Best free antivirus for android phone download

Intercept X also benefits from an authenticator which you can use for multi-factor authentication with any app that supports Google Authenticator, and you can manage all these 2FA accounts from this central hub. As well as some of these more unusual features, the standard anti-theft functionality is present here, so this is a well-featured effort overall. Another strong point of this app is that it runs well even on older Android devices and is generally undemanding in terms of system resource usage.

All this adds up to a robust offering for a free app, for sure, although there is a piece of the puzzle missing in terms of anti-theft capabilities. Avira Antivirus Security is another security app which gets a big thumbs-up from the independent testing labs when it comes to the quality of its antivirus engine. The free version is ad-supported, but has plenty of features, including a Permissions Manager which rates applications on a privacy scale to help you easily decide how worthy they are of being trusted with your data.

The integrated Identity Safeguard feature regularly checks if your email address has been leaked in any major data breaches, informing you of the details of any leak, which is pretty handy. You also get a raft of anti-theft capabilities that include the ability to locate your phone, remotely trigger an alarm, or remotely lock or wipe your Android device. The premium version of the app gets rid of the adverts, and incorporates better support, the automatic blocking of malicious websites, more frequent hourly updates, along with microphone and camera protection to stop people abusing that hardware to spy on you.

He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in North America. Having the best Android antivirus app installed on your smartphone or tablet is essential. Bitdefender Mobile Security.

Well-featured with tight security - the best Android antivirus app. Specifications Maximum devices covered: 1. Stand out features: Anti-theft, privacy advisor. Free or paid: Paid. Reasons to avoid - Cloud-based scanning needs active internet connection.

Norton Mobile Security. Specifications Maximum devices covered: 3. Stand out features: App Advisor, anti-theft features, call blocking. Paid or free: Paid. Traced — Privacy-focused app with a good Wi-Fi network scanner. Here are a few well-known brands you may have been expecting to see on this list: Norton.

TotalAV offers a good set of free features for Android, but it lacks real-time malware protection. While Avast and AVG maintain a widespread web presence, they were implicated in some pretty serious privacy violations. You can go here to read more about the full story of how they were secretly selling user data. Why does Android need an antivirus? What kind of features can you get with an Android antivirus app?

Read Review Share It: 0. About the Author Ben Martens is a cybersecurity journalist with a background in internet ethics, malware testing, and public policy. He resides in Oregon, and when he's not advocating for the rights of internet users, he's walking with his dog and inventing stories with his daughter. Was this article helpful? Please tell us what we can improve This field is required. Read Review. New Releases.

Desktop Enhancements. Networking Software. Trending from CNET. Protect computers from objectionable content and security threats. Enjoy worry-free unhackable online life with real-time malware threat elimination within unbreakable Web defense. Avast Free Antivirus Free. Safeguard online privacy, secure devices, and go beyond essentials with cloud-light, state-of-the-art protection.

Develop Android applications that you can run, test, profile, and debug. Protect your PC against viruses, rootkits, buffer overflows, and malware.

It's also annoying when AVG finds risks that aren't actually malicious. However, if you do like to have those kinds of alerts, even if no files or apps are found to be harmful, then you won't have a problem with that.

For example, after a scan, you might be told that the "unknown sources" option is disabled on your phone that would normally tell you when you've installed an unofficial app that could contain threats.

While that feature should probably always be enabled, disabling it doesn't necessarily mean you are currently under attack or have infected files. App backup , camera trap , device lock, VPN protection, app lock , and no ads , are a few of the unsupported features in the free edition. There are also various links to features that you can only get in other apps, so you might find yourself leaving AVG for the Play Store when you try tapping those options.

McAfee offers the free Mobile Security suite to Android users. It includes not only a virus remover that scans existing and new apps and can run on a schedule of your choosing, but also a memory booster, anti-theft tool, battery booster, and storage cleaner. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.

Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.