How do I scan my phone for malware?

Security researchers have discovered a lot of harmful applications in the Google Play store over the past few months, which can access users ’personal data without permission such as: accurate geolocation, contacts, and much more. So if you are using an Android device you may be concerned about the various security threats that appear from time to time.

These security threats have prompted Google to increase security features in the latest version of the Android system, Android 10, as it allowed access to security and privacy updates through the application store (Google Play), in the same way that your applications are updated. Therefore, you can get these updates as soon as they are available without having to wait for the full operating system update.

The Android operating system supports a number of features that help you to constantly check your phone to make sure that it is free of any harmful applications, most notably: (Play Protect) service that scans up to 50 billion applications daily, trying to identify and remove any harmful applications, which allows you to perform a scan For every app installed on your device, regardless of its source.

Here's what Play Protect does to keep your device safe and sound:

• The service performs a security check on the applications before downloading them from the Google Play Store.
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• The service scans your device for any potentially harmful applications you have installed from other sources.
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• The service sends a warning when any potentially harmful apps are found, and sometimes the service stops the app to prevent it from running, or even to uninstall it from your device.
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• Automatically remove some malicious applications In some cases, you may receive a notification indicating that the application has been removed.

So you should make sure that you have the (Play Protect) service enabled on your phone, learn how to perform an on-demand scan, or perform an automatic scan, and check app updates before installing them.

Here's how to check your phone for harmful apps:

To view the latest scan status for your Android device and to ensure that the Play Protect service is activated, you can follow these steps:

• Go to (Settings) on your phone.
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• Press Security, the first option should be Play Protect, if it is enabled on your device.
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• Click (Play Protect) to show you the security status of the applications on your device, the recently scanned applications, any harmful applications that exist, and the option to scan your device on request.

Note: Play Protect is turned on by default on Android devices, but it is better to go to the settings, follow the previous steps, and check again.

How to check app security status before installation:

When installing an application from the Google Play Store, and once the Install button is pressed, the Play Protect tab appears below the install status bar, indicating that the application has been "verified by Play Protect" and is safe to install.

How to check the security of application updates:

In the event that the automatic update feature is not activated, the Play Protect service checks for available application updates, shows you the status of pending updates, and whether they contain anything harmful or not, at the top of the updates section of the store, and for access you can follow the steps next:

• Go to the Play Store on your device.
• Click on the three-line menu icon in the upper-left corner, you will see an options menu.
• Click on My apps & games.
• Click on the Updates tab, and you will find a list of applications that have available updates, and above there is a sign indicating that there are no problems, and below it shows the last time that updates were examined, as shown in the following image.