10 Security Apps to Protect Your Android Devices

A recent study has found that almost 87% of all Android devices are insecure.

These vulnerabilities arise due to a lack of security updates. The Internet is never safe when they are connected to the web. Safety is a primary concern these days, and many third-party applications have strived to enhance it.

The following apps will help you to protect your Android devices from online identity & security threats.

List of Security Apps to Protect Android

• Avast Mobile Security
• Sophos Antivirus and security
• AppLock
• Signal Private Messenger
• Secure Call
• App Ops
• LastPass
• Find My Device
• NoRoot Firewall
• Orbot

1Avast Mobile Security

Avast is a great app to provide your Android phone protection against viruses coupled with many other threats.

Avast is one of the world’s most trusted free antivirus for Android which alert you when spyware, adware get installed and violate your privacy.

The detection rate of latest Android malware is about 99.9% and is around 100% of malware detected in the last four weeks.

Verdict: If malware and safe browsing are your primary concern, this app is appropriate for you.

2Sophos Antivirus and security

Sophos is one of the best antivirus apps one could have on Android at an absolutely no cost.

Its user interface may not impress you much. However, its features will surely sooth your mind.

Features:

• Virus scanning of installed apps, existing apps and storage media
• Loss and theft protection with the support of remote access which allows the user to wipe, lock, ring and locate your device
• Web-filtering
• Spam blocking

Sophos boasts the latest malware detection rate of 100% which helps it to stand out from the rest.

Verdict: If you prefer productivity over a cute design, Sophos is indeed of the best apps of its genre you have out there.

3AppLock

Use of this app is pretty simple. AppLock protects individual apps from intruders by asking a user to put a pin/pattern to access the app. You can put a lock on your SMS, Contacts, Gmail or for that matter, any app.

Do not confuse app lock with your phone’s built-in lock. Built-in lock puts a lock on your device. Nothing can be accessed. However, AppLock puts a lock on the apps you have selected.

Verdict: If you want to prevent intruders from accessing your apps but don’t want to keep any password for your device, you can use Applock.

4Signal Private Messenger

There are many secure messaging apps. However, most of them work only if both users use the same app.

However, Signal Private Messenger allows you to add an extra layer of security to regular SMS text messages even if one of the users is not using Signal Private Messenger. It is developed by Open Whisper System.

Following are its notable features

• Open Source
• End to end encryption which means that nothing is stored on its server
• can encrypt messages even when any one of the users is not using Signal Private Messenger.

Verdict: If you want an end to end encryption for your regular SMS’, Signal Private Messenger is undoubtedly the best app in the market.

5Secure Call

It ensures your calls in such a way that nobody can listen to them. Secure Call provides end to end encryption for your private calls thus preventing them from being overheard by intruders.

It uses a default phone app to make and receive phone calls. Its Peer to Peer architecture with a robust end to end encryption prevents your calls being stolen by Third parties including the developers of this app.

Verdict: If you want an end to end encryption for phone calls, use Secure Call.

6App Ops

The basic functionality of App Ops is to revoke a specific set of permissions to a particular app. Many apps have additional permission which is in no way related to its feature.

App Ops helps you to block such unnecessary permissions. When you install an app on your device, you need to grant permission to all the aspects of your device that the app requests.

If you decline permission to any one of it, the app won’t get installed. App Ops comes in handy in such situations wherein you can have the app installed without granting it a particular set of permissions.

Verdict: If you want to revoke apps of specific unnecessary permissions, you can use App Ops.

7LastPass

Remembering passwords these days is quite tricky with users having multiple accounts online and each account having a different password.

LastPass is one of the best password managers available in the market which allows you to store passwords of your numerous accounts with extra layers of security.

You can easily access all of your confidential data from any computer or mobile device. Encrypted by a secret master password, all you need to remember is one LastPass password to access all of your passwords.

Verdict: One encrypted step destination for locating all of your passwords.

8Find My Device

Find My Device is an improved Android Device Manager allows you to ring, find, lock your Android device remotely. It also allows you to wipe the device’s entire data if it by any chance it gets permanently out of your reach.

Many other apps offer this service with its other flagship services.

However, Google’s is by far the easiest to set up and allows you to log in via someone else’s android device manager and wipe data from your device on the go.

Verdict:  If you want to access your phone remotely, use Andriod Device Manager.

9NoRoot Firewall

Many of apps on your Android device might be using and eating up your mobile data unnecessarily.

NoRoot Firewall puts you in control of Internet access for apps without rooting your device. It allows us to choose whether a particular app can access the Internet only over wifi or only over mobile data or neither or both.

Verdict: If you don’t want to root your device but want a firewall, use NoRoot Firewall.

10Orbot

Orbot is an Android application, a part of the Tor project, which allows you to route all of your traffic through Tor network.

VPN uses a single server whereas Tor routes your traffic through various tunnels making sure no traces are left behind. Orbot creates a genuinely private mobile data connection. Data gets encrypted and re-encrypted

Data gets encrypted and re-encrypted multiple numbers of times until it reaches the last network where it gets decrypted, thus preventing the sender from being traced.

Verdict: Orbot allows you to encrypt your internet traffic easily.

I hope above security specific apps help you keep your Andriod mobile/devices safe and secure. You may also consider using a VPN by SurfEasy to protect your identity further online.