How to ensure malware free after downloading a suspect app

[HarvestForAll]

Hello to everyone. Trying to cut a long-ish story short.

My brother gave me a new Samsung Galaxy to use as the iPad that I previously used for personal things like banking, shopping had given up.

I downloaded an app called 'Universal Credit' from the Google Play store. At this point, the Google Play Protect setting was not activated. The app looks like it is an official one and being new to Android I had no suspicions.

However, when I opened it there was a TikTok advert and a link to click what looked like it might have been a Google Play tab but written in an alphabet I didn't recognise, and it was apparent that it had nothing to do with the Department for Social Security so I deleted it.

I can find no information for the app developer other than a gmail address.

The software on the phone is up-to-date to August 2021 if that makes any difference. I activated the device in a cellular manner as I have no WiFi access other than public use networks.

I am in a bit of a health crisis at the moment and really could do with a device to enable me to run my affairs from home, what can I do to rid it of any malware that may have infected it?

Thanks for reading!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Ads like those are very common, and are considered legitimate. They're annoying, but not malware per se.

If you turn on Google Play Protect, you can always manually scan the phone. In the Play Store, go to the Manage Apps & Device section and tap the Play Protect option, then Scan.

You can always use a 3rd party malware scanner like Malwarebytes, but keep in mind that these scanners will often come up with a false positive, causing unnecessary anxeity.

 

[smvim]

....

I downloaded an app called 'Universal Credit' from the Google Play store. At this point, the Google Play Protect setting was not activated. ....!

Google's Play Protect utility is enabled by default so is there a specific reason as to why you or your brother have manually disabled it?

That said, even though it's not an absolute as far as effective protection but it is better to set it back to just let it do its automatic, periodic scans on the installed apps on your phone. There are literally tens of thousands of apps getting submitted to the Play Store every few hours so there are always going some apps that will slip through so having Play Protect check your phone's apps automatically is better than not.

The most effective way to avoid malware infected apps is for you, the user, to be very vigilant and selective about what apps and things you install. A lot of people just install whatever catches their eye on a whim, and that was more or less practical way, way back in Android's early days, but now exploits and compromises are a major problem when it involves any interaction with an online service. We all like shiny eye-candy to play with on our phones, but taking the responsibility of our own actions is a tall order. A lot of the time, it's a matter of what we need vs what we want.

 

[HarvestForAll]

Many, many thanks to B. Diddy and smvim for your thoughts and replies.

B. Diddy: after I had removed the app I scanned the device with Google Play and downloaded a free version of avast! for Android and scanned it too. Neither showed anything to be concrened about but are they reliable?

smvim: the device was box fresh and I hadn't even heard of Google Play when I did an internet search to see what to do about suspect apps (maybe the app switched it off?). I am going to reprt the app to the relevant Government Dept because it looks completely legitimate from the outside.

Both of you/anyone else: is there any way of running a test to see if the app *was* malicious, save for going through the download process again with Google Play switched on? Because if the app is just useless (and maybe just a malware app in terms of putting ads in front of you, rather than leaving and 'mark' on your device that could cause issues in future) I could be climing the walls over nothing.

I am so angry that I downloaded without running a search to see if it is legit though, very annoyed indeed.

 

[B. Diddy]

Avast is probably ok, but I don't necessarily trust them. Malwarebytes is generally held as one of the most trustworthy.

As I mentioned before, ads are a fact of life with free apps. Remember, app developers usually need to make some money, and ads are how they do that on free apps. If you want to avoid ads, then pay for the premium version of the ad, if available. If there is no premium version (or if there's no option in the app settings to donate to the developer to get rid of ads), then it's just something you have to live with if you want to use that app.

 

[HarvestForAll]

Avast is probably ok, but I don't necessarily trust them. Malwarebytes is generally held as one of the most trustworthy.

As I mentioned before, ads are a fact of life with free apps. Remember, app developers usually need to make some money, and ads are how they do that on free apps. If you want to avoid ads, then pay for the premium version of the ad, if available. If there is no premium version (or if there's no option in the app settings to donate to the developer to get rid of ads), then it's just something you have to live with if you want to use that app.

Brilliant, thanks for your time and help B. Diddy, very muc appreciate it.