If you only install Android apps that are offered in the official Google Play Store, there is a small chance that you will have to deal with a virus. However, it can happen that your smartphone or tablet becomes infected. There are several ways to solve that.
To complicate things further, there are also ads and pop-ups that pretend you have a virus when you really don't. The developers of such ads and pop-ups hope to get you to purchase a particular app to remove this so-called "virus". This is often not necessary at all. Also read: 5 things you need to know about Android N.
Security setting
To make sure you don't accidentally install apps from outside of Google Play, you can enable a security setting. Go to Institutions. Press down In person on Security. Switch here Unknown sources from.
If you've ever installed apps from outside of Google Play, your device isn't working properly, or you suspect your Android device has a virus for any other reason, here's what you can do.
Factory settings
There are a lot of antivirus apps for Android available. However, such virus scanners can also produce false positive results, making you think you have a virus when you don't. In addition, it is better not to install an antivirus app.
Uninstall the app responsible for the virus. If this doesn't work, or if you don't know which app delivered the virus, you can always do a factory reset. This way you will definitely get rid of the virus, but at the same time you will also lose everything that has not been backed up.
Remove virus
It is often also possible to remove the virus without doing a factory reset. Boot your device into the safe mode. This way no third party apps will be loaded so the infected app will not be running. Enabling safe mode doesn't work the same on all Android devices, so check online how to put your model into safe mode. If your device is in safe mode, it will be displayed at the bottom left of the screen.
Then go to Settings > Apps and press the tab Downloads. Search this list for the app you want to remove. If you don't know which app it is, check if there are things in the list that look suspicious or that you don't recognize.
Tap the item you don't know to open the app's information page. Then press remove. Usually this is enough to get rid of the virus.
Revoke administrator rights
It is possible that the virus has given itself the status of device administrator, causing the button remove is gray and therefore cannot be pressed. If this is the case, you should go to Settings > Security > Device Administrators to go. You will now see a list of all apps that have the status of device administrator. Uncheck the app you want to remove and on the next screen agree to deactivate the app to revoke admin status.
If you then go back to Settings > Apps > Downloads it should now be possible to delete the app. Reboot your device to exit safe mode and you'll be rid of the virus.
