No matter how aware you are about the sites you are browsing or what you are clicking; chances are that at some point you might unknowingly click or browse on a virus or malware. It ultimately results in a glitch in your device. But among all the users, android users should be a bit more careful as it has a well-known reputation in the matter of malware and viruses and some claim that even antivirus apps cannot provide relief in such situation. So, the ultimate question arises: should I use anti-virus apps on my android phone or not?. Let’s find out the answer in this OneHowTo article.
Android Viruses
Virus can be described as a malicious software (malware) program which infects PCs and other devices like our smartphones and tablets. When it comes to infecting the android platform, viruses don’t actually infect Android. This is because they don’t self – replicate.
The security chief of Android, Adrian Ludwig had told the reporters that average Android users do not need to install anti-virus apps, as most of the users will actually not benefit from installing them.
So, the final question is: Should we believe on the statement of Adrian Ludwig or pay heed to the warnings of antivirus app developers and security companies and install an anti – virus for safety?
Do we need anti-virus for Androids?
Most of the malware focuses on stealing your private information rather than causing harm to your device. Nowadays even malware writers are becoming more sophisticated. They are applying ways to fool you into downloading an app containing malware or just to download an app or game and then sending malware in it through updates. The best example of one such incident is when 'Avast' discovered a game named 'Durak' which was infected with malware and by the time it was discovered it had already been downloaded more than 5 million times.
Another threat is when people connect with an open Wi- Fi network. Most of it does not use a VPN i.e. Virtual Private Network and hence our android devices can be attacked by malware at any time.
So, basically we can keep our Android devices safe by not connecting with open Wi-Fi networks, avoiding 3rd party sites and other sources while downloading an app.
Final Verdict
By using our Android phone a bit carefully we can avoid malware from infecting it. So, it is not absolutely necessary to have anti-virus for our android devices. But it won’t hurt if you want to keep virus from infecting your android. The only downside is that it would take up some of your phone space and can sometime affect the performance of the phone too.
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