Cell phones antivirus

Most Popular. New Releases. Desktop Enhancements. Networking Software. Trending from CNET. Cell Phone Video Converter Free to try. Convert your movies to cell phone video format. Cell Phone Lookup Free. Get detailed information about cell and home phone numbers.

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Convert video files to the formats playable on your portable devices. Xingtone Ringtone Maker Free to try. Create ring tones for your mobile phone. If you're just looking for malware protection, you can't really go wrong with Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus's free tier. Read our full Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus review. Lookout Mobile Security, now rebranded as Lookout Security and Antivirus or Lookout Personal, was one of the first Android antivirus apps, and for a long time the best.

Its ease of use, clean interface and lack of ads explain its continued popularity. But Lookout's costs can rack up quickly. The free tier is bare-bones; it just scans for malware and locates lost phones. An unlimited VPN and a data-breach notification service make the premium price worthwhile.

It might well be worth the expense. The trouble is that Lookout doesn't often submit its app to third-partly lab evaluations, so we don't really know how well Lookout protects against malware.

Its active scans are also slow and heavy. Like Avast, McAfee offers or used to offer a ton of useful features, but its free version is also full of ads and upsell suggestions. The malware protection is decent, if not fantastic. It's not really clear why this was done, other than to "adjust our product portfolio. You'll get some good stuff with the free version of McAfee Mobile Security, such as a way to track each app's data usage and a Wi-Fi security scanner.

You can get one of the best VPN services to cover all your devices for less. Read our full McAfee Mobile Security review. Google Play Protect comes built into every Android device that runs Google Play, and it would be great if it worked well. Unfortunately, Google Play Protect's dismal malware detection makes the strongest possible argument for using a third-party Android antivirus app. We did like that Google Play Protect's interface is minimal, there are no ads and the system impact is light.

Some of Android's other built-in features, including Find My Device and Chrome Safe Browsing, mirror what third-party antivirus apps do on the side. Google Play Protect's best feature is that Google can use it to remotely disable dangerous apps.

This stays the case whether you're running third-party antivirus software or not. We recommend you not disable Google Play Protect. But overall, Google Play Protect is awful at protecting you from malicious apps. For your own sake, please use something else.

Read our full Google Play Protect review. Ideally, to keep your Android device safe, you should keep its software updated. Each new version of Android is more secure than the one before, and each monthly Android security update fixes newly found flaws. But unless you've got a Google Pixel or Android One phone, you won't get those updates and upgrades right away. Most device makers need time to make sure changes to Android don't break their devices or software.

That lag time can be a couple of weeks, or it can be many months. Worse, some Android phone models stop getting Android OS upgrades after two years, and a few never get monthly security patches at all. That's where the best Android antivirus apps come in.

They stop attacks that try to get around Android's built-in defenses, especially those that Google has patched but which your device doesn't yet or never will have. They also stop new attacks that Google Play Protect won't catch, even on Pixel phones. Freemium apps let you choose between getting a limited set of features for free or paying to get a premium version that gives you all the possible features, similar to fully paid apps. Apps that offer a lot of features for free may also show you a lot of ads.

Such features might include anti-theft mechanisms, an "advisor" to help you examine and choose apps, a Wi-Fi network security scanners, or an app lock that requires a passcode to open specific apps. Some tack on a super-premium tier that gives you unlimited VPN service or an identity-protection-service, often at a pretty good price.

But the most important factor in deciding which Android antivirus app to use is malware protection. Norton and Bitdefender lead in this category, and Kaspersky is not far behind.

Avast is good but not great, while the built-in Google Play Protect is terrible. We're not sure about Lookout and Security because they haven't submitted their apps to recent lab tests. To gauge the security protection of the best Android antivirus apps, we used the latest bimonthly test results from AV-TEST , an independent lab in Germany that measures how well major Android security apps detect zero-day malware and other threats.

Panda Dome also comes with a free VPN, but it only includes MB per day, which is barely enough for light browsing. You only need to enable a couple of permissions when you install the app and press the Scan button when you want to check your device for viruses. Kaspersky offers decent free malware detection and anti-theft protections, but not much else. Download Kaspersky Free for Android Now. Traced is a completely free internet security app for Android — it provides good malicious app detection, advanced network monitoring features, anti-phishing protection, and an intuitive app privacy scanner.

Traced uses machine learning to detect malicious apps without excessively draining battery life — it blocked all of the ransomware and cryptojacking apps in my testing, but it missed a small percentage of the spyware apps on my device. Traced also provides one of the most helpful Wi-Fi network monitoring features of any Android app. Traced is a completely free Android antivirus app with a strong focus on user privacy.

The ones on this list are all safe. Malicious antivirus apps can easily compromise your privacy and security and steal your info. Each app comes from a brand with a strong reputation for creating excellent cybersecurity products. My top pick, Avira Free Antivirus Security for Android , is produced by a company with millions of users worldwide and decades of experience in the cybersecurity industry.

Your Android phone or tablet probably contains sensitive data like personal information, banking information, social media, personal pictures and files, etc. Android OS is notable for having tons of indie developers, coders, and modders around the globe. Unfortunately, this also makes Android a playground for hackers. Ransomware, spyware, cryptojacking software, surveillance apps, and other malware compromise Android users every single day.

Android users also face risks from phishing sites, smishing links , and even pickpockets. To keep your device safe from all of these threats, you need to have a good Android antivirus with real-time protection, web protection, anti-theft tools, and other additional features.

If you want a free antivirus, go with Avira.