While the chance of your Android phone picking up a virus is low if you don't wander outside Google Play's protections, you might still wonder how to remove a virus or other malicious app from your device. For most people, factory resetting is a last resort since that deletes all your other files along with the virus.

Let's look at steps to identify if your Android phone is infected, and how to clean it if so.

First: Does My Android Phone Actually Have a Virus?

Many times, when you think you have an Android virus, it's actually something less serious. Suppose your Android phone crashes every time it starts up. Or maybe you can't download apps from the Play Store. While these are frustrating, they are not necessarily caused by a virus.

Before you start trying to remove Android malware, reboot your phone to make sure it's not just sluggish performance. On most phones, hold the physical Power button on your device and you can choose Restart (if not, shut it off and turn it back on manually).

After that, you should also review our list of fixes for common Android problems to see if your issue is described there. Finally, make sure you're not dealing with a fake virus warning on your phone. It's a common trap for websites to show you a bogus virus warning as a scam tactic to make you pay for "removal."

If you've dealt with the above, it's a good idea to clear Android's cache for your browser app to remove any remaining traces of such sites.

While "virus" is often used as a generic term for malicious software, true Android viruses are rare. Most threats on Android come in the form of other malware, such as adware, ransomware, and spyware.

Identify Recent Changes on Your Phone

If none of the above basic tips fix the issue, you may have introduced malware to your Android phone by something you've done recently. Ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Did the problem start happening after you downloaded a certain app or file?
  2. Have you recently sideloaded an Android app from a third-party source (outside the Play Store)?
  3. Did you tap on an ad that downloaded a file you didn't want?
  4. Does the problem occur only when you run a particular app?

If the answer to any of the above is yes, there's a chance you have malware on your system. Let's look at solutions.

Review Your Phone for Unwanted Apps

If you're seeing unwanted notifications, notice your battery draining heavily, or suffer from sluggish performance, you may have a rogue app installed. Visit Settings > Apps > See all X apps (this menu location may be different on your phone) and look at everything you have installed.

For anything that you don't recognize, or even that you haven't used in a while, tap it and choose Uninstall to remove it from your phone. It's always a good idea to clean up "zombie apps" you no longer use. It's not unheard of for a once-trusted app to be sold to a malicious company, which then pumps it full of ads and other garbage.

While you're looking through the list, pay special attention to any apps that require a ton of permissions. While some legitimate apps do need lots of permissions to function, a common sign of a rogue Android app is requiring many more permissions than it should. Review our tips on spotting fake Android apps if you need guidance.

Review Special App Access

In some cases, you may have allowed a malicious Android app to run as a Device Administrator, which gives it special permissions. To review these apps, head to Settings > Apps > Special app access and choose Device admin apps. Make certain that you trust anything that's shown here. You cannot uninstall an app set as a Device Admin until it's disabled in this menu.

It's also worth reviewing the other menus inside Special app access. Anything in Display over other apps could abuse this power to spam you with ads, for example.

Run a Google Play Protect Scan

Google Play Protect is Android's built-in security system. It both makes sure Android apps are safe to download on the Play Store, and scans your phone for any dangerous apps that made it through. You should next make sure that you have this feature enabled and try running a scan.

Open the Google Play Store, tap your profile picture in the top-right, and choose Play Protect to access this tool. Here, tap the Gear icon at the top-right and make sure the Scan apps with Play Protect slider is enabled. If you like, enabling Improve harmful app detection can provide further protection. The Permissions for unused apps panel can make it easier to review apps that might be using too many permissions, as discussed above.

Back on the main Play Protect screen, you'll see when a scan was last run. Tap Scan to have the service look at your device for any infections, then you'll be given instructions if it finds a problem.

Scan With a Third-Party Android Antivirus

Many Android antivirus apps have features that duplicate built-in Android features and nag you to upgrade to the paid version, so they aren't a necessity. However, if you still suspect you have an Android virus after the above steps, it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion.

We recommend Malwarebytes as a trusted, no-nonsense option. After installing it, choose Skip to bypass the free trial as it's not needed to run a security scan. Select Scan now on the homepage, then you'll need to give the app permission to access your files for the most thorough scan.

Malwarebytes will also mention other potential security issues, like having Developer Options turned on and not using the app's various other features. Whether you tweak these is up to you; the scan should be enough to know if your phone is infected with something serious.

If you don't like this option, check out the best free antivirus apps for Android.

Advanced: Use Safe Mode to Remove Android Malware

boot into safe mode android screensot

Hopefully, an antivirus scan should find and remove the malware on your Android device. But if that doesn't get the job done, you can take a more drastic step by using safe mode. Safe mode loads the OS without running any third-party apps and disables them. This means that you can find out if an app is causing an issue and remove it safely.

Follow our guide to booting into safe mode on Android, then walk through the same steps above to remove any apps that look malicious. If you experience issues in safe mode, your problem lies with the OS or hardware, not a virus.

How to Stay Safe From Android Viruses in the Future

If you did have an infection on your phone, it's important that you protect against this from happening again. In addition to having Google Play Protect on, you should follow a few basic security measures:

  1. Be careful when sideloading apps from anywhere outside the Play Store. Make sure you trust the source when you do.
  2. Avoid "cracked" apps, or anything promising to provide a paid app for free. Such apps are often infected with Android malware.
  3. Take caution not to tap random ads or links, which can lead you to dangerous pages.
  4. Keep your Android phone updated to protect against the latest threats.

If you only install apps from Google Play, the chances of you picking up a phone virus are slim. While a few can slip through the cracks, you're very unlikely to install a virus app from the Play Store.

Meanwhile, the same steps you take to make sure you're prepared to lose your phone will also make it much easier to recover from any future malware issues that may arise.

Kick Android Viruses to the Curb!

Now you know how to root out an Android infection without having to reset everything on your phone. Unfortunately, if you're sure you have malware on your Android device but none of the above solutions fix it, you'll likely have to factory reset your phone.

Resetting your phone means you will lose precious data, but that's better than using a compromised device.

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