Google Play Protect: The Best Anti-Malware for Android

When we talk about malicious applications or commonly called malware, then our brain will be thinking about Antivirus. Some of the best Antivirus like Avast, McAfee Mobile Security, Virus Cleaner (Hi - Security), Kaspersky, AVG AntiVirus, etc., may be installed on your device to prevent this malware comes in.

But do you know that Google has also protected your Android device with Play Protect?

Google Play Protect is a comprehensive security service for Android developed by Google and implemented in 2017. This service is free and automatically installed on your device.

Google Play Protect' protects your Android Phone and Tablet from harmful apps and keeps your device safe. Here is the short information by Google:

• Google Play Protect does a security check on the app before you download it from Google Play.
• Google Play Protect checks apps that have potential dangers from other sources on the device.
• Google Play Protect warns you when it finds potentially harmful apps and removes them from your device.

How Google Play Protect Works

As I've explained above, Google Play Protect will check regularly any apps right after you download them. If you download an app on Google Play, It will say, "verified by Google Play Protect". This feature also scans your smartphone on a regular basis.

When your phone finds a potentially harmful app, Google Play Protect stops the app from running, and may:

Warns you. If the application detected is dangerous for your smartphone, you will get a notification Tap Uninstall on the notification to remove the app

Automatically remove the apps. In some cases, if a malicious app has been detected, you will get a notification that the app has been deleted automatically.

So basically, In most cases, you don't need to install an AntiVirus for your Android Phone and Tablet.

Check the Application and Device Security Status

You can check the status of Google Play Protect on your device by:

1. Open the Google Play Store app on your Android phone.
2. Tap Menu, then select Play Protect.
3. View information about the status of the device.

Make sure it says "Looks good, no harmful apps found".

How to Disable or Enable Google Play Protect

For security reasons, you should always enable Google Play Protect. Google Play Protect is actually enabled by default, but you can disable it if you want to experiment or do something important on your device.

1. Open the Play Store app on your Android phone or other devices.
2. Tap Menu, then select Play Protect.
3. Enable or disable device scanning to find security threats.

Improve Harmful Application Detection

If you want to install apps from "Unknown sources", from outside the Google Play Store, Play Protect may send the unknown apps to Google.

Surely you've done this, for example; if you want to reinstall Play Store when you accidentally deleted it and not having enough space to install apps from the Play Store.

This submitted information can help Google better protect Android users from malicious apps.

That's the explanation of How Google Play Protect helps your Android against harmful Apps. Hopefully, your phone is protected from any Android viruses.

Visit https://www.android.com/play-protect/ for more information.