Majority of antivirus apps on Google Play “ineffective”, study shows

ByCraig Haley

A study from security testing company AV-Comparatives has revealed that the majority of Android antivirus products they tested from the Google Play store are unreliable or ineffective.

The study examined 250 antivirus products designed for Android devices, all of which are available on the Google Play store, to see exactly how well each performed.

The results were not particularly good. Out of the 250 apps tested, a mere 80 were able to detect over 30% of malicious apps with no false alarms. The rest of the apps detected less than 30% of malicious apps, and as a result, AV-Comparatives deemed them a risk.


Sponsored Content. Continued below...




AV-Comparatives listed 138 software vendors that are listing these ineffective antivirus apps, many of which have accumulated a number of substantially positive reviews. A demonstration that Android users shouldn’t be relying solely on reviews to determine if an app is worth a download.

Many of the antivirus apps relied on outdated methods of detection, and were unable to detect and remove many recent threats.

Having ineffective antivirus on a device is of course very risky, since they do not protect the user against the majority of online threats.


Sponsored Content. Continued below...




The study did demonstrate one important thing, and that’s users should stick with well-known, reputable companies when it comes to mobile security. All of the well-known security brands offering Android protection featured in the 80 apps that AV-Comparatives deemed satisfactory, with most earning a 100% detection rate. Those included Avast, AVG, ESET, Kaspersky and of course our 2019 editors pick Bitdefender.

Vendors offering antivirus products deemed risky included companies such as GOMO Apps, Arcane Security Solutions and AMIGOS KEY. In short, companies that you’ve probably never heard of before. (Full list here.)

This is the second less than flattering story about Google Play in as many weeks. Only a few days ago did researchers discover that the store was plagued with hundreds of apps harbouring adware.

And while Google Play doesn’t vet apps based on poor performance, we’d still expect many of these 138 “antivirus” vendors to see their ineffective apps removed soon, hopefully.

Keep up-to-date with all our latest articles. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Continued below...


Thanks for reading! But before you go… as part of our latest series of articles on how to earn a little extra cash using the Internet (without getting scammed) we have been looking into how you can earn gift vouchers (like Amazon vouchers) using reward-per-action websites such as SwagBucks. If you are interested we even have our own sign-up code to get you started. Want to learn more? We discuss it here. (Or you can just sign-up here and use code Nonsense70SB when registering.)

Become a Facebook Supporter. For 0.99p (~$1.30) a month you can become a Facebook fan, meaning you get an optional Supporter Badge when you comment on our Facebook posts, as well as discounts on our merchandise. You can subscribe here (cancel anytime.)