[deanhills]

Since moving to Canada in May, I've had to use a smart phone continuously. It's now my main phone. I'm using Xperia X.

I use it for my emails, phone, texts and whatsapp.

Is it necessary to load extra security? Now and then when I have WiFi there is a SMS that suggests I use AVG protection.

What security - if necessary - should I get? I prefer one that is very light and doesn't take much memory and data space.

[Honey]

Honestly, if the user is wise and careful enough, you never really need an external source of security. I've been using android phones for several years now, and I never really used any security app, because whenever you install something externally(like an external apk), then there's a high chance of malware inside it, so if u avoid that I don't think there are many other ways of injecting malware into an android

[rudra]

Honey is right but... yes. there is a but and as many of us know, nothing the comes before the 'but' counts.

First thing first. Just read the reliable reports on how many malwares and adwares are there on playstore. Even with their impressive security.

lesson : dont install new or unknown apps (very few installs / not popular )

Other good tips. dont install random apks or open unknown files that may get downloaded in your system.

Don't click unknown links.

Just don't do things without knowing what it does on your important phone. I have seen too many who just click and wait for things to happen.

Also use virustotal dot com, religiously.

[tryp4vps]

...... What security - if necessary - should I get? I prefer one that is very light and doesn't take much memory and data space.

I have been using an app called "Dr.Web anti-virus Light" on my little Android.

It consumes around 38MB of memory. I suppose it should be light enough for most Android phones including Xperia.

[Kururin]

Please don't be dumb enough to use antivirus anymore. They are obsolete, if the android device have a recent security patch that's enough. My security patch for my Android is from November 2018 and I haven't gotten any virus what'ssover and still using it now.

[deanhills]

Please don't be dumb enough to use antivirus anymore. They are obsolete, if the android device have a recent security patch that's enough. My security patch for my Android is from November 2018 and I haven't gotten any virus what'ssover and still using it now.

Well maybe you've got a point here.  Besides which I'm not using my smart phone beyond phone, SMS, Whatsapp and I check my emails through my smart phone now.  I still don't trust it though.

@rudra @@Honey  those are excellent guidelines.  I try and do them every day, but I guess it's so easy - perhaps easier - than with a desktop computer, to click on a link.  One has to be extra careful with a phone than with a desktop computer.

@tryp4vps - thanks for the Dr.Web anti-virus Light suggestion.  I'll definitely check it out.

[humanpuff69]

Android is already secure . Security researcher also say that android is much secure than ios . So open source and free doesnt mean less security , it can be more because of the community support that actively find bugs instead of closed team that find bugs

Ios is just playing security through obscurity but android because it is open source you can see the code

Android is not completely open source though with google attempting to intergate their gapps much deper to the android making most people cannot live without gapps and the dependent of operating system because most apps needed it that use firebase or google intergration .

[Kururin]

I can see that you are still concerned about it, if so just use privacy enhanced apps like Signal for Communication, Protonmail for Email etc. There are many stuff out there now since people are more worried about security these days than anything.

[deanhills]

@Kururin I'm concerned, but haven't added any anti virus on my phone. I'm just very careful how I use the phone. I don't do any banking on the phone and am loading as few apps as possible. Not sure whether whatsapp counts as an app but it's the only app I have on my phone for now.

[youssefbasha]

Ik that this is not the answer you want but
AVG is a shit, my PC got a virus after 2 days of installing it.
Try Malwarebytes