What Are The Best Android Security Apps

You've secured your Windows desktop and laptop computers with a powerful antivirus, or even a full-scale security suite. Perhaps you've extended malware protection to your macOS desktops and portables. But what about that high-powered computer that lives in your pocket? A modern Android device can do practically anything a desktop computer can…including getting infected by a virus or other malware. Not only that, these handy handhelds are subject to being lost or stolen. The right security product for your Android devices will fend off malware attack, foil Android thieves, point the finger at apps violating your privacy, and more. Which one is right? We can help you pick.

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.

Our Experts Have Tested 45 Products in the Antivirus Category This Year

Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. (Read our editorial mission.)

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 17.5. The real loser in this test was Google's own protection, which earned a big zero for protection.

London-based MRG-Effitas tested 10 products, most of which overlapped with our selection. The testers evaluated each product's ability to detect and eliminate threats before launch, and the ability to detect and neutralize threats during install. They checked more than 160 samples, ranging from Trojans to adware, with some known valid programs thrown in to check for false positives. And they noted whether a product caught samples early or waited until they were about to install. Almost all the products we've reviewed earned a perfect 100% score.

Malware Protection and More

All the Android products include an antivirus component that scans new apps and offers an on-demand scan as well. All but a couple of them can also run scans on a schedule, a feature perhaps more useful on Windows than Android. All of them also offer some form of safe browsing, to keep you from surfing to URLs that might try to plant malware, or fraudulent sites that might trick you into giving away your username and password for the login page they imitate.

All these apps also check your installed apps for potential privacy problems. Typically, they flag programs that have permission to do things like view your contacts, scan your call logs, learn your location, or send texts. If a communication app needs access to contacts, that makes sense. If a goofy game wants to paw through your private info, however, consider deleting it.

All but one of them include antitheft protection for a lost or stolen device. The antitheft outlier is Norton, which dropped this capability in 2019. You can find your device's location on a map. If you've just mislaid it around the house, you can trigger a noisy alarm to help you find it. You can lock the phone to keep a thief out of your apps and data. And if you determine that you'll never get the device back, you can remotely wipe it. All the apps let you manage antitheft features using an online console. Most of them offer the option of triggering antitheft events using coded text messages, and many of them also surreptitiously snap a photo of whoever is using your device.

One of the first things a typical smartphone thief does is claim the device by swapping out the SIM card. Most of our recommended apps include some form of SIM card protection. Some of them lock the device on SIM card change. Others notify you of the new phone number, so you can still send those coded text messages to invoke antitheft features.

Blocking unwanted calls and texts used to be a common feature, but ongoing changes to the Android operating system have made it more difficult. Almost half our picks don't offer this feature at present.

Bonus Features

Antivirus and antitheft are core components for any Android security app, but some go way beyond the basics. Common bonus features include backup for your contacts and photos, a battery monitor to show which apps are killing your battery life, and a task killer to send those battery hogs packing. Several of the apps warn when you connect to an insecure Wi-Fi network. Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and McAfee let you pair your phone with your Android Wear, so if you walk away from your phone, your watch can remind you to grab it.

As noted, almost all these security tools scan your installed apps and report on those that might be privacy risks. Norton and Trend Micro take that skill to the next level, reporting on apps as you view them in the Play Store, so you can avoid downloading any that might be problematic.

VPN protection is more important on mobile devices than desktops, because mobile devices connect to a wide variety of networks. Kaspersky and Bitdefender both include a bandwidth-limited VPN with their Android VPN apps. That's nice, but Avast, Avira, and Norton include VPN protection with no bandwidth limit.

A few of these products feature less-common bonus features. ESET lets you time-schedule your call blocking, for example, to allow only family members to call you at night. Trend Micro offers to scan your Facebook settings and warn about any security problems.

Stay Safe on All Your Devices

So, which one should you choose? It depends on just what you need to protect, but we assume you want a suite that at least installs on your Windows and Android devices. McAfee Antivirus Plus is an Editors' Choice winning antivirus, with protection for unlimited devices. Kaspersky Security Cloud and Norton 360 Deluxe are both Editors' Choice picks for cross-platform security suites, and both get excellent lab scores on Windows and Android. Bitdefender Total Security likewise pulls in top lab scores and offers a cornucopia of features on Windows; it's our Editors' Choice winner for security mega-suite. You won't go wrong with one of these four, but the others have their own merits. Click through the links, read the full reviews, and make your choice.