Originally Posted by finbaar:
“I will say it one more time. You do not need anti virus on an Android device that gets its apps from the Play Store. You are wasting your time with AV free.”
I would disagree with this. I'd agree that you don't need anti virus if you get your apps from Google Play and only download apps where you've carefully read the app requirements, or only downloaded apps made by genuinely reputable developers, but, and this is the point, Google do not pre-scan apps for viruses, malware or other scams. As a developer, you create your Google Developer account, pay your fee for billing/processing and that's it. There are no further checks. If you're an unscrupulous developer or a genuine one, you still just finish your app and upload it.
Apple DO scan their apps and have still had instances where dodgy devs have managed to get scam apps into their app store, so it stands to reason there's an even greater risk where no checks are being made.
By and large the people in this forum are tech savvy and clued up, but that doesn't mean everyone is. There are plenty of ordinary non-techie folks out there with Android phones, and I'd definitely recommend to my friends and family members that they install a free AV program (provided they'd checked it's not dodgy first!)