The best Android security apps to keep your phone safe

In the year 2017, Android is continuing its dominance as a leading mobile OS. Most of the people prefer android phones as these are easy to use, avails many advantages and even they are very much compatible with other devices. One of the major advantages of using android phones is that you can have easy and free access to all the applications.

However, Android does have faced an array of security threats and problems because it is much simpler to create and distribute malware, especially compared to iOS. It’s not exactly easy to know whether our private information can still be considered “private”. So if you want to boost your security further on android devices, you should have a look at the best Android security apps below.

Norton Security and Antivirus

With Norton Security and Antivirus installed on your Android device, it’ll make sure to scan your device for spyware, malware, and any hidden threats, and it has some other neat features as well. At any time, you can remotely use Norton Security and antivirus to lock your device. If you’re missing your device, you are supposed to locate where it is by trying this amazing app. In addition, it can largely do you a favor of blocking any unwanted texts or phone calls, just to name a few.

Applock

Applock is a secure Android-specific app which is able to lock all your important apps and built-in features up, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Gmail, and Settings, to prevent unauthorized access to private data and guard privacy settings for free.

Find Your Phone

Should you ever lose your Android device, Find Your Phone is a new feature. By searching ‘find my phone’ on any Google browser, you can locate your phone, lock and call it, secure your account and leave a callback number on the screen for the person who finds it.

1Password

If there's one simple way to stay safe, it is to change your passwords from time to time, though it will be extremely difficult for you to remember all the different passwords to each account. 1Password does the hard work for you by remembering everything. All data is encrypted, so this app keeps the information safe and allows you to sign into your favorite sites with just one click.

Signal

Signal is a fantastic messaging solution for security conscious mobile users. It is a free all-in-one messaging and voice-call solution that uses end-to-end encryption. It's easy, secure, and private. This is the technology that Google and Facebook are now basing the security of their own chat apps—like WhatsApp and Allo—on. But Signal still beats them all because it's built, from the ground up, for security first. You can send voice calls, group messages, media and attachments to your phone contacts, all without having to mess with PIN codes or special login credentials. User-friendliness without compromising on security makes Signal a good option for users looking for an encrypted messaging and calling app.

Silent Phone

Silent Circle is a trusted provider of secure-communications software and hardware, such as the Blackphone, and it has also developed its own secure mobile-messaging platform. Silent Phone app provides encrypted video and voice calls, as well as encrypted, self-destructing messaging and file transfers. Encryption keys are held by subscribers themselves, not by Silent Circle, so while your encrypted messages may pass through Silent Circle's network, the company can't read your data.

Wickr Me

Wickr Me is a free end-to-end encrypted-messaging app that allows users to send private, self-destructing messages (text, photo, video and voice) to other Wickr contacts. It takes user privacy seriously, using strong encryption and deleting metadata such as geotags and message times, and users can configure how long it takes for messages to self-destruct. A Secure Shredder included in the app even allows you to erase attached files, messages and other data to prevent recovery.

SpiderOak

SpiderOak's main selling point is "zero-knowledge" private cloud storage. SpiderOak gives users end-to-end encryption; data both in transit and stored in SpiderOak's servers is fully encrypted and can be unlocked only with your password, which is not stored by SpiderOak. If anyone want to see your folders and data, he would see only numbered containers and encrypted data. The free plan offers 2GB of storage; $10 per month provides 100GB extra, with even more available at higher prices.

OrBot, OrFox & ChatSecure

Users looking to access the Tor anonymizing network on mobile devices have a variety of good options to consider. On Android devices, the combination of OrBot and OrFox is a popular choice, with OrBot serving as a proxy connector app to the Tor network, while OrFox is a privacy-enhanced version of Firefox based on earlier work on the Guardian Project's OrWeb anonymized browser. Chatsecure also provides private Off The Record (OTR) encrypted chatting that you can also route through OrBot for additional security.