How to Remove Malware from Android (2026 Guide)

If your Android phone's battery is draining fast and ads are popping up out of nowhere, there is a good chance malware has slipped into your phone. In 2025 alone, Android banking trojan attacks jumped by 56% and India is one of the most affected regions because of sideloading of malicious Android apps. So in this guide, I have explained how to remove malware from Android step by step, using tools that are already built into your phone.

First, Make Sure It's Actually Malware

What most people call a "malware" is actually a trojan, spyware or adware. They sneak in through a dodgy app or a sideloaded APK. Here are the symptoms to watch for.

If your Android phone's battery is draining fast and the device is overheating even when idle, it might be because infected apps are running constantly in the background. Next, you might see a flood of pop-up ads which means adware has infected your Android phone. You will see full-screen ads even when no app is open. 

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Apart from that, you will see unfamiliar apps installed on your Android phone. New icons may appear which is one of the clearest red flags. And if you see a spike in mobile data usage, it means malicious apps are using background mobile data to send data to their servers. 

Next, frequent crashes of apps, sluggish performance and apps closing unexpectedly can point to something malicious consuming your phone's resources. Finally, malware often intercepts your text messages to grab OTPs and route the OTP without your knowledge. Open the Messages app and check unfamiliar messages. 

How to Remove Malware from Android

Follow the below methods to remove malware from your Android phone. I would recommend starting with a Play Protect scan and then moving to factory reset if nothing else works.

Run a Manual Google Play Protect Scan

Google Play Protect is Android's built-in malware scanner and it's far more capable than any third-party antivirus. As I mentioned in an explainer on whether Android phones need antivirus, Play Protect found more than 27 million malicious sideloaded apps in 2025 alone. It runs automatically in the background, but most people have never done a manual scan, so here are the steps to follow.

1. Open the Google Play Store app and tap on your profile icon in the top-right corner.
2. Now, select Play Protect and then tap on Scan.
3. If it finds any malware or malicious app on your Android phone, tap on Uninstall to remove it right away.

While you are here, tap the gear icon in the top-right corner and make sure both Scan apps with Play Protect and Improve harmful app detection are turned on. Some malware quietly disables these settings to prevent detection, so it's important to check these settings.

Boot Into Safe Mode and Remove Suspicious Apps

Safe mode is an isolated environment where Android loads only the system apps and all third-party apps are turned off. That makes it the perfect environment to test whether a rogue app is the culprit and to delete it without the malware interacting with the system.

1. First off, press and hold the Power and Volume Up buttons for a few seconds to open the Power menu.
2. Now, press and hold the Power off menu until the Safe mode screen appears. Now, tap it and your phone will reboot into Safe mode.
3. With only system apps running, open your app drawer and uninstall apps on your Android phone you don't recognise.
4. Now, to exit from Safe mode on Android, simply restart your Android phone and you will boot back to the normal mode.

Revoke Device Admin Access When an App Won't Uninstall

Sometimes, you try to uninstall a malicious app and Android tells you the app is a "device administrator" and refuses to perform the action. This is a classic malware trick where apps get admin rights and block its own removal. You will need to remove those rights first.

1. Open Settings and move to Security & privacy.
2. After that, tap on More security & privacy.

3. Next, open Device admin apps and find the suspicious app.
4. Now, tap on it and select Deactivate. You can now uninstall the app without any fuss.

Get Rid of Malicious Website Notifications

Some websites get the notification permission on Android phones and continuously send malicious notifications. Many users mistake it for a malware infection. It can bombard you with a non-stop stream of spammy notifications pushing fake virus alerts and links to malicious sites. While it's not malware, it behaves a lot like it and you can fix it by revoking the permission.

1. Open Chrome and tap on the 3-dot menu > Settings.
2. Now, scroll down and tap on Site settings > Notifications.

3. To stop notifications altogether, set the toggle at the top to Don't allow sites to send notifications.
4. Now onwards, no website can ask notification permission again.

Clear Your Browser Cache and Cookies

A lot of Android malware arrives through the browser via shady websites and adware. Clearing the browser's cache and cookies can stop those malicious sites from functioning properly. That said, you will also log out from many websites and you need to sign in again. Here are the steps to follow.

1. Open Chrome and tap on the 3-dot menu and choose Delete browsing data.
2. Here, tap on More options.
3. Now, set the time range to All time and untick Browsing history.
4. That said, keep Cookies and site data and cached images and files enabled. Now, tap on Delete data and that's all.

Update Android and Install the Latest Security Patch

Google and Android OEMs release monthly Android security patches that close the vulnerabilities that attackers exploit. For instance, the March 2026 patch alone fixed 129 vulnerabilities. So, you should update your Android phone to the latest security patch to prevent malware on your phone.

1. Go to Settings > System > Software updates.

2. Now, open System update and check for update.
3. In addition, open Google Play system update and install pending updates right away.

Factory Reset as a Last Resort

If you have tried everything above and you are still seeing the effect of the malware, you might have to factory reset your Android phone. It wipes everything and brings your phone back to its out-of-the-box state. Use this method as the last option to remove malware from your Android phone. That said, back up your Android phone before running through the steps.

1. Open Settings and move to System > Reset options.
2. Now, tap on Erase all data (factory reset) and confirm the action. That's it.

And that is how you can remove malware from Android phones. I would recommend users to turn on Advanced Protection Mode if you are running Android 16. Go to Settings > Security & privacy > Advanced Protection and turn on the toggle. 

In addition, stop sideloading apps from sketchy sources. You should not install cracked apps and modded APKs as they are likely infected by malware. If you need to install an APK, first of all, upload the APK file on VirusTotal (visit) and analyse it. The website checks the APK against several antivirus definitions and quickly tells you whether the APK is harmful or not.  

You should also regularly remove permissions from Android apps. Not to mention, don't click on links or install APKs received via SMS/WhatsApp that screams "your electricity will be cut off" or "your KYC has expired. All these steps will prevent malware from slipping into your Android device.