Read our full Avast Mobile Security review. Since the stand-alone price for SecureLine is $60 per year, paying an extra $20 on top of the premium Android antivirus tier for unlimited VPN data is not a bad deal. The built-in client for Avast's SecureLine VPN is just a tease, and the only way to use it is to pay for an Ultimate tier. Users of either paid plan also get additional anti-theft features, an app locker and tech support. Those ads go away if you pay for either of Avast Mobile Security's paid tiers, Premium ($2 monthly or $20 yearly) or Ultimate ($7 monthly or $40 yearly).
(It's since been removed.) And the free version's ads and constant nags to upgrade are annoying and intrusive. Some of Avast's anti-theft functions didn't work for us, and its call-blocking feature didn't work at all. Īvast Mobile Security & Antivirus is one of the most full-featured of the best Android antivirus apps, offering everything from a privacy adviser to a system optimizer to a customizable blacklist.īut while Avast's malware protection is good, it's far from perfect. Read our full Norton Mobile Security review.
It also checks apps in the Google Play store for security and privacy risks even before you install them. Norton's killer feature is the unique App Advisor, which checks apps on your device for heavy data usage and unusual behavior. The most expensive plan, Norton 360 Deluxe, $105 per year, is actually part of Norton's antivirus lineup and lets you protect up to five Android, Windows, Mac or iOS devices.Īll of these subscriptions can be paid for right through the Norton app, which has a 14-day free trial period. That's been replaced with a security-only app for one device that costs $15 a year.įor $50 a year, a medium-priced tier called Norton 360 for Mobile adds unlimited VPN service and "dark web" monitoring of your personal information. Norton also killed Norton Mobile Security's free tier, which was the best among all the Android antivirus apps we'd recently tested. Unfortunately, it no longer has anti-theft functions, nor its contacts backups and Link Guard malicious-link blocker. Norton Mobile Security, aka Norton 360, offers the best malware protection of any of the Android antivirus apps we tested. Read our full Bitdefender Mobile Security review. It's our choice for the best Android antivirus app. If you want more data, you'll have to pay $7 monthly or $50 yearly.īut at $15 per year, Bitdefender Mobile Security is well worth the expense. The built-in VPN client gives you only 200MB of free data per data - just enough to check your email while traveling.
The separate Bitdefender Antivirus Free for Android app (which is indeed totally free) only scans for malware. It also has robust privacy-protection tools, including an app lock, a Wi-Fi scanner, anti-theft features and data-breach notifications. A newly added feature, Scam Alert, flags possibly malicious links in SMS text messages, messaging apps and screen notifications.īitdefender Mobile Security offers a 14-day trial period, but this is not a freemium app. The best Android antivirus app you can getīitdefender's Android security app has nearly flawless malware protection, a very light performance impact, Android Wear watch integration, a VPN client and a malicious-website blocker that works with most Android browsers. We remain committed to helping our readers to source and find the best products and will offer multiple alternatives in the categories affected. Unfortunately, It’s not the best at protecting against malware but it has certainly improved over the years.įor malware protection on other platforms, be sure to visit our pages on the best antivirus software and the best Mac antivirus.Įditor's note: Future, the parent company of Tom's Guide, has chosen to stop doing business with Russian companies, including Kaspersky. Google Play Protect on the other hand is pre-installed on every Android phone with Google Play. Still though, there’s little third-party lab testing data on the efficiency of Lookout’s antivirus, so we don’t really know exactly how well it protect against malware. Lookout Security & Antivirus was one of the first mobile antivirus apps and has a compelling identity protection option. However, Avast’s anti-theft and call-blocking tools didn’t work well and the free versions of both apps show a lot of ads.
> The SMSFactory malware can add hundreds to your phone billīoth Avast Mobile Security and McAfee Mobile Security offer a lot of features for free and do fairly well in malware-detection tests. > Malicious apps with a new auto-starting Android malware don't even need to be opened to infect your device These 35 malicious Android apps have infected millions and have the ability to change their names and icons to remain hidden on your Android smartphone