How to choose an antivirus for your Android smartphone

Your smartphone is your best ally when it comes to daily tasks. Lots of things are done with the help of smartphones, for instance bill payments, online shopping, food delivery and takeout, paying for platform benefits or services like Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others. Android is the most used mobile operative system in many countries, which means that it is the target system for mobile system hackers and cyber predators. The likelihood of losing all your bank data due to a malicious malware is extremely high. Thus, having a good antivirus for your Android smartphone is a must.

There are tons of free antivirus and malware apps for free that the only thing they do is scanning the actual threats on your phone. But, choosing an ideal antivirus for your smartphone is more than just that indeed. It could be an exhausting task. However, there are exceptional apps that you can download (and also pay for them if you want a higher security level).

In this article, we are going to talk about some questions you should ask before choosing an antivirus app for your Android and according to these aspects, then we will give you a list of the best antiviruses for your Android smartphone.

Check out the quality of the antivirus engine

This is the first point you should consider when you search for a good mobile antivirus app. Actually, you should do this before installing every app on your mobile phone. Let’s say that you have found an antivirus that apparently is good and could work for you, before installing it you should firstly make sure if it has a high-rated antivirus engine. Check for reviews on Google Play Store and the internet.

The most important feature of a security mobile app is its engine. The better the engine is, the more probably it can protect your mobile phone from attacks and malware.

Is it worth paying for an antivirus app?

This is an important doubt most people ask when looking for a mobile antivirus. Is it really worth forking out money for an antivirus app?

There are plenty of big brands remarkable antivirus apps in the market that their free versions can offer you vast protection for your smartphone from malwares, spywares and any other.

Should you buy the paid version? Firstly, it is important to say that paid versions offer you extra features that keep your phone more secure than with the free version. Secondly, benefits for paid users usually allow you to improve the security of your device.

We are not saying that you should only and solely have to buy for the premium version of any antivirus. There are numerous antivirus that their free version works as good as the paid version. Nevertheless, if you want to have tools like VPN, and others, we suggest you try the paid versions.

How much protection does your device need?

In case you just need main antivirus protection and basic anti-malware defenses, then you should just buy the basic version of the antivirus.

But, if you need a high-level of security and vast protection because you download lots of files every month that could be infected. In that case, you should stump-up a few bucks to get the full version of an antivirus.

The same applies if you have different devices, like other smartphones, tablets or notebooks. It would be rather convenient investing on the paid version or paying for an Internet Security Suite than staying with the regular version of a web security application.

High-level Security

If rigid online protection is what you are looking for, then you should take a look at a security app that offers a VPN bundled in the pack. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, they can offer you a higher level of protection and privacy online. Some big-named security apps come with this feature integrated.

You should bear in mind that VPNs not only protect you while online, but also allow you to back up files to the cloud as they come with online storage integrated. Having a cloud backup of your data is always important in case you suffer robbery or any other adversity

Therefore, it is way more convenient to spend money on a full bundle of antivirus plus VPN than purchasing them separately.

What kind of smartphone user are you?

Last but not least, whether you are a computer-novice or a tech dexterous person is a point to take into consideration before downloading or purchasing a malware protection app.

If you are handy with computers, you should look for an antivirus that has plenty of tools and functions that you can use the app the way you want to.

On the other hand, if you are not that good with technology in general, then you should get an antivirus that doesn’t require much knowledge to manage it, in order to just shoot the app and leave it to do the rest for you.

Moreover, it would be ideal if you choose an app that is light with its system footprint no matter what device you are using, in case you don’t have an up-to-date smartphone.

4 antiviruses that we suggest you to take a look

360 Security

360 Security it is one of the best antivirus for your Android. This app scans your apps for any malware. This is a basic antivirus that will do the scan and show you potential vulnerabilities. The app also includes a lot of phone booster and phone accelerator features. We recommend avoiding using those features, because they will slow your phone’s performance. You can use the free version as well as you can pay $5.45 per year for the premium version.

Avira Antivirus

This app comes with the basic features every antivirus has, device scanning, real-time protection, external SD card scanning, anti-theft support, privacy scanning, blacklisting, device admin features and other useful features you can make use of. You can download this app for free or pay $11.99 for it per year and it’s relatively lighter than other security apps.

Avast Antivirus

Avast is one of the most popular antiviruses in the market with more than 100 million downloads on desktop PC, notebook, tablet and smartphone. Some of the features this app include are scanning, app block, call blocker anti-theft support, photo-vault and even a firewall for rooted Android smartphones. This app comes with a 14-day free trial demo. Its prices aren’t that bad, you can pay $2.99 per month or $11.99 per year.

AVG Antivirus

This is another widely-known app in the antiviruses market. It’s basically the same Avast app, as it was purchased by Avast back in the year 2016. This app has anti-theft tracking via Google Maps. However, this app doesn’t offer the rooted firewall that Avast does. And, as we have mentioned previously, beware with boosting features because they don’t work as usual. You can download AVG Antivirus for free or download the paid version for $2.99 per month or $11.99 per year.

Take all these aspects into account and select the best antivirus for your Android.