Lab-tested: These Android antivirus apps will protect your phone from malware

It might sometimes feel like everyone has an iPhone, but Android actually holds more than 70% share of the mobile operating system market worldwide. That makes it a huge target for cybercriminals who want to get their hands on your data and your money. You must make sure your Android phone or tablet is protected against malware.

This danger comes in many forms, from keyloggers, viruses and other malware that run on your device itself, to all manner of hacking and phishing attempts that will attempt to catch you off guard and have you hand over your data on a plate.

It’s sensible to install an Android antivirus app (and to take immediate action if you think you have a virus on your Android device), but with so many options out there it’s difficult to know which company should be trusted with your mobile security.

Our top pick is Bitdefender Mobile Security. It offers excellent protection from viruses but also has useful anti-theft features, a built-in VPN, the ability to protect specific apps with a PIN and much more. But Android has some security for dodgy apps built in with Play Protect, and free antivirus options also exist: you’ll find it’s often the extra features such as identity protection, VPNs and password managers you need to pay for when it comes to Android security.

Our advice is partly based on independent lab-testing from AV-Test. In November 2024, 13 of the 15 Android antivirus solutions it tested aced the benchmarks. The three apps we list below use antivirus engines that are found among those winners, with our recommendations also taking into account value for money, features, and usability.

Best Android antivirus apps 2025: Our Top Three

1. Bitdefender Mobile Security

Pros

• Excellent malware protection
• Lots of useful extra features

There are two versions of Bitdefender for Android. One is the completely free Bitdefender Antivirus app and the other is called Mobile Security for Android, which isn’t free. It coses £24.99 (currently £14.99) / $24.99 (currently $14.99) for the first year.

The former does one job only: protects your Android phone or tablet from viruses. And it does a fantastic job: in AV-Test’s most recent report, Bitdefender caught 100% of viruses thrown at it, all without affecting the phone’s performance or battery life.

That might sound great, but you get a lot more protection in the Mobile Security app. One of the most useful is warnings of potentially dangerous links in SMS and other messages and notifications to help you avoid being scammed.

App lock is great, too. Not only does it let you prevent access to specific apps using a PIN, but you can configure it so apps remain unlocked for 30 seconds after you close them or switch to another, or stay unlocked when your phone is on a trusted Wi-Fi network (such as your home’s).

There’s also Web Protection which warns you of websites that could be dodgy, whether you’re using Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge or one of a few other web browsers.

Add to that the identity protection, which alerts you if any of your email addresses are found in breaches, and some useful anti-theft features and it’s a great all-round security app.

Yes, you also get a VPN, but it’s a limited, cut-down version of Bitdefender’s full VPN service. It’s just about ok for a bit of web browsing, but you’re better off with a separate VPN app. There are a few other limitations: it doesn’t to block calls, back up data or have any parental controls, but for everything else it’s an excellent package.

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2. Norton Mobile Security

Pros

• Top-notch protection
• App advisor warns of dangerous apps before installation

Norton used to offer free Android antivirus, but now offers only free trials. This means you’ll have to pay, and Mobile Security for Android costs from £12.99 / $29.99 (currently $19.99) for the first year, and £29.99 / $29.99 thereafter. You can also pair it with Norton VPN.

Like Bitdefender Mobile Security, it scored full marks in AV-Test’s latest report, blocking 100% of threats and having no impact on performance or battery life.

As well as malware protection you get warnings of potentially dangerous text messages, websites and Wi-Fi networks. But it’s the App Advisor which really shines, alerting you to possibly dodgy apps in the Play store before you even install them, as well as installed apps using too much data or exhibiting suspicious behaviour.

If you’re subscribed to a version of 360 or Norton VPN, you also get to use Norton’s no-limits VPN and its dark web monitoring service. All versions come with call blocking and lost or stolen device recovery.

Read our full

Norton Mobile Security review

3. Avast One Basic

Pros

• Good free version
• 5GB per week VPN

Cons

• Constant nagging to upgrade

One Basic (previously One Essential) is a security suite from Avast and it’s available for Windows, Mac and iOS as well as Android.

You can use it for free and get a lot of features without paying. But you’ll see lots of messages to ‘Go Premium’, including when ‘Advanced issues’ are found during the initial scan. In fact, these are simply features you’re not getting as a free customer, which is a bit cheeky.

The good news is that although a lot of permissions are required for everything that Avast can do, these are only requested when you try to use that feature, such as cleaning out junk files and ‘Web Shield’ which warns you of dangerous sites before you visit them.

As well as top-tier malware protection, there’s a built-in VPN that gives you a generous allowance of 5GB per week. You can’t choose a location unless you’re a paying customer, but for privacy when browsing the web or using public Wi-Fi, it’s a genuine bonus.

There’s also the option to check for any data breaches, and you can enter an email address to check even if you’re using the app without having created an Avast account.

Paying customers get notifications when their email is spotted in a data breach, but free users have to check manually.

There’s no call-blocking, no warnings about dodgy links in text messages and no anti-theft features, but if you’re just after free antivirus, it’s a great choice for Android users.

If you did want to upgrade, there are Silver (three devices), Gold (five devices) and Platinum (six family members with 30 devices) packages that cost from £32.49 / $79.99 for the first year and £64.99 / $79.99 thereafter. You can get Avast One here.

AV-Test data: A second opinion

In November 2024, AV-Test tested 15 protection solutions for Android devices that their manufacturers had submitted for certification. Google Play Protect now regularly takes part in the certification tests. Compared to the previous test from September, G Data and Securion are missing, while Naver Antivirus and ShieldApps Anti Malware are back. Otherwise, the test field has remained the same apart from some version changes.

All apps tested met the minimum requirements for a certificate. The full 18 points were achieved by 13 protection programmes. Google maintained the now quite good results of its automatic app scan and only just missed out on the maximum number of points. All apps except Naver Antivirus detected at least 99 percent of malware in both test sections. With the exception of Google Play Protect and Naver Antivirus, all products received the full six points for protection.

In the test section with malware up to four weeks old, most products detected 100 percent (or almost 100 percent) of the almost 3,000 malware samples. Google Play Protect only managed 99.7 percent and Naver Antivirus only 96 percent. In the so-called real-time test with daily malware, five manufacturers achieved 100 percent malware detection: Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton. These five achieved 100 percent in both sub-tests. Naver Antivirus only detected 90 percent of malware in the real-time test.

Low system load for all apps

In the performance category (system load), all candidates performed flawlessly in the tests and received the full six points. The data traffic generated by the protection apps, their battery load and their braking effect during normal use of the devices are all equally inconspicuous.

No false alarms

Fortunately, there were no false alarms. All security apps passed all tests without any false-positive diagnoses and were awarded the full six points.

Range of functions

There are considerable differences in the range of functions of the security apps, although this is no longer evaluated. The range of additional functions extends from the rather spartan ShieldApps Anti Malware to Eset Mobile Security, which has almost everything you could wish for apart from a VPN function. Many apps have anti-theft functions onboard, meaning they can locate and lock the device and/or delete all data if it is lost. Newer Android versions already offer this in a rudimentary form. A web filter that blocks access to dubious or dangerous websites or at least warns against them is also quite common. Some also offer a warning service for a compromised email account.

Some of the free-to-install apps that you can find on Google Play are slimmed-down versions of the respective paid solution and advertise them. If you want to use one or the other additional function permanently, you can usually switch to the premium version via an in-app purchase. The detailed test results with information on the range of functions can be found on the website of the AV-Test Institute. You can also look up the results of previous tests there.

The results table

We have weighted the points from the individual categories differently in the results table. The protection effect accounts for 50 percent of the overall score, while the other two categories each account for 25 percent (2:1:1). These scores can be found in the last column, according to which the table is also sorted. The penultimate column contains the points without this weighting (1:1:1), as calculated by AV-Test. In this test round, this makes no difference to the ranking. As always, this is a snapshot, the manufacturers are constantly working to improve their products – the competition is fierce.

If you’re looking for protection for all your devices including Windows laptops, PCs, iPhones and iPads see our recommendations for the best antivirus software. Read Macworld’s reviews of the best Mac antivirus programs.

Android antivirus buying guide: what to look for

Good antivirus software will warn you of phishing emails, potentially dangerous messages (and the links in them) and potentially dangerous websites.

In addition to virus protection, the best Android apps might have additional features such as anti-theft to allow you to lock and/or wipe data from a stolen handset, or even take photos or audio recordings of the thieves.

Another useful feature commonly found in security apps for Android is call blocking. If your phone is constantly plagued by nuisance calls or spam texts, you might be able to block the callers so that they don’t interrupt your day.

Some apps include schedulers in their call-blocking facilities, so you can divert all calls from the office to voicemail at evenings and weekends, for example.

The ability to password protect access to specific apps can be invaluable for parents who routinely hand their phone over to children to play games and worry that they might stumble onto something they shouldn’t, or run up horrendous bills by purchasing apps. But this also prevents anyone from picking up your phone (even if it’s not locked) and using any app they like.

While an app can provide a good level or protection from malicious software, hackers are often reliant on users to make mistakes or be fooled into installing the malware themselves without realising what they’re doing. So stay on guard at all times!