices by attaching malicious virus codes within files that we download, especially in Android applications. Malicious codes are infested mostly in apps that we download from third-party sources.
However, there are virus-infected apps in the Google Play Store as well.
Hence, just like on our PC, the best and most recommended way to keep Android devices safe from virus attacks is by installing antivirus software/app.
8 Best Antivirus Apps to Keep Android Devices Safe (Free & Paid)
Like we mentioned, there are a lot of apps available on the play store, and it’s not possible to use all of them. Hence, we have only compiled the ones that we have tried and tested on our Android phones. These antivirus apps are free to use. However, they also have their paid features.
1. Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus
Android phones or tablets could be more vulnerable and prone to virus attacks. Kaspersky mobile antivirus, with a 4.9-star rating from nearly 3 million users, is a free-to-download app to keep your Android devices safe.
As users keep personal and private information on their phones, keeping it safe from cyber attacks and viruses is crucial.
Some of the key features of Kaspersky:
- Kaspersky provides features such as auto malware blocking, virus cleaner, and deep scanning on your android devices.
- It’s scan on-demand feature allows users to scan spyware, viruses, ransomware, and Trojans on real-time scanning.
- Kaspersky allows users to locate and lock the stolen device. This feature is significant to keep the data on android devices safe remotely as well. Users can even wipe the personal information from the stolen phone remotely.
- The standard features of Kaspersky are anti-theft, App locking, and anti-phishing attack filters. App lock feature lets you add a secret key on apps like message-app, social media apps.
- Kaspersky’s premium version also blocks dangerous sites and links to keep your device safe from viruses and malware. It prevents phishing attacks, cyber-attacks whenever you are browsing on the internet.
- App has some in-app purchases for additional features to keep your data safe.
NOTE: The only problem we found in this app is it does not scan anything that we download from WhatsApp or other apps. It also shows a lot of annoying pop-ups. If you ignore them, additional features are useful.
<Download Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus>
2. Bitdefender Android Antivirus
With a 4.7 star rating from nearly one hundred seventeen thousand users is an award-winning antivirus app for android devices.
In just 9.5M size, this app uses in-the-cloud scanning technology to protect your devices from cyber attacks and viruses. Also, the app is free to download without any in-app purchases.
Key features offered by Bitdefender Antivirus:
- As the app uses in-cloud scanning for viruses, it does not eat your battery percentage. The scanning process is also light, as it does not store virus signatures on the device. Moreover, the process is faster and does not cause performance issues.
- Whenever you download any third-party app on your android device, Bitdefender automatically scans for any viruses.
- After installing Bitdefender, you don’t have to make any configuration settings. The app is ready to go right after you install it on your android phone or tab.
- Upgrading to Bitdefender Mobile security, users will be able to access additional features of the app, including real-time scanning of pages. It also gives the user the ability to lock the device and wipe out data in case of a stolen phone.
NOTE: Some of the issues we found and many other people noticed is it sometimes had to force-stopped after running. It does not let you schedule the scan, which should be an option.
<Download Bitdefender Free Antivirus>
3. Avast Mobile Security
Avast is one of the most trusted mobile security apps by almost 5 million users. With the 4.7 star ratings, the app has 100 million downloads to date.
The app is not just a protection against viruses, but it provides more features to protect your device.
Key features of Avast Mobile Security:
- In just 31M size, avast offers Anti-theft, antivirus engine to scan and block attacks on your device. It also gives a feature to lock your apps and cleans junk files.
- Ram boosting, power saving, web shield, wifi security, VPN, privacy permissions are some more features of Avast.
- Moreover, with Avast, you can take a speed test for wifi network, access a web shield, and wifi security features.
- With the latest 6.26.2 version, avast has added more features such as app insights. The features show how much time a user uses a particular app.
- The Premium version of Avast gives additional features and advanced protection. The camera trap feature secretly captures a photo of a thief if your phone gets stolen.
- Users can also check the last known location of the device with Avast premium.
- VPN feature of avast premium hides your online activities and keeps you safe from cyber thefts.
NOTE: The app frequently shows annoying pop-ups and bug triggers on your phone. However, they have fixed the bugs in the app.
4. Avira Antivirus Security and VPN
With five hundred thousand users and 4.6-star ratings, Avira is one of the best antivirus apps with ultimate protection. The app provides real-time malware protection for Android devices.
With Avira, keeping your Android mobile phones and tabs clean and safe from any malware is quite easier.
Key features of Avira Antivirus:
- The process of a virus scan and cleaning is super light. It not just scans viruses but blocks and removes spyware and malware.
- System optimizer of Avira clean devices’ memory and storage to make it faster.
- Moreover, Avira’s identity protection checks whether your email address or any other account has been leaked online.
- Avira, like the previous two apps, also has features to track and wipe out the stolen phones.
- In addition, the app offers ransomware protection to ensure the security of your data.
- Avira’s pro version has additional features such as ultimate wifi security, microphone and camera protection, and web protection to block dangerous websites.
NOTE: Even though run-time scanning of the webpage is good for security, the app has a small bug which scans the webpage even after you leave the page or close the browser. Other features are amazing and trustworthy.
5. Security Master
Security Master by Cheetah Mobile is a new and upgraded version of the previously available CM Security app. It features creative diagnosis techniques that protect the device from any malware attacks.
With a 4.6 star rating, the application also features a SafeConnect VPN, which is an entirely free solution to bypass firewalls and access restricted content.
Key features of Security Master:
- Boost the phone and battery performance by optimizing background app activity.
- Make use of an “intelligent scanning” feature to identify and delete junk, duplicate, and cache files.
- Lock features and applications within the device using AppLock.
- Easier access to notifications and messages to make them easier to manage and read.
NOTE: While some app provides free VPN services in an antivirus app, this app charges for the VPN feature. Also, the size of the app varies with
6. V3 Mobile Security
V3 Mobile Security is a 4.6-star antivirus app for Android that is specially designed to consume way fewer system resources such as battery, CPU, and RAM than competitors.
Also, the application offers real-time protection from virus attacks and has different levels of scanning to identify any threats.
Here are the highlight features of V3 Mobile Security:
- Anti-Bluelight Filter to reduce the effect of harmful blue rays from displays.
- Privacy filters to make sure that no app tracks your device activity.
- Speed boost features to optimize memory use and improve performance.
- Privacy cleaner to easily clean browser data and cache data.
NOTE: App does not have an option to disable the notification bar of its own. Also, some of its features are not supported on some devices.
7. McAfee Security
McAfee is a company that claims to be the largest dedicated security technology company in the world and has more than 31 years of experience in the industry.
With 4.5 stars rating, the McAfee security mobile app makes sure that your phone’s security and privacy in on point always. In addition, the application features a very user-friendly design and a powerful anti-malware engine.
Below are the key features offered by the app:
- Lock your device and applications to prevent unauthorized access.
- Thief cam protects yourself against thieves.
- Inbuilt anti-Spyware to stop phishing and other privacy-related attacks.
- Backup functionality for SMS plus contacts prevents data loss.
- Ability to track, locate, and sound an alarm on your device remotely.
- Ability to prevent thieves from uninstalling the McAfee Security app.
- Kids mode feature help controls the content kids access.
- Track and optimize data, memory, storage, and battery utilization for better performance.
NOTE: All the features mentioned above are available by default on the free version of the app. However, upgrading to a premium plan will remove advertisements from the application and also provide you with phone support in case you need assistance.
8. Sophos Mobile Security
Sophos Mobile Security was awarded “Best Protection 2015” and “Best Android Security 2016” by AV-Test for completing 14 tests with a 100% score in a row. It’s a public security global services provider for personal, enterprise, and government purposes.
Sophos, with a 4.5-star ratings, is a free all-round antivirus and mobile security app that offers all features for free with no in-app purchases or advertisements.
Below are some of the chief features of Sophos Mobile Security apart from malware protection:
- Password protect applications with app lock.
- Set multi-factor authentication.
- Remotely lock your device or wipe its content in case of loss or theft.
- Check your WiFi connection for attacks such as a man-in-middle attack.
- Filter and block illegal, unethical, and malicious content.
- Get personalized security advice for your device.
- Block unwanted and spam phone calls.
- Store and access all your usernames and password using a database that is compatible with KeePass.
- Find and monitor applications that can access your data.
- Monitor your cellular data usage.
- Scan your device for battery-draining apps.
<Download Sophos Mobile Security>
Final Words-
The antivirus apps for Android we listed above provide users with all-around malware protection and additional features. Some of them have their PRO features. If you like trying the paid version, you can.
While choosing an antivirus app for your device, try to pick the one that has the additional features and optimizations that you want. This will help in making sure that you get the best performance and functionality out of the antivirus app on your Android device.
We hope you enjoyed reading the post and find the apps useful. Do let us know which antivirus app you use on your Android phone. We would love to hear from you in the comment section below.
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