Avast Mobile Security costs and what's covered
Avast Mobile Security remains a freemium app, with a fairly feature-rich free tier and the option to drop the ads and unlock the premium features in the "Pro" tier for either $2.99 a month or $11.88 a year. This is a slight price bump from the last time I reviewed the app, but it is still one of the least expensive paid Android antivirus options on the market.
(Image credit: Avast)
Doing away with the ads is perhaps the most valuable piece of the Pro tier, but the anti-theft tools, app locking and tech support from Avast are all nice to have as well.
Users looking for an integrated VPN solution can bump up to the "Ultimate" tier for $23.88 yearly or $8.49 a month to use Avast's SecureLine VPN service. To add PC and macOS support for both the VPN and the antivirus software, you need to opt for the "Ultimate-Multi" plan, which costs $59.99 yearly or $27.99 (yes, that's right) monthly.
Malware protection
Avast also makes antivirus software for Windows and Mac, both free and paid. To check out the best options on either platform, please see our pages on the best Mac antivirus software and the best antivirus software overall.
Avast continues to make malware scanning the focus of its app with the big green "Scan" button. While it isn't going to win any speed records, the full scan took between 26 and 32 seconds, rather than the 45 to 60 that it spent churning away during my last review of the app.
You can still schedule your scans for any time and any day of the week, so there's no reason for you to ever see an active scan during waking hours.
Avast's Web Shield held up well in the supported browsers that I had installed – Chrome, Opera, Firefox and Dolphin – and managed to detect and block links from known malicious sites.
Malware detection
Avast Mobile Security achieved perfect results in German independent lab AV-TEST's evaluations of Android security products conducted in July 2019. The app detected 100% of the 3,347 "real-time" malware threats used, and 100% of the 3,433 samples that had been uncovered in the previous four weeks.
MORE: The 10 Best Android Phones
This puts Avast well ahead of the industry averages for this round of testing, which were 96.8% of real-time, and 97.6% of recently uncovered, threats. Those averages were dragged down by the abysmal performance of Google Play Protect. But even with that outlier eliminated, Avast was still ahead of the pack.
Avast Mobile Security remains a freemium app, with a fairly feature-rich free tier and the option to drop the ads and unlock the premium features in the "Pro" tier for either $2.99 a month or $11.88 a year. This is a slight price bump from the last time I reviewed the app, but it is still one of the least expensive paid Android antivirus options on the market.
(Image credit: Avast)
Doing away with the ads is perhaps the most valuable piece of the Pro tier, but the anti-theft tools, app locking and tech support from Avast are all nice to have as well.
Users looking for an integrated VPN solution can bump up to the "Ultimate" tier for $23.88 yearly or $8.49 a month to use Avast's SecureLine VPN service. To add PC and macOS support for both the VPN and the antivirus software, you need to opt for the "Ultimate-Multi" plan, which costs $59.99 yearly or $27.99 (yes, that's right) monthly.
Malware protection
Avast also makes antivirus software for Windows and Mac, both free and paid. To check out the best options on either platform, please see our pages on the best Mac antivirus software and the best antivirus software overall.
Avast continues to make malware scanning the focus of its app with the big green "Scan" button. While it isn't going to win any speed records, the full scan took between 26 and 32 seconds, rather than the 45 to 60 that it spent churning away during my last review of the app.
You can still schedule your scans for any time and any day of the week, so there's no reason for you to ever see an active scan during waking hours.
Avast's Web Shield held up well in the supported browsers that I had installed – Chrome, Opera, Firefox and Dolphin – and managed to detect and block links from known malicious sites.
Malware detection
Avast Mobile Security achieved perfect results in German independent lab AV-TEST's evaluations of Android security products conducted in July 2019. The app detected 100% of the 3,347 "real-time" malware threats used, and 100% of the 3,433 samples that had been uncovered in the previous four weeks.
MORE: The 10 Best Android Phones
This puts Avast well ahead of the industry averages for this round of testing, which were 96.8% of real-time, and 97.6% of recently uncovered, threats. Those averages were dragged down by the abysmal performance of Google Play Protect. But even with that outlier eliminated, Avast was still ahead of the pack.
