Antivirus apps for iOS are a bit like Santa Claus: he doesn’t exist, but you can still find folks dressed up as Santa Claus in malls. That’s antivirus apps in the iOS app store. You’ll find many apps labeled as antivirus apps, but they’re not. They are security-focused apps that typically include ad and malware blockers, system scanners, and VPNs. None include an antivirus engine.
Why are they called antivirus apps? Well, that comes down to marketing. These bundles are provided by antivirus vendors who have built a reputation as antivirus. iOS devices don’t support antivirus apps due to the OS’ architecture.
Contrary to desktop apps, iOS apps are automatically sandboxed by iOS. Sandboxed apps have limited permissions and can only interact with device resources as the sandbox allows. This approach hinders antivirus apps, which need extended permissions to scan your device for viruses and malware. And that’s simply not possible with sandboxing in place.
This post provides an overview of the top five iPad antivirus apps, with the limitations mentioned above. Let’s start.
The best antivirus apps for iPad
Let’s take a closer look at our list of top recommendations:
1. Norton 360 Antivirus & Security
Norton is a big player in the antivirus space, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that it would release a mobile “antivirus” app, Norton 360 Antivirus & Security. Despite its name, you won’t find a virus scanner in the app. Instead, we get the following:
- A WiFi security checker
- A device security scanner/optimizer
- A malicious site/malware blocker
- An SMS spam filter
- A suspicious calendar invite scanner
Labeling an app an antivirus without any virus-scanning functionality is strange, but that’s marketing. Let’s look at some of the features the app provides.
The WiFi security checker scans WiFi networks and tells you if the one you’re attempting to connect to is open or encrypted. You can already get that information through iOS’s WiFi settings.
Moving on to the device security scanner, it will tell you whether your device has Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode set and whether your OS is up to date.
Internet Security, the malicious site/malware blocker, creates a dummy VPN that filters internet traffic. All the filtering happens locally, and your data isn’t sent to a third-party server – it’s a dummy VPN, and there’s no actual server to send data through. Enabling a VPN is the only way to apply web filtering system-wide on an iOS device, and Norton’s implementation works very well. However, if you’re already using a VPN, you can’t use this feature simultaneously. But hey, it’s free to use.
Signing up for a reputable VPN service that encrypts your connection will likely provide better protection.
The SMS spam filter is already part of iOS. Enabling Norton’s feature just makes your device use Norton’s filtering list to block unknown/unwanted SMS messages instead of Apple’s. However, this isn’t supported on iPads—only iPhones. Because the setting cannot be enabled on iPads, Norton should remove it from the iPad version of the app.
Finally, the suspicious calendar invite scanner is of limited use. It’s one of those features that you really don’t need as long as you use a bit of common sense. Don’t add unknown events or events from unknown users to your calendar, and you should be fine. Still, the feature is there if you want it.
2. McAfee Security: Privacy & VPN
McAfee gets a nod for not including “antivirus” or “AV” in its app’s name. This app will not scan your iPad for viruses and doesn’t imply it will. Thank you, McAfee.
Here’s what we get with McAfee’s mobile app:
- A device security scanner/optimizer
- A VPN
- A WiFi scanner
- A Social media privacy manager
- Data breach monitoring
As with Norton, McAfee’s device security scanner/optimizer checks that you’ve set up a passcode or biometrics (TouchID/FaceID) to unlock your device. It will also check if your OS needs to be updated.
While McAfee’s VPN can be pretty useful, I would turn to a paid, dedicated, commercial VPN provider if you primarily need a VPN more than anything else. While McAfee’s VPN is fast and isn’t subject to IP leaks, it collects large amounts of data on its VPN users, so you’re unlikely to make any privacy gains.
The WiFi scanner checks whether the WiFi networks you attempt to connect to have encryption enabled.
The social media privacy manager will ask you to log into your social media accounts and advise you of any privacy settings you should enable. It can be helpful, but it’s hardly groundbreaking.
Finally, it provides a data breach monitoring service that will alert you if your email address is compromised. After the initial setup, you can add more data points to check with the service. While this can be useful, remember that you can do this on your own (and for free) using a service like HaveIBeenPwned. There are also much more comprehensive and paid identity theft services that would be a good idea if you’re concerned about your personal information.
3. Avira Security
Next, we turn to Avira and its Avira Security app. This one includes a lot of features:
- Web protection
- An iOS updater
- Contacts backup
- A call blocker (not supported on iPad)
- A VPN
- Identity protection
- A privacy manager
- A password manager
- A photo cleaner
- A device analyzer
Web protection is a Safari extension that blocks ads and trackers. You need to enable it in Safari’s settings under Extensions to use it.
As with the other apps we looked at, Avira’s iOS updater will simply check whether your device is running the latest version of iOS and prompt you to update if needed. There is nothing too exciting here.
Its contacts backup allows you to back up your contacts to Dropbox. Selecting the contacts backup tile in the app will redirect you to Dropbox’s website, where you can log in and configure the backup.
For obvious reasons, the call blocker is not supported on iPad. On iPhone, you can enable the feature in the Phone app’s settings (in the iOS Settings app) under Call Blocking & Identification. You simply toggle Avira Security on, and Avira will identify and filter your calls.
Avira Security also includes a VPN similar to the other bundled VPNs in this post: while it works well, its privacy practices aren’t great, and there’s little to no information about its protocol, encryption algorithm, etc. If you’re looking for a VPN, purchase a subscription from a well-established and dedicated VPN provider.
Its identity protection checks whether your email address (and only your email address – no other PII can be added) has been compromised.
The privacy manager is a bit strange. It keeps your Siri searches private by installing a profile (.mobileconfig) on your device. Apple Configurator 2 (Apple’s native MDM app) creates profiles that contain configured device settings (many of which are only available via profiles) to install on iOS devices. This particular profile turns off server-side logging of Siri commands. However, you can manually turn off server-side logging in the iOS Settings app without installing a profile.
Despite being included in your Avira subscription, its password manager is a separate app that needs to be downloaded from the App Store, which is a bit annoying.
Finally, like the other apps in this post, Avira’s photo cleaner is a duplicate finder.
The device analyzer will check to see if you have a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID enabled and whether you’re on the latest OS.
4. Bitdefender Mobile Security
Another player in the iOS “antivirus” game is Bitdefender with its Mobile Security app. Again, props to Bitdefender for not labeling its app as an antivirus app. This one includes:
- Web protection: an ads and malware blocker
- Scam Alert: a spam/malicious email filter
- A VPN
Bitdefender’s app is not as feature-packed as the others, but most of the excluded features are fluff anyway (though there’s still a bit of fluff in this one).
As with all the above apps, Bitdefender’s Web Protection is an ads/tracker/malware blocker for Safari. You need to enable it in Safari’s settings, under Extensions, to use it. In our experience, it works well.
Bitdefender’s Scam Alert is its take on an SMS filter and a malicious calendar invite scanner. Again, the SMS filter will only work on iPhones, so it should be removed from the iPad app. The calendar invite scanner works exactly the same way as the others mentioned above.
Bitdefender’s VPN works well, but, as with all the others, it’s extremely basic. There’s very little information on its inner workings, and its privacy practices are simply not on par with those of reputable commercial VPN providers. So, if you’re looking for a good, privacy-preserving VPN for iPad, this isn’t it.
5. AVG Security
Next up is AVG Security. This may be the least “fluffy” of all the apps listed. AVG Security provides:
- An ads/tracker/malware blocker
- A VPN
- An email password leak checker
- A private photo vault
The first two services on the list are VPN connections. The first (ads/tracker/malware blocker) creates a dummy VPN connection to filter your traffic. There is no server involved, and your traffic never leaves your device. It works quite well.
To enable the feature, you’ll be prompted to allow the installation of VPN configurations on your device.
The second feature listed is the VPN proper. This VPN connects to a remote server and encrypts your traffic as you browse the web. It suffers from the same pitfalls as the above: it is very basic and has limited information and settings. But it does work.
You can use both Web Shield and the VPN at the same time. But in testing, with both enabled concurrently, the VPN took precedence, and the ad/tracker/malware blocking didn’t work, which is a shame.
As its name indicates, the email password leak checker will check to see if your email passwords have leaked online. You enter your email, and the app runs its scan.
Next, we look at the private photo vault, which is more of a privacy feature than a security feature, but it can still be useful. Remember that numerous free alternatives exist for such functionality, not the least of which is the default Photos app, which lets you create hidden photo albums.
Nonetheless, Bitdefender’s app will hide photos for you.
You start by creating and confirming a passcode to access the hidden photos. After that, you can start adding pictures to your “vault.” Once they’re added, you can access those photos through the Bitdefender app after entering your password.
Finally, AVG includes a system scanner that provides information about your device. But, quite honestly, it’s not very useful, as you can see.
Are mobile antivirus apps worth it?
If you want a proper antivirus app, then no, they’re definitely not worth it.
You can use an established standalone VPN if you want privacy and security. Most VPN apps now include extra privacy and security features beyond the VPN connection. These include ad and tracker blockers, kill switches, and strict no-logging policies.
The VPNs bundled in these apps are extremely basic and have few configuration options. The technical details the above vendors provide, such as the VPN protocol and encryption algorithm, are few and far between, and their data collection practices are lacking (i.e., they collect a lot of user info).
To access the antivirus apps’ complete list of features, you’ll pay anywhere from $10 to $30 monthly. So, we don’t think these apps are worth the money. And remember, none of them are actual iOS antivirus apps.
You can do better than these antivirus apps by using a reputable VPN provider. iPhone antivirus apps throw long feature lists at you to create the impression they’re a good value. They’re not.
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