14 DAY TRIAL // The most recent research conducted by antivirus testing lab AV-TEST evaluates the performance of 20 different mobile security products for Android.
And unsurprisingly, the best results are once again provided by industry-leading products developed by famous vendors, including Bitdefender and Kaspersky.
The November 2018 research tested each product in three different areas, namely protection, usability, and features. Each product was awarded a maximum of six points for the performance in every individual test. The best performance in the feature evaluation was rewarded with one point.
The maximum score of 13 points was achieved by Trend Micro Mobile Security, Tencent WeSecure, Symantec Norton Mobile Security, Sophos Mobile Security, McAfee Mobile Security, Kaspersky Lab Internet Security for Android, G Data Internet Security, and Bitdefender Mobile Security.
Each of these security apps for Android received the maximum of six points for protection and usability, plus one point for features.
Play Protect, the lowest score
In contrast, Google’s Play Protect, which is integrated into the Google Play Store, received the lowest score of 4.5 points after getting zero points for protection, 4.5 points for usability, and once again zero points for features. It’s the only solution that failed to receive the AV-TEST certification.
Besides Google Play Protect, the worst performance was provided by NSHC Droid-X 3, which received just 3 points for protection, 6 points for usability, and 1 point for features.
Needless to say, these test results should help you pick an Android security app if you really need one. As many Android users found out lately, it’s actually easier to stay away from malware on the mobile platform as long as you download apps only from trusted sources.
Truth be told, malware also reached the Google Play store on several occasions, but checking permissions and reading reviews before downloading apps helps keep your data protected even without a third-party security product.
