Until a few years ago, Android was believed to be a very safe system, to the point of not needing any antivirus. This statement is largely true today, but does not take into account the habits of ordinary users : they increasingly make mistakes or visit sites that can hide very dangerous threats even for a common Android smartphone . The consequences of an infection on Android are very evident: slowdowns of the phone, faster depletion of battery power, apps or windows open for no reason, apps that we had not installed appear and (in the worst cases) there is a real theft of saved data and passwords, which can be used to compromise our bank account or personal data on websites. Fortunately, just a few simple steps are enough to make Android protected from malware, viruses, intrusions and spy or malicious apps, and most of the suggestions are related to the good sense of each of us.
Activate the antivirus integrated in Google Play
If you think you have to install a third-party antivirus, you will be pleased to know that Google Play integrates its antivirus, called Play Protect : it scans every new app that we install on the phone and scans the apps already present in the regular intervals system, looking for threats.To ensure that this protection is always active, we open the Google Play Store, tap on the top left of the icon with the three horizontal lines then select Play Protect from the sidebar. The window will show us any threats discovered during some scan; to verify the correct activation of this antivirus, we click on the gear at the top right and activate both the items Search for security threats and Improve the detection of malicious apps.
Avoid apps outside the Play Store
Many users search for and install APKs, i.e. apps available outside the Play Store and installable on any Android smartphone . Unfortunately, no form of control by Google is practiced on these apps, so they may very well contain viruses.To prevent APK apps from being installed on the system, simply go to Settings -> Security and disable the Unknown sources item; on modern Android (from 8.0 onwards), every single app can manage the installation of APK, so we will have to go to the Install unknown apps menu and make sure that no apps are allowed to install APK in the system.
Use a safe and secure browser
Android phones often provide a browser produced by the phone manufacturer: it is very fast and practical, but it may not have all the best security tools offered by browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox .To navigate in complete safety, therefore, we avoid any browser that we do not know (or of dubious origins) and we only use Google Chrome for Android or Mozilla Firefox for Android.
In addition, the opening of websites within other apps can be kept safe by updating the app called Android System WebView, which contains all the security patches released by Google for browsing.
Update all apps
To prevent infections and theft of data by attackers, it is advisable to always update all the apps on the system, possibly automatically. Basically we can update all the apps automatically via Wi-Fi, opening the Google Play Store on the phone, expanding the sidebar, going to Settings and finally on Automatic app update .From this menu we can choose the item Only via Wi-Fi ; selecting instead On any network, the Play Store will also update the apps via LTE or 3G, taking advantage of the data offer available to us (we recommend activating this item only if we have at least 5 GB included in the offer).
In another article we saw how to update Android apps daily and automatically.
Avoid links received in chat or on social networks
A very popular way to spread malware for Android involves the use of chat messages on WhatsApp, Facebook or other similar apps, which can come from a friend with an already infected PC or mobile phone.As already recommended many times, we must never open unknown links received via email or chat and, if you are very curious, first check if a site is dangerous with the methods already seen and then contact your friend by phone call, asking light up the strange link received (you will be surprised how many times not even your friend knew about the threat!).
Avoid downloading movies and music from dubious Internet sites
Downloading music, videos from illegal sites, or ringtones or backgrounds from unsavory sites can be very dangerous because they are very sought after things behind which malware can be hidden. To be safe, you should avoid downloading anything using your internet browser and always use the apps controlled by Google Play.For example, we saw here in another article the regular apps to download MP3 music on Android and iPhone without risk.
Install an additional antivirus
If we often catch threats on our Android smartphone or we are aware of being inexperienced users (despite all the precautions that we have indicated to follow), perhaps the time has come to "raise the shields" and focus on a antivirus more powerful than the integrated one in the Google Play Store (which we can leave active without problems).The best free antivirus for Android that we can install on our Android smartphone are:
- Malwarebytes
- Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus
- Avira Antivirus Security
- Avast Antivirus
- AVG Antivirus
- Eset Mobile Security
- Bitdefender Antivirus Free
We install one of the following antiviruses, keep it updated automatically and periodically scan the system for possible threats. Unfortunately, antiviruses are placed in memory and occupy part of the resources of the smartphone : if you notice too many slowdowns (perhaps because your smartphone is old or has less than 3 GB of RAM), it is better to uninstall everything and focus only on the antivirus integrated into the Play Store.
To learn more about antivirus for Android, we refer you to reading the guide on the best free antivirus for Android .
Keep the system up to date
One of the most effective tricks to protect Android from malware is to always keep the operating system updated: with each update, any bugs or security holes are corrected and this leaves much less room for any malware to enter the system.
In almost every smartphone you can check for updates by going to Settings > About phone and tapping on System update .
On modern Android phones (8.0 or later), the security patch release system is managed separately from the total update: in this way, all the manufacturers can keep old phones safe without necessarily updating them every tot months. We can check the security by tapping on the Settings menu -> Security status (if available).
In this regard, we invite you to read our guide on how to update or install Android from your PC with ADB .
