We are all aware that while Android is by far the most popular mobile OS in the world (last year, according to Strategy Analytics, it managed to capture 88% of global market share), it’s still one of the most vulnerable ones as well.
But luckily, for the last couple of years, Google has actively worked on making their products a lot safer.
As a matter of fact, in 2016, the company paid close to $3 million to numerous bug researches that can discover new vulnerabilities in Android, Chrome and many other Google products. According to a recent TNI article, they also had to close these security gaps and make sure they never return again.
When it comes to security on this OS, you can never be too safe. And that’s why we assembled a short list of some of the best and most popular Android security apps that will help you keep your phone safe from malware, hackers and even data thieves.
Best and Most Popular Security Apps:
NordVPN ($11.95/month)
Let’s start the list off with one of the most highly-regarded VPN providers out there – NordVPN. This Panama-based provider, owned by Tefnicom SA is more than ten years old, and as its official site boasts, it offer “military-grade protection” for all of its users. Also, it has almost 560 servers around the world, and covers almost every continent on the planet.
The app is quite user-friendly, and it takes only a couple of minutes to set up – you just need to download it, install it and use its interactive map to select your encrypted destination. And as many reviews point out, if you need any NordVPN help, you have an in-application support vial live chat to help you with all of your inquiries.
360 Security – Antivirus Boost (free)
With more than a hundred million installations and 10 million ratings (with an average of 4.6) on the Google Play Store, 360 is definitely one of the most popular antivirus apps available today. And what’s the reason behind its popularity you might ask. Well, in addition to basic antivirus functions, 360 Security comes with a ton of other useful features.
Some of these include – the ability to scan your games, apps and files, the cleaning and boosting of your system and even some anti-theft features. But probably the most useful feature that comes with this app is a lock that allows you to protect any application on your device with a unique password – and this is great for keeping any suspicious, nosey people away.
Avira Antivirus Security (free and $11.99/year)
While Avira Antivirus is still relatively new on the security market, and is perhaps not as well-known as other apps on our list – its popularity is rapidly growing and users from all around the world seem to love it. Of course, you have all of the basic things like real-time scanning and protection, but there are some distinctive functions that make Avira stand out.
You also have some modern features such as the Stagefright Advisor, which helps the users work around one of Android’s major security flaws that allows hackers to taking control of your phone just by sending a text message. Admittedly, it’s a heavier app, but it doesn’t feel that way all the time, and you should definitely give it a shot.
AVAST Mobile Security ($1.99/month or $14.99/year)
Lastly, we have one of most feature-packed security packages on the market today. So if you want to have one app that will cover everything from your security to RAM boosting – AVAST has got you covered. But we have to point out that some of these security features require the installation of other components and security packs as well.
But even if you don’t to overload your phone, the basic version of the app still provides some great security features like the ability to check the safety of any Wi-Fi connection you come across. On top of real-time scanning, AVAST also has a great firewall feature, however, your phone needs to be rooted on order to use it properly.
Now, the list above had no particular order, mainly because we are not here to rate all of these apps, but to present them to you, so you could take them into consideration the next time you chose to install some additional safety tools on your device.
Whether or not apps like these are necessary is a subject that has been debated for what seems like ages at this point. Nevertheless, if you want to make sure that your Android-powered device is safe from all of those viruses that lurk on the web, you should at least try some of these out.
So what are some of your favorite Android security applications? If you think we missed some of your favorites, make sure to leave a comment, and tell us all about them in the comment section. By Thomas Milva
Thomas spent his whole life in America, though his family originally came from Northern Italy four decades ago. He has been both an accomplished Information Security Analyst for a few years now and a digital writer at wefollowtech.com. Thomas is 28, lives in Baton Rouge, hates being called Thomas, and prefers Tom at any time.
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