Android apps avast antivirus free download

Unfortunately, this also makes Android a playground for hackers. Ransomware, spyware, cryptojacking software, surveillance apps, and other malware compromise Android users every single day. Android users also face risks from phishing sites, smishing links , and even pickpockets. To keep your device safe from all of these threats, you need to have a good Android antivirus with real-time protection, web protection, anti-theft tools, and other additional features.

If you want a free antivirus, go with Avira. Most antivirus apps also offer additional paid premium features, and for every free app out there, there are dozens more premium apps. Professional Reviews. Affiliate Commissions.

Reviews Guidelines. Ben Martens Updated on: November 1, This article contains. Short on time? Panda Dome — Good malware scanner with Android smartwatch compatibility. Kaspersky — Intuitive app with a good scanner but no real-time protection. Traced — Privacy-focused app with a good Wi-Fi network scanner. Our free download now includes much more to keep you safe and private online, including free antivirus, VPN, and firewall.

Introducing the new Avast One. Private connection with VPN. Essential protection for your life today A free all-in-one service combining antivirus, VPN, performance enhancement, and security tools to help you stay private and safe.

Learn more. Avast Free Antivirus. Easy to install, effortless to use. Get essential antivirus protection. Avast Free Antivirus scans Windows devices, like your laptop or desktop PC, for privacy, security, and performance issues, then tells you how to fix things instantly. Over million users worldwide trust Avast. Join them.

Intelligent Antivirus Detect and block viruses, malware, spyware, ransomware and phishing. We use smart analytics to stop threats before they affect you. CyberCapture Automatically send suspicious files for analysis in the cloud, and push a cure to all Avast users if it's a threat. Wi-Fi Inspector Automatically detect weaknesses in your home Wi-Fi and strangers piggybacking on your network.

Smart Scan Find all those cracks which allow malware to slip in, from unsafe settings and passwords to suspicious add-ons and out-of-date software. Layer upon layer of security. Ryan Rentfro. Eric Scherer. Daryl Colley. Why is Avast one of the best free antivirus solutions?

How does Avast Free Antivirus protect against so many types of threats? Ideally, to keep your Android device safe, you should keep its software updated. Each new version of Android is more secure than the one before, and each monthly Android security update fixes newly found flaws. But unless you've got a Google Pixel or Android One phone, you won't get those updates and upgrades right away. Most device makers need time to make sure changes to Android don't break their devices or software.

That lag time can be a couple of weeks, or it can be many months. Worse, some Android phone models stop getting Android OS upgrades after two years, and a few never get monthly security patches at all. That's where the best Android antivirus apps come in. They stop attacks that try to get around Android's built-in defenses, especially those that Google has patched but which your device doesn't yet or never will have. They also stop new attacks that Google Play Protect won't catch, even on Pixel phones.

Freemium apps let you choose between getting a limited set of features for free or paying to get a premium version that gives you all the possible features, similar to fully paid apps. Apps that offer a lot of features for free may also show you a lot of ads. Such features might include anti-theft mechanisms, an "advisor" to help you examine and choose apps, a Wi-Fi network security scanners, or an app lock that requires a passcode to open specific apps.

Some tack on a super-premium tier that gives you unlimited VPN service or an identity-protection-service, often at a pretty good price. But the most important factor in deciding which Android antivirus app to use is malware protection. Norton and Bitdefender lead in this category, and Kaspersky is not far behind.

Avast is good but not great, while the built-in Google Play Protect is terrible. We're not sure about Lookout and Security because they haven't submitted their apps to recent lab tests.

To gauge the security protection of the best Android antivirus apps, we used the latest bimonthly test results from AV-TEST , an independent lab in Germany that measures how well major Android security apps detect zero-day malware and other threats.

Because some apps' scores are inconsistent from one test to the next, we also looked back at the previous two years of results. We also used some results from AV-Comparatives , a lab in Austria that once a year tests nearly all the Android antivirus apps in Google Play, even those that don't cooperate with testing labs. But these tests are less detailed.

To measure the impact antivirus apps have on overall performance, we used the Geekbench 4 benchmarking app on a Google Pixel 3 phone running Android 9. For each app, we ran Geekbench several times with no AV app installed, then with one of the review apps installed, and finally during that app's full scan. We also evaluated the number and usefulness of each app's features, took note of which features were reserved for paid users, and assessed the user interface and installation process.

Kaspersky antivirus products have been banned from U. Because the company is Russian, its software would create an unacceptable risk for persons and organizations involved in national security and critical infrastructure. However, we think Kaspersky software is perfectly safe for home users.

We've seen no evidence to convince us otherwise. Kaspersky researchers are well respected throughout the antivirus industry, and the company has publicly exposed Russian cyberespionage campaigns as well as American ones. Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy.

He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews. If you're an Android user, you need one of the best Android antivirus apps to protect your phone or tablet from corrupted apps and other kinds of malware.

Bitdefender Mobile Security. A solid antivirus engine with a good range of features, made even better by the new password manager. What's new in And now even - Webcam Shield and Password Protection features will also be disabled. Show all. Avast Free Antivirus v Add to Watchlist Comment Share. Review Specifications Changelog. Specifications Requirements. Changelog What's new in