Do Android Phones Need Antivirus Protection? Explained

For years, the question "does Android require antivirus?" has been floating around and even to this day, users install a third-party antivirus to protect their device. Malware on Android are finding new ways to target users with financial scams, malicious APKs, and phishing links. Despite advanced Android protections in 2026, these harmful apps may take over the screen, display pop-ups, stream your screen, and remotely access it to initiate bank transfers.

Now, the questions remains do Android phones need antivirus protection in 2026? Let's first go through Android's built-in protection, where it falls short, and who actually needs to install an antivirus on Android phones.

Android's built-in security is quite strong in 2026

Android already comes with multiple layers of protection and the most important one is Google Play Protect. According to a recent Google Blog report, Google Play Protect now scans over 350 billion apps daily and in 2025 alone, Play Protect found more than 27 million malicious sideloaded apps.

On top of that, every Android app now runs inside its own sandbox. It means that an app can't freely access other apps' data or system resources. The Android OS assigns each app a unique Linux user ID and enforces strict SELinux policies. Android also uses runtime permissions so apps ask your permission before accessing your camera, contacts, or microphone.

On the Play Store side, Google has been pretty aggressive in blocking harmful apps. In 2025, Google blocked more than 1.75 million policy-violating apps from being published and now runs more than 10,000 automated safety checks on every submitted app. Google is also using AI into its app review pipeline to catch malicious patterns faster.

Besides the Play Store, Google has rolled out enhanced fraud protection through Play Protect that automatically blocks the installation of APKs downloaded from the internet. This feature is now available in 185 markets and covers more than 2.8 billion Android devices. Google says it has blocked 266 million installation attempts in 2025 alone.

And to counter the recent surge of in-call scams, Google has now disabled the ability to turn off Play Protect during phone calls. Scammers call users, build trust, and ask users to disable Android's built-in security, so this feature directly addresses that social engineering tactic.

How Android security has evolved over the years

When Android debuted in 2008, there was no malware scanner or granular permission control system. In fact, there was no automated vetting on the Play Store. Basically, if you uploaded an app, it went live immediately. And if you installed an app, a full list of permissions were granted and you had to either accept everything or opt to not install the app at all.

It all changed with Android 6 Marshmallow in 2015 which finally brought runtime permissions. Now, apps had to ask for sensitive permissions and users could deny individual permissions. This was a big shift as it gave users control over their data for the first time.

The next big leap came with Android 10 in 2019 which introduced "Project Mainline" (now called Google Play System Updates). Before Mainline, security patches for core Android components used to go through phone manufacturers like Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, etc. This resulted in month long delays while millions of Android devices were exposed to known vulnerabilities.

Finally, Project Mainline changed that by modularizing critical system components so Google could update them directly via the Play Store. It finally bypassed OEMs and delivered security patches and other updates to Android devices directly. As of 2025, Mainline has more than 30 updatable modules for devices running Android 10 or later. 

Next, Android 12 introduced "Privacy Dashboard" that shows exactly which apps accessed your camera, microphone and location. Android 13 added photo picker access and prevented apps from accessing your entire media library. And Android 16 has built-in protection for something called "tapjacking", which is a trick where malicious apps use hidden overlay windows to steal your taps. Scammers use this technique for ad fraud and unauthorized transactions. 

Image Credit: Google

Finally, just recently, Google announced that it's severely limiting how users can sideload downloaded apps on Android. From August 2026, users will have to go through an "Advanced Flow" system for sideloading apps from unverified developers on Android. Users will have to enable Developer Mode, confirm that no one is pressuring them, restart their device, and then wait for 24 hours before they can proceed. This is done to prevent call-based scams that rely on urgency to install APKs from sketchy sources. 

So why do Android phones require antivirus at all?

While Google is introducing new security features to combat rising attacks, there are some instances where you need an antivirus, especially if you sideload apps often. First of all, according to AV-TEST, Google's Play Protect on Android scored 5.5 out of 6 in security protection, whereas nearly all antivirus providers got 6 out of 6. So, does Android require antivirus given this gap and how do antivirus apps work, compared to Android's built-in security?

Well, first of all, Google Play Protect on Android is more of a gatekeeper for the Play Store. It scans apps before and after installation, checks for known malware signatures, and flags risky apps. It also performs code-level analysis to catch harmful apps. Basically, it's very good at catching known threats, but might fail to catch zero-day or highly targeted attacks.

On the other hand, third-party antivirus apps rely on their massive cloud-based database of known malware signatures. Antivirus providers like Kaspersky, Norton, Bitdefender, etc. maintain their own curated threat databases with samples collected from millions of endpoints worldwide. They also check code behavior patterns, going beyond signatures, to find different variants of the malware that has not been logged yet.

In addition, antivirus apps are now increasingly relying on behaviour-based detection. They use AI/ML models to monitor how apps behave after installation. For example, if an app suddenly starts requesting Accessibility Services access, reading your notifications, or drawing over other apps, the antivirus flags it. This is how remote-access trojans (RAT) like Albiriox and Crocodilus are caught. They behave normally initially but activate malicious behaviour later.

In addition, antivirus apps also do cloud-based analysis where an unknown APK is uploaded to cloud servers to run it in a sandboxed environment. It's allowed to run to monitor and catch its malicious behaviour. And this is how zero-day threats are detected within minutes. So when users ask does Android require antivirus, the answer depends on whether they need these extra protections or not.

Antivirus software on Android: Who actually needs it?

Now, the answer to "do I need antivirus for Android" depends entirely on how you use your phone. If you install apps from the Play Store, keep your OS updated, and avoid sketchy APKs and links, Android's built-in security protections are more than enough for everyday use.

That said, if you frequently sideload apps on your Android phone, you can get an antivirus. Google in its recent study found that sideloaded apps carry malware at 50x the rate of Play Store apps. I would suggest users to upload the APK file on VirusTotal before installing it on your Android phone. It checks the APK against several antivirus definitions and quickly tells you whether the APK is malicious or not.

Besides that, you can get an antivirus app if you use mobile banking or UPI apps regularly. Kaspersky reported that banking trojans are the fastest growing malware category on Android, especially in India. Finally, if your phone no longer receives security patches, a third-party antivirus can help catch harmful apps.