You do not need an anti virus software on Android unless you download cracked/pirated apps from sketchy websites or click on random links. Just use a strong ad blocker and download apps only from trusted sources.

    SoulKeeper hum i'm not sure. On what analysis do you trust an app ? You can of course check the reputation of the dev and so on, but it is not a serious prove of security.

        fl0at0xff Because of how Android works, for an anti-virus program to actually work, it would itself have to effectively BE a virus. It would have to obtain root privileges through some exploit (hack) in order to be able to scan anything beyond its own data.

            You can use Hypathia from DivestOS. It is not very intrusive but therefore not very effective either.

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            • Post #7

            In all the years I've used Android, Ive never used an anti virus tool. I'd only ever consider it on a hackathon system like Windows, but because I haven't used Windows since 2007, it's a no issue for me.

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            • Post #9

            fl0at0xff

            One could ask, on what analysis do you trust an antivirus? And if you trust it now, what about going into the future? Many popular apps get bought out for their user pools and used for quite nefarious purposes.

            The answer is: use none, but extreme discretion. And minimalism.

            Also, AV is hand-holding - a version of a parent gently guiding and protecting their child. "No, don't touch that, sweetie. It's bad". We grow up and expect this to continue, as a society, via Big Gov, Tech, etc. It's exactly why the news of E2EE banning are so prevalent now - we are begging for someone to guide and protect us...

            Take charge. Make sound decisions. And don't click on Nigerian Prince links.

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              • Post #10

              SoulKeeper Just use a strong ad blocker

              Both ad-blockers and anti-viruses rely on the same flawed approach called Badness enumeration, therefore Ad-blockers are as useless as Anti-viruses for security.

                  [deleted] Ad-blockers are very nice in terms of removing the pollution from your screen though, and improving network performance (since all those ads don't have to be loaded). Even if they do still let some crap through.

                    fl0at0xff You don't really need an anti-virus, the Google playstore has a powerful one, and if you miraculously manage to catch one, simply restart your phone to eject it.

                      [deleted] is baldness enumeration perfect? No. Is it going to save you from someone targeting you specifically? No chance. Is the average user better off by having it's adblock save it from 80 or 90% (but not 100%! It's a flawed technique!) of the malware-ridden sites or phishing sites it might encounter during its daily web browser? Please describe me a scenario where the answer would be no.

                          Hb1hf Is the average user better off by having it's adblock save it from 80 or 90% (but not 100%! It's a flawed technique!) of the malware-ridden sites or phishing sites it might encounter during its daily web browser?

                          I believe that on a monthly basis I run into zero of either. Browsing habits differ, though. Perhaps some users do run into malware every day?

                          Hb1hf Please describe me a scenario where the answer would be no.

                          1. Off-device ad blockers have a pretty good record of a device's browsing history. Some people might not want that. And they may impose a bit of latency.
                          2. On-device ad blockers inherently have various privileges. Some people might not want that. And they consume a bit of battery life and storage.

                          An average user might not encounter malware often enough that some gets through a browser's built-in protection.

                                fl0at0xff

                                This can be a bit confusing for people unfamiliar with android as was for me as to how an antivirus could not be useful on android given how absolutely necessary it is on windows systems.

                                To put it in simplest terms, in android, apps just cant find their way into your phone and cant just "run", and when installed they just dont have access to anything. This combined with the fact that in android apps are always downloaded from reputable and trustable sources makes antivirus totally irrelevant. That is unless you go out of your way to install a dangerous app.

                                Antivirus on android also cant detect deep root access attacks staged by sophisticated actors which makes it un-useful. It also doesn't have root access so it cant protect the system and to give it root access actually compromises the system.

                                Bottom line: android's security structure is more robust that most systems with antivirus systems. Its build also in such a way that it isn't able to integrate with anti virus programs. So no antivir.

                                Just add a good firewalling/adblocking ability to GOS and be mindful of your practices and you are as secure as having an antivirus.

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                                  • Post #20

                                  Anti virus on android is about as useful as a bikini is to an Eskimo.

                                  de0u I believe that on a monthly basis I run into zero of either.

                                  How could one possibly know this?

                                  Let me give you an example:

                                  • search something like "how to run a vm on apple sillicon"
                                  • it might give you helpful-looking links to sites like howtogeek or makeuseof
                                  • you open makeuseof
                                  • it shows up in my uBO running scripts from 18 different domains. If I allowed all, they each might call additional domains, and we could be running scripts from 30 domains.
                                  • some of them might be malicious. As "cancerous" as makeuseof might seem, you might want to give it the benefit of the doubt. But any of those 30 domains could be compromised by an external actor, and be running rogue scripts.

                                  The attack surface in a simple web search is just huge.
                                  So, do you run a malware analysis on every single site/script you run while browsing? Or have any concrete evidence to show everything you access is clean?