Your Phone May Not Need Antivirus Software

Antivirus software has gotten a great deal of bad press lately. This is mainly because of the fact that antivirus software has recently failed to recognize and contain large malware attacks. But is antivirus software necessary for smartphones?

Antivirus Not Necessary on Smartphones?

There has also been a realization recently that individuals who do most of their computing via smartphone likely don’t need Antivirus software. Lots of people check their emails, social media accounts, and surf the web using their smartphones. If the antivirus industry doesn’t build software that is beneficial to these people, they are missing out on an invaluable market.

Smartphones vs. PCs

Smartphones are very unlike traditional laptops and PCs. For example, each app on a smartphone is essentially a separate system, with its own working environment. The apps on smartphones don’t interact and can’t access each other. This is a huge advantage where security is concerned; as Malware cannot attack all of the systems at once, this makes antivirus software almost unnecessary.

Another reason the separation of apps makes antivirus software less useful on smartphones is that current software cannot scan every app. Because of this, current antivirus software does little to fight the malware that can attack smartphones.

Smartphone Antivirus Programs

We have touched on a couple factors why the antivirus software that is currently on the market is not very efficient for smartphones. But that doesn’t stop companies from offering it. VirusBarrier is a good example of this. It can be bought through Apple’s App Store, but it can’t actually scan anything on a smartphone. Users have to send any attachments or documents they want scanned for viruses through VirusBarrier before downloading it from their email client. This is often both irritating and almost useless for consumers. Until companies start coming out with more complex antivirus software that is able to actually scan apps on smartphones, there is little reason to acquire antivirus software for your smartphone.

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