Honeygain Explains: Choosing a Reliable Antivirus App for Your Phone
By Rimante Kudabe
set 22, 2021 out 7, 2024 • 5 min read
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By Rimante Kudabe
set 22, 2021 out 7, 2024 • 5 min read
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Chances are, you have been hearing about the importance of using antivirus software ever since you got your first computer and connected it to the internet. Cybersecurity enthusiasts have been researching computer viruses and building tools to protect the systems against them ever since the early 1990s. Naturally, most of us now see antivirus software as a computer part as crucial as, let’s say, the keyboard.
Mobile phones, on the other hand, are a different story. They’re full of private information, and we use them for browsing just as much (if not more) as we do computers – and yet, millions of people around the world never give mobile antivirus apps a second thought. This is partly because some popular smartphone operating systems actually include antivirus software, making their users think their choice of OS guarantees them protection and online security from the get-go… But can you really trust them?
As a provider of software for not just Windows, macOS, and Linux, but also Android and iOS, Honeygain cares a great deal about the safety of its users – therefore, in this article, we’ll explain how you can choose an antivirus app that will actually protect your smartphone from viruses.
If you’re an iPhone user, you can breathe out with ease. Apple only allows installing apps from its official App Store, which is known for its careful vetting and approval processes: not only is every app tested manually and required to support sandboxing, but static analysis is also performed on its binary code.
This means the risk of a virus-containing app landing on Apple’s App Store is virtually non-existent – and as no other sources are permitted, the users have no chance of catching the virus. While some ironically call this ‘the walled-garden approach’, it protects iOS users and allows them to not worry about picking and using antivirus software at all.
Nevertheless, you can still find security apps built for iOS available for download. That is because security is not limited to guarding your device against viruses: it can also mean protection from internet-based issues (e.g., phishing) or even physical loss or theft of your device. However, while these programs are sometimes mislabeled, they are not technically antivirus.
The main difference between using iOS and Android is the fact that with Android, you can download and install apps from anywhere: you are not limited to the official Play Store. While it does offer a much wider range of software a user can enjoy, it also means a much higher chance of getting your device infected with malware if you choose an unauthorized source you shouldn’t actually trust.
We constantly remind our existing and potential users to only download Honeygain from our official website: this way, they can always be sure they’re getting not just a safe installer but also the latest version of our app.
However, even if Android users make up the absolute majority of our users, Honeygain is just one of many apps running on your devices. According to a software development company Simform, the average person has around 40 apps installed on their smartphone and uses 18 of them excessively – which translates to dozens of opportunities to get your device infected with malware. In this case, using a mobile antivirus app is an absolute must.
If you’re an Android user, you might be thinking: ‘Wait… But I’ve got Google Play Protect – Android’s inbuilt antivirus software. Why would I need anything else?’ Well, we’re sorry to burst your bubble… But Play Protect is very far from a superb malware defense.
A few months ago, AV-TEST – an autonomous organization that evaluates security software – released its latest Android antivirus app report. Not only has Google Play Protect displayed the absolute worst results out of 15 apps tested, but it came nowhere near the app that was the second-to-last spot: Ikarus was 14th with 16 out of 18 possible points, and Play Protect only managed to score 6. And you know what’s even worse? The results basically mirrored the ones from AV-TEST’s last year’s report – meaning Play Protect didn’t improve one bit (unlike, for example, AVG AntiVirus Free & Mobile Security, which jumped from 16 to 18 points).
There are two ways an app could prove to be unreliable:
Unfortunately, when tested by AV-TEST, Play Protect failed in both cases: it failed to detect 31.2% of the real-time malware samples and 23.3% of the reference malware samples, and issued malware alerts on 70+ legit applications that contained absolutely no threats for the users. This is far from its first failure, either: in 2017, Play Protect actually disabled Bluetooth on thousands of Motorola Moto G4 devices by incorrectly marking a system app Bluetooth Share 7.0 as a virus and disabling it!
Ultimately, you should follow a careful approach when using antivirus applications: the default version is not always the best, and doing a little research can help you stay a whole lot safer. You can also protect yourself by only opting to download applications from official sources and learning more about the red flags that can help you identify a fake app before it’s too late!
Here at Honeygain, we prioritize user security above all else – and we’re happy to know our users feel safe when using our app: in our latest user survey, 70%+ of the respondents said they feel completely safe (5/5) on Honeygain. If you’d like to join Honeygain’s crowdsourced web intelligence network, safely share your internet connection, help businesses worldwide and generate passive income – now’s a great time to get on board!
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