The PC has been round because the early 80s, as have PC antivirus apps. Android did not seem till 2008, however the malware coders had been primed and able to assault. Nevertheless, standalone Android antivirus apps haven’t got the very best avenue cred—what you need is a safety suite that protects each PCs and Android telephones and tablets. Our prime suites for Android safety are Bitdefender Whole Safety and Norton 360 Deluxe, each of that are winners of our Editors’ Alternative award. That stated, all of the merchandise listed right here present a wealth of security measures for Android, and most get prime scores from unbiased labs. Learn on and discover ways to choose the very best antivirus in your Android units.
Deeper Dive: Our Prime Examined Picks
Greatest for Complete Android Safety
Bitdefender Whole Safety
Execs & Cons
Award-winning antivirus
Protects Home windows, macOS, Android, and iOS units
On-line administration and distant management
VPN, spam filter, and parental management
Huge variety of extra bonus options
Full VPN entry requires a separate subscription
Parental content material filter not totally efficient
Help for iOS is proscribed
Why We Picked It
Antivirus safety by Bitdefender Whole Safety’s Android version swept the testing labs, with good scores from AV-Take a look at, AV-Comparatives, and MRG-Effitas. You may find, lock, or wipe any protected Android gadget from the Bitdefender Central on-line console. You may even get a photograph of a telephone thief. That is additionally the place you lengthen safety to your different units operating Android, in addition to iOS, Home windows, or macOS.
Along with the anticipated safety towards malicious and fraudulent web sites, Bitdefender’s Rip-off Alert flags shady hyperlinks in texts and different messaging apps, its Account Privateness system checks your emails towards recognized knowledge breaches, and its App Lock safety for delicate apps is extra versatile than most. Password administration and VPN safety lengthen to your Android units, although VPN options are restricted except you pay an additional payment.
Who It’s For
Your Android telephone shops your dates, contacts, footage…your life! You’d be devastated if it received stolen or incapacitated by a malware assault. Bitdefender Whole Safety retains malware at bay, helps you get well a misplaced or stolen gadget, and provides bonus options to boost your safety. And hey! It may possibly shield your non-Android units, too.
Specs & Configurations
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Bitdefender Whole Safety Assessment
Greatest for Included Identification Safety
Norton 360 Deluxe
Execs & Cons
Award-winning antivirus
VPN with no bandwidth or server limits
Hosted on-line storage for backups
Efficient safety towards harmful and fraudulent web sites
Highly effective, self-sufficient firewall
Parental management unavailable on macOS
On-line backup strictly for Home windows
Knowledge-broker opt-out system restricted
Why We Picked It
Unbiased antivirus testers routinely give Norton’s Android antivirus good and near-perfect scores. At current, it is at 100% with MRG-Effitas and 99.9% with AV-Comparatives. A number of false positives knocked down its Usability rating from AV-Take a look at, however I anticipate a fast restoration
Examined underneath Home windows, its net safety did effectively, detecting and deflecting 99% of fraudulent web sites and 99% of malicious ones. In an uncommon twist, Norton’s real-time malware safety reaches all the way in which into the Android Play Retailer and warns you earlier than you even obtain unsafe apps.
This can be a totally cross-platform suite with assist for Android, iOS, Home windows, and macOS. Its full-powered, no-limits VPN works simply tremendous on Android, as do its cross-platform password administration and parental management apps. Different options embody an in depth safety scan of each Wi-Fi community you be part of, a examine for insecure gadget settings, and a monitoring system that warns of harmful hyperlinks in texts.
Who It’s For
You utilize your Android gadget all over the place you go, and it connects to all method of Wi-Fi hotspots, not all of them dependable. VPN safety that kicks in everytime you want it’s a blessing, preserving your communication protected even when hackers personal the Wi-Fi hotspot. Norton 360 Deluxe offers you that, together with a cornucopia of different cross-platform options.
Specs & Configurations
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Norton 360 Deluxe Assessment
Greatest for No-Limits VPN
Avast One Gold
Execs & Cons
Glorious antivirus lab scores
No bandwidth or server limits for VPN
Safety for Home windows, macOS, Android, and iOS
Enhanced safety, privateness, and efficiency options
Safety restricted on Android, extra so on iOS
Most options out there in free version
Why We Picked It
Avast One Gold earned an ideal rating in Android antivirus exams by MRG-Effitas, and a so-close 99.9% rating from AV-Comparatives. Like Norton, it dropped a degree for Usability with AV-Take a look at, nevertheless it stays a constant lab take a look at winner.
Avast’s Good Scan watches for malware, warns of weak Wi-Fi networks, and identifies junk information for cleanup. VPN safety is now constructed into the primary safety app. As with Norton’s VPN, it comes with out limits on bandwidth or server selections.
As well as, Avast contains fairly a number of options to maintain your telephone operating easily and safely. It may possibly liberate out there RAM, reclaim cupboard space by deleting junk, and examine each the security and the pace of your Wi-Fi connection. The App Insights characteristic helps you handle app utilization and privateness, and App Lock enables you to put your most delicate apps behind a secondary PIN. Avast can examine recognized knowledge breaches to see in case your e mail reveals up, block undesirable calls and texts, tweak settings to scale back energy consumption, and extra.
Who It’s For
Like most merchandise described right here, Avast One Gold protects Android, iOS, Home windows, and macOS units. Additionally, like most, it does not do rather a lot on iOS. The Android version, nevertheless, is full of security measures.
Specs & Configurations
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Avast One Gold Assessment
Greatest for Future-Proof Safety
Avira Prime
Execs & Cons
Contains Professional editions of all present and future Avira instruments
Safety for Home windows, macOS, Android, and iOS units
No-limits VPN
Cross-platform excessive scores from antivirus testing labs
Lacks many anticipated suite options
Darkish Net Monitoring is accessible solely in Germany
Why We Picked It
With most safety suites, the characteristic set doesn’t change appreciably after your buy. However with Avira Prime, you get the Professional version of each Avira product, together with any apps Avira could add. Not all these Professional apps assist Android, however you do get Antivirus Safety Professional, Phantom VPN Professional, and Password Supervisor Professional.
Like its counterparts on different platforms, Avira first desires to run a Good Scan of your gadget’s safety, privateness, and efficiency. As with many Android safety apps, you may find, lock, or wipe a misplaced or stolen gadget, although you carry out these actions from one other cellular gadget, not an internet console.
Avira presents typical Android security measures, together with App Lock to safe your most delicate apps and Permissions Supervisor to establish apps which will have permissions that aren’t applicable. Its Net Safety part goals to maintain you from by accident visiting harmful websites. Going past customary options, the Optimizer characteristic helps you liberate reminiscence and reclaim cupboard space, Identification safety checks your e mail towards recognized knowledge breaches, and Microphone safety prevents eavesdropping. This Android safety app is loaded relating to bonus options.
Who It’s For
Are you among the many many who are suffering from FOMO (worry of lacking out)? Select Avira Prime, and also you’ll by no means miss out on new Avira merchandise—they’re included. And that applies to Avira installations in your iOS, Home windows, and macOS units, too, not simply on Android.
Specs & Configurations
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Avira Prime Assessment
Greatest for Residence Community Safety
ESET Residence Safety Important
Execs & Cons
Glorious antivirus lab scores
Full-featured Android safety
Small impression on efficiency exams
Helpful residence community safety scanner
Anti-theft for laptops and Android
Restricted parental management
Poor rating in hands-on malware safety take a look at
Unusually annoying firewall pop-ups
No enhancements for macOS
Why We Picked It
We observe three unbiased labs that put Android antivirus instruments to the take a look at. Naturally, we wish to see good scores within the lab studies. ESET earned the utmost doable rating within the newest Android-based exams by MRG-Effitas and a really respectable 99.6% from AV-Comparatives.
This cross-platform suite presents anti-theft safety for Android units and extends that safety to Home windows laptops. In contrast to most rivals, ESET enables you to ship anti-theft instructions utilizing coded SMS messages. It may possibly additionally routinely lock your telephone if a thief tries to swap out the SIM card.
Along with the anticipated on-demand malware scan and real-time safety, ESET can schedule common scans. Its quite a few extra security measures embody Fee Safety, which launches delicate apps utilizing enhanced safety; App Lock, which places your most necessary apps behind the safety of a secondary PIN; Safety Audit, a scan that identifies apps with probably the most permissions, in addition to safety issues comparable to USB debugging enabled; Community Inspector, which each lists units in your community and flags any with safety issues; and Name Filter, to dam undesirable calls and texts.
Who It’s For
Having antivirus and antitheft safety in your Android is important, however you need extra, extra, extra! Why ought to a safety suite for Home windows have a much bigger characteristic assortment? ESET Web Safety ought to fulfill your yearning for an ample and efficient assortment of security measures.
Specs & Configurations
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ESET Residence Safety Important Assessment
Greatest Assortment of Options
Development Micro Most Safety
Execs & Cons
Glorious rating in our phishing safety take a look at
Complete Android safety
Unusually feature-rich iOS safety
Safety for macOS past the fundamentals
Many helpful security measures
Poor lab scores
Substandard rating in hands-on malware safety take a look at
Weak parental controls
Improve doesn’t improve Home windows or macOS safety
Why We Picked It
Like McAfee, Development Micro enables you to activate safety in your Android by scanning a QR code. A brand new set up walks you thru the preliminary configuration course of, a course of made prolonged by the sheer variety of options. When you’ve arrange Misplaced System Safety, you may carry out the anticipated find, lock, and wipe features, however this app goes additional. It snaps a photograph of anybody who repeatedly tries and fails to get previous the lock display screen. You may even remotely change the PIN in case you assume somebody has stolen or shoulder-surfed yours.
Pay Guard Cell triple-checks your gadget’s safety and connection once you log right into a delicate web site. Wi-Fi Checker scans the hotspot you’re utilizing for safety issues. Social Community Privateness checks your social media accounts to ensure you’ve configured them appropriately for privateness. Like Norton, it checks apps you view within the Play Retailer and warns you so that you don’t obtain any which can be iffy. The listing goes on!
Who It’s For
Many cross-platform safety suites put a whole lot of vitality into their Home windows version however hardly any into different platforms. With Development Micro Most Safety on Android, you get an array of arguably higher options than its Home windows equal. Would you like all of it in your Android? Then Development Micro is for you.
Specs & Configurations
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Development Micro Most Safety Assessment
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The Greatest Android Antivirus for 2025
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Shopping for Information: The Greatest Android Antivirus for 2025
Android Antivirus Testing Outcomes From the Labs
Do these Android antivirus utilities work? We glance to 3 unbiased testing labs to seek out out. All however one of many listed apps seem in outcomes from a minimum of two labs; 4 seem in studies from all of them.
Researchers at AV-Comparatives challenged every Android antivirus app to defend towards over 3,000 prevalent Android malware samples discovered within the wild. Within the newest spherical of testing, Bitdefender scored an ideal 100%, whereas Avast, AVG, Avira, and Norton got here extraordinarily shut with 99.9%.
The newest take a look at from AV-Take a look at Institute hit greater than a dozen Android antivirus options with 1000’s of malware samples. Researchers additionally put in 1000’s extra non-malicious applications to make sure the antivirus did not wrongly establish them as malware. They assigned every antivirus as much as six safety factors for blocking malware, six factors for minimal impression on efficiency and battery life, and 6 usability factors for refraining from mistakenly blocking legitimate applications. Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, and Norton scored an ideal six factors for defense and efficiency. Bitdefender additionally scored six factors for usability, whereas a spate of false positives knocked the opposite three down to 5 factors.
London-based MRG-Effitas examined greater than a dozen Android antiviruses, reporting every app’s skill to detect and get rid of threats earlier than launch and the power to detect and neutralize threats throughout set up. They checked greater than 160 samples, starting from Trojans to adware, with some recognized legitimate applications thrown in to examine for false positives. They famous whether or not an app caught samples early or waited till they had been about to be put in. All our prime Android antivirus apps earned an ideal 100% rating besides Development Micro, which did not take part.
Bitdefender stands out because the darling of the labs, with good scores from all three. Avast and Norton additionally deserve credit score, with two near-perfect scores and one good.
The Greatest Android Malware Safety (and Extra)
All of the Android safety apps talked about right here embody an antivirus part that scans new apps and presents an on-demand scan. A number of also can run scans on a schedule, a characteristic maybe extra helpful on Home windows than on Android. All additionally present some type of protected searching to maintain you from browsing to URLs that may attempt to plant malware or fraudulent websites that may trick you into making a gift of your username and password for the login web page they imitate.
As well as, all these safety instruments examine your put in apps for potential privateness issues. Sometimes, they flag applications that request permission to do invasive issues like view your contacts, scan your name logs, study your location, or ship texts. If a communication app wants entry to contacts, that is sensible. Nevertheless, if a goofy sport desires to paw by means of your personal data, think about deleting it.
Anti-theft safety for a misplaced or stolen gadget has lengthy been a mainstay of Android safety apps. Nonetheless, with the rising power of Android’s built-in safety, some firms are dropping this characteristic. Norton purged antitheft in 2019, and McAfee’s up to date Android app additionally omits it. Each Avast and AVG now defer to Android’s built-in antitheft, although ESET and Development Micro proceed to supply this characteristic.
Yow will discover your gadget’s location on a map with these options that supply anti-theft safety. When you’ve mislaid it round the home, you may set off a loud alarm that will help you discover it. You may lock the telephone to maintain a thief out of your apps and knowledge. And in case you decide that you will by no means get the gadget again, you may remotely wipe it. All of the apps with anti-theft options allow you to handle them utilizing an internet console. Some supply the choice of triggering antitheft occasions utilizing coded textual content messages, and lots of additionally surreptitiously snap a photograph of whoever is utilizing your gadget.
One of many first issues a typical smartphone thief does is declare the gadget by swapping out the SIM card. Lots of our beneficial apps embody some type of SIM card safety, and a few of them lock the gadget when the SIM card modifications.
Android Safety Past Antivirus and Antitheft
Antivirus and antitheft are typical parts for any Android safety app, however some go approach past the fundamentals. Frequent bonus options embody backup for contacts and photographs, a battery monitor to point out which apps are draining your battery life, and a activity killer to ship these battery hogs packing. A number of of the apps warn once you hook up with an insecure Wi-Fi community.
Really useful by Our Editors
Blocking undesirable calls and texts was once a standard characteristic, however ongoing modifications to the Android working system have made it harder. Avira, ESET, Panda, and Development Micro nonetheless handle to supply name blocking.
As famous, most of these safety instruments scan your put in apps and report on those who could be privateness dangers. Avast, Norton, and Development Micro take that ability to the subsequent degree, reporting on apps as you view them within the Play Retailer so you may keep away from downloading something that could be problematic.
VPN safety is extra necessary on cellular units than on desktops as a result of cellular units normally hook up with many networks. Bitdefender and Panda embody a bandwidth-limited Android VPN app, which is good, however Avast, Avira, and Norton embody VPN safety with no bandwidth restrict.
A number of of those apps characteristic less-common bonus options. ESET enables you to time-schedule your name blocking, permitting solely relations to name you at night time. Development Micro presents to scan your Fb settings and warn about any safety issues it finds. Panda’s theft safety extends to movement sensing, so no person can seize your Android whilst you’re trying the opposite approach.
Editors’ Observe: Provided that the US authorities has banned new gross sales of Kaspersky safety merchandise, we now not suggest them.
