The popularity of iOS systems, mounted on iPhones and iPads, and Android, mounted on numerous cellphone models including the Samsung Galaxy, HTC and Nexus, has put a virtual target on the back of these smartphones. These operating systems are a new frontier for those who earn money by spreading malware and viruses with fake and dangerous applications.
Many users do not take the security of their mobile seriously and download applications without doing any type of verification regarding their integrity and their origin.
The official App Stores have hindered the spread of viruses, especially in Apple's, and it is rather rare to find viruses, but it is not said that the same cannot happen.
Let's see how to check that an application downloaded from the store is 100% safe, authentic and good for being used freely.
1) First of all, for each application downloadable from the iTunes Store or from Google Play it is possible to read user reviews .
When opening the link of an app on the websites of the stores, the first thing to do is to put the Italian language if not already set.
For apps in the Google Play store like Navigaweb Tech you can change the language from the menu at the bottom of the page.
The applications for iPhone and iPad on the iTunes pages, on the other hand, do not have a menu for choosing the language so you have to change the address of the page: for example the URL //itunes.apple.com/us/app/whatsapp-messenger/id310633997 ? mt = 8 should be changed by changing us in it after apple.com to see the page in Italian with the reviews of Italian users
Reviews can also be false because they are written by accounts hijacked or compromised by the hackers themselves, but they may contain information regarding security concerns that cause alarm.
2) The description of the app is also important to read because malicious applications, such as malware, can be discovered by their untrustworthy or ungrammatical description.
This clue may not be enough because some legitimate apps can also be described incorrectly because the developer uses automatic translation tools.
3) Check the developer
If you have doubts from the comments and the description you can check the developer's card and see his seniority and his reputation.
Click on the name below the title for Android apps or the Other apps from this developer link at the top right of the iTunes page.
For famous apps, you can find the authentic one by the name of the developer and checking which other apps he has developed and released in the past.
4) Permission control (on Android)
Android users can always see a list of permissions before installing an application.
These permissions indicate what the app can access to operate.
However, if it is malware, you are likely to seek complete control over your phone or address book.
Keep in mind, however, that authorization is often not a guarantee and that a malicious app can do damage even if it was not authorized at the time of installation, to take advantage of certain permissions.
5) Run an antivirus (on Android)
For the moment, on iOS iPhone and iPad there are no antiviruses or they are not needed.
Apple's application policies are much more stringent than Google's, and it removes malicious apps that are found (there have been some precedents) quickly, while maintaining tight control of the operating system.
For Android, however, the background of viruses are numerous and growing so there are also many antiviruses that check the integrity of each application downloaded and installed.
In another article the best security and antivirus applications on Android
There is not a single indicator to know if an app is safe or not, but after all that said, I would say that you should not worry too much if you use common sense and always download the applications recommended by blogs and specialized magazines.
Obviously, if you download applications from alternative markets such as Cydia for iPhone, you must always pay attention and look for additional information on Google.
