Expert Rating
Benefits
- Excellent protection against viruses
- Many useful features
Disadvantages
- Dodgy VPN
- Some inconveniences
Our verdict
For less than £2 a month, or even cheaper if you pay annually, the app offers a useful set of features. Even the free version can work for those who can tolerate intrusive advertising. But avoid paying for a VPN, there are clearly better VPNs out there.
Price when reviewed
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Best price today
Best Prices Today: Avast Antivirus & Security
If you download and install Avast Antivirus & Security (or sometimes called Security & Virus Cleaner), you’ll be given a choice during installation: purchase a paid subscription or continue with the free basic version, but with in-app ads. You’ll then get almost as many features without the cost.
The ads in question are very annoying and intrusive, but only when you are in the app. Most of the time, an app like this runs in the background and is as discreet as other security apps. That is, semi-discreet, there are always a few pop-ups and notifications when it wants to attract attention.
In addition to app control, which according to AV tests is slightly better than Google Play Protect with a 100% detection result in the last measurement, you benefit from many features.
These include basic protection against malicious websites, link checking for emails and SMS messages, and a “photo vault.” This uploads selected photos from the archive or directly from the camera to a special, encrypted folder. You also get a junk file cleaner that can remove unnecessary files.
Helping you with safe practices
The app includes clear step-by-step visual guides for using other apps like Instagram and Tiktok in the safest way possible. I wouldn’t say it’s a feature in itself technically, but a welcome bonus.
There is also the option to monitor an email address so that you can receive alerts if it is included in a hacker data leak. However, this requires an additional step: creating an account with Avast. You can also scan the Wi-Fi network you are connected to for possible vulnerabilities.
Price
If you want to get rid of the ads, you’ll have to pay £1 per month, just like AVG Security & Virus Cleaner. This Premium plan costs £11.99 for the first year, then £19.99 per year after that.
You’ll also get additional features like enhanced phishing protection on the web and in emails, app locks for “sensitive apps” so you can lock them behind additional PINs or biometrics to open them, and scheduled system scanning and cleaning, as well as fully automatic Wi-Fi scanning before connecting to it.
What you don’t get is a VPN, which is part of the Ultimate package for £2 per month (charged at £23.99 for the first year then £39.99). The VPN service is quite slow when I tested it, so it’s doubtful it’s worth it.
You can also get Avast One Silver or Avast One Gold for £32.49 or £69.99 for the first year respectively, which includes protection for three or five devices across Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone/iPad.
Specifications
- App Lock
- Encryption (images)
- Privacy Overview
- Navigation protection
- VPN
- Wi-Fi Control
- Identity monitoring
- Android 8+
This article was originally published in our sister publication PC för Alla and has been translated and adapted from Swedish.
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