Unfortunately, it's been proven time and time again over the years that you simply cannot rely (solely) on Google to keep you protected from increasingly sophisticated threats and ever-improving bad actors.
In theory, that's where so-called antivirus, "virus cleaner", or security-focused apps should come in, but at least based on one extensive new study, it might not always be a good idea to trust those either. And believe it or not, we're talking about the best of the best in the category this time around rather than some obscure title from a no-name developer with no more than a few thousand downloads under its belt.
Almost all popular antivirus apps are tracking you
While data collection, let's be honest, is a common, generally acceptable, and sometimes necessary practice for mobile apps of (almost) all types, we can probably agree the most important thing in these nearly inevitable cases is a dev's sincerity.
When you have apps specifically advertised as focusing on protecting user privacy that can be easily found to track the same users for undisclosed and thus potentially shady purposes, it's hard not to consider your trust violated for good.
The higher the score, the better the security features offered (with or without tracking included).
Of the 40 most downloaded cleaning and antivirus apps in Google Play inspected by Cybernews security experts, just two (!!!) were deemed clean themselves of obvious data privacy threats, with another two escaping this analysis by using a method called obfuscation, which is clearly not a good sign.
Even "Super Antivirus - Clean Virus" and "VG Enterprise Web SDK", which are the two tracker-free apps on today's list, failed to impress when it came to evaluating their overall security protection skills, although it is worth pointing out that it's unclear exactly how this assessment was conducted.
The amount and type of data tracked by each of the 36 apps found guilty of this questionable practice are also not mentioned or detailed in any way, but making matters worse, six of those same apps apparently contain links to "potentially malicious domains" as well.
Should you delete them all?
While the answer to that question may seem simple, you have to keep in mind that these are (in theory) some of the best free Android security apps on the market today, and there's obviously no guarantee lesser-known alternatives will refrain from tracking you.
An easy solution to this conundrum would be to turn your back on mobile antiviruses altogether, in which case you'll be left all alone trying to evade the daily dangers of the Android life.
That's not necessarily as bad as it sounds if you exercise good judgment with every single app installation, including but not limited to carefully reading user reviews, paying attention to all the relevant research out there, and well, keeping an eye on Phone Arena from time to time.
Having said all that, here are the apps found to both track their users and contain "likely" malicious links:
Dr. Capsule Antivirus, Cleaner
GO Security - AntiVirus, AppLock, Booster
Virus Hunter 2021 Virus Scanner and Phone Cleaner
AVC Antivirus & Virus Cleaner
Fancy Booster - Cleaner, Antivirus & Speed Up
Phone Junk - Clean Master
And here is the painfully long list including all the massively popular Android antivirus apps discovered to "only" track your data, ordered by their tracker count and thus apparent degree of danger (emphasis on apparent):
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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