Do You Have An Anti-Virus Security Like Norton on Your Phone?

[TechTimid]

I was wondering if you have an Anti-Virus service like Norton Security on your smartphone? Is it needed for smartphones, I imagine since you access the internet it would be mandatory?

I looked through the apps that came with the phone, there are over 30 of them, and didn't notice any anti-virus symbols. I really hate to pay extra for it, my home computer ISP provided security for free.

How can I tell if I have it or not, and if I don't do you suggest I pay for something like that and download it on my phone?

I don't have unlimited data, would that take up much space if I need to install it?

 

[hallux]

This comes up every so often. I believe this was the most recent instance - https://forums.androidcentral.com/g...7-yay-nay-security-antivirus-apps-needed.html

 

[hallux]

Now - to answer some of your questions...

I was wondering if you have an Anti-Virus service like Norton Security on your smartphone? Is it needed for smartphones, I imagine since you access the internet it would be mandatory?

See the link above

I looked through the apps that came with the phone, there are over 30 of them, and didn't notice any anti-virus symbols. I really hate to pay extra for it, my home computer ISP provided security for free.

You typically won't, though I THINK some Samsung devices might have something.

How can I tell if I have it or not, and if I don't do you suggest I pay for something like that and download it on my phone?

See previous answers. I don't pay for it on Android (or macOS for that matter) and I haven't experienced any issues.

I don't have unlimited data, would that take up much space if I need to install it?

Unlimited data on your mobile plan has nothing to do with the space consumed by installation of an app. If you feel the absolute need for an app like this - stick to the typical big names...

 

[TechTimid]

Thank you Hallux, good info there.

 

[TechTimid]

One more question. In the link you provided, B.Diddy advised this, but when I looked to turn off unknown sources in settings, I couldn't find it. Could it be because I haven't signed up with Google yet?

@B.Diddy 5. Turn off "Unknown Sources" in Settings>Security. This prevents any app that wasn't obtained from Google Play Store from being installed (which could include malicious apps that are inadvertently downloaded).

 

[Javier P]

One more question. In the link you provided, B.Diddy advised this, but when I looked to turn off unknown sources in settings, I couldn't find it. Could it be because I haven't signed up with Google yet?

The option to allow unknown sources changed after Oreo, "... you won't see a setting to allow installation of apps from unknown sources. Instead, Google treats this as an app permission and you're asked each and every time you want to install an app you got elsewhere".

See this article for more information.

Unknown Sources: Everything you need to know! https://www.androidcentral.com/unknown-sources

 

[chanchan05]

The only benefit of something like that is it already has a list of known malware, and some of them would alert you if an app you already installed was found out to be malware and tell you to uninstall. Also, based on my experience, BitDefender would warn you if the app has aggressive ads (popups taking up the entire screen or lockscreen), so you'd want to uninstall that.
There are benefits to it, but not anything that you can't go without it. You'd just have manually look for the app causing the ad problem or manually look through app reviews.

 

[TechTimid]

Thank you both, good to know!