Does Your Android Really Need an Antivirus?

The world of software is very much bigger than expecting. And software or applications are the ones which make our PC’s work for different purposes. You can just imagine, what the hell will be your PC when there’s none of your favorite programmers such as Microsoft Office or Google Chrome (according to me). And they’ve been very much essential for various uses of PC which extends very deeply to our daily practical life. When it comes to the world of Mobile Platforms and Windows 8, (By the way, we’re not talking about Windows 8 and our topic is Just Android) Software are simply renamed as Applications and is called Apps. We said before that Software have become very much essential in going own with PC but it does not mean that all Applications or Software are good and useful. When these applications are made with a malicious intention, we could just say they’re the ultimately bad is so called as ‘Virus’.

When the Viruses had an effect on our PC’s Antivirus Softwares were developed by great programmers in order to cancel the malicious effect of Viruses and malwares by effectively blocking them. And we used to install Antivirus software, just after your OS installation as it’ll provide you protection from malicious softwares. But we’re talking about Android and the so called Antivirus Softwares Apps are also available in this case. But is there any inevitability in the case of installing an Antivirus in your Android device? Yeah, we’re talking about this topic and we should talk about this topic as there are bunch of virus scams regarding Android nowadays. We had noticed the in-built security features of Windows 8 in the various reviews of Windows 8. Likely, Android is also having some in-born security features in it with the help of Tech Giant, Google. Let’s have a look on those features first.

Google Play! No, it’s a protected one

We should never put Google Play as a malware source of Android Devices. As you know, each and every Android device should be connected with Google Play if they want to install apps in the device. Since there’s no option to install apps from non-Google Play sources, you will do it for sure. But it’s 99.99% sure that Google Play Store doesn’t consist a malware in it as Google is using a service dubbed as Bouncer which will simultaneously scan Google Play Store for finding and destroying malwares if any.

If new Application is uploaded to Google Play, the application will start comparing the App’s code to the current virus definitions. Behavior of the Application is also observed by Bouncer in order to compare the result with other malicious Android Apps. So, each and every Android Application is deeply examined before publishing. Newly made developer accounts are also examined by Play store to prevent continuous malicious apps from them. Altogether there’s no chance for your Android Device to get malware injected on it from Play Store.

Google Play has Remote Power on Your Apps

Bouncer is not perfect! No protection tool is completely perfect. Knowing this fact, Google Play Store has complete power on your Apps. Suppose one app is behaving decently on the test but turns bad when it’s distributed among the large network. At this time, Google Play Store can remotely uninstall the specific Application from any of Android Device by making the app banned in Play Store. Isn’t it an awesome feature? Even if the virus makers are perfect, their perfection won’t last a larger period of time.

Android 4.2 comes with Side loaded App Scanning

We said that all the apps are checked in the Google Play Store itself and hence if you’re installing an Application from a non-Google Play Source, your device may be dominated but at least not in Android 4.2, the so called Jelly Bean (Not v4.1). Even if you’re installing applications from non-Play Store sources, the device will effectively scan those side loaded apps. Altogether, the feature is enabling the complete protection all the apps installed in your Android Jelly Bean Powered Device.

There’s also a worthy feature in Android Jelly Bean that the OS will block malicious apps from sending premium Short Messages from your device. In order to save your money, the OS itself will notify you when a specific application is trying to send such as message from your device.

App Restrictions

In most cases, the Android Applications are meant for illegal businesses and does all its work in the background of OS. No Malwares will catch your Android device if you’re carefully observing the permissions of the Application before pressing (tapping) the ‘Accept and Install’ button.

Read: How to run Android app on your PC

Then, what’s the Source?

None of the above is real source of Android Malwares as far as we know. But from where the malwares are getting into your device? The answer comes when you install Android Applications from sources other than Google Play Store. As per one recent research by top antivirus-BitDefedner, Kaspersky, Fake Installer is one of the major problems of Android Malware. Fake Installers are simple in function as they’re just trying to behave as descent installers but do such malicious acts. Also their website will pretend to be an official one. So you’ve to deeply observe the source before installing an Android application.

Another Study by F-Secure is also bringing a positive feedback to Google Play as they’ve found that only 0.5% of malicious apps are from Google Play whereas the other 99.5% was from non-Play store sources. And we could just conclude that non-Google Play apps are the major reason of Android Virus scams.

Do you really need one?

We said both for and against the essentiality of an Android Antivirus. But now, we should take a definite decision. You don’t need an Antivirus if you’re not installing any apps from non-Play Source. You’ve to also look the permissions of that application before installing especially is there any permission to send premium SMS’s. But for sure, you need one Antivirus for your device if you’re familiar with installing apps from sources other than Google Play.

Have you got a good answer? Let me conclude it! You never need an Antivirus in your Android device if you install Applications only from Google Play. You can install Antivirus software either if you want extra features listed above or you’ve a habit of installing Apps from other than Google Play. By The Way, do you use an Antivirus in your Android device? If so, share your favorite one through comments.