You’d Better Not Count on Google Play Protect to Block Android Malware

Google’s providing Android devices with built-in anti-malware protection when downloading apps from the Play Store, but according to recent antivirus tests, you’d better not count on this service exclusively to stay away from malware.

German antivirus test organization AV-TEST has conducted new research to evaluate Android security products, and it discovered that Google Play Protect scored worst in all tests.

The most popular security solutions on Android were pitted against nearly 6,700 malware apps to determine the protection, performance, and usability of each product.

The apps that impressed with a total score of 18 points out of a maximum of 18 were security apps from Avira, Bitdefender, G Data, Kaspersky, NortonLifeLock, SK Telecom and Trend Micro.

Google Play Protect, on the other hand, received only 6 points after scoring zero points in protection a…