Finding malicious apps on the Google Play Store is a fairly common occurrence, though you may not realise it some of the time. Despite efforts to stem the tide, some fake apps do sneak in, waiting to snare unwary users.
Just last December, the Indian government warned citizens against using 42 popular apps on the Play Store, calling them ¡°Chinese spyware¡±. These even included big names like WeChat, Mi Community, and Truecaller. Then, just three months later, the Indian Army backed up this claim, banning its soldiers and officers from using any and all of these apps on their phones.
Some claim to bring added features to your phone, others purport to help you with your banking or cryptocurrency, and still just look like innocent games for children. Earlier this year both ESET and IBM X-Force pointed out to Google a slew of malware programs hiding within apps on the Play Store. Google had, in just last year, removed as many as 7 lakh malware-riddled apps from it's platform. Of course, there are always more to take their place.
So here's the latest updated list of 51 of the most dangerous apps on the Google Play Store. If you have any of them on your Android, you need to delete them right away and scan your phone for good measure too.
1. Speed Booster - Memory Cleaner & CPU Task Manager
5,000,000 downloads
2. Clean Droid - 1 Tap Clear Cache & Phone Cleaner
500,000 downloads
3. Battery Saver - Bataria Energy Saver
1,000,000 downloads
4. AppLock Privacy Protector
500,000 downloads
5. Virus Cleaner Antivirus 2017 - Clean Virus Booster
1,000,000 downloads
6. Super Antivirus & Virus Cleaner (Applock, Cleaner)
1,000,000 downloads
7. Antivirus - Security
1,000,000 downloads
8. Antivirus 2018
500,000 downloads
9. Smart Antivirus
500,000 downloads
10. Antivirus Clean
500,000 downloads
11. Security Antivirus 2018
500,000 downloads
12. Max Security - Antivirus & Booster & Cleaner
500,000 downloads
13. Antivirus Cleaner - Virus Scanner And Junk Remove
100,000 downloads
14. Antivirus Security Free
100,000 downloads
15. Antivirus Cleaner For Android & App Locker Pattern
100,000 downloads
16. Antivirus Security
100,000 downloads
17. Smadav antivirus for android 2018
50,000 downloads
18. Antivirus Free : Process Virus
50,000 downloads
19. TV Antivirus Free + Applock
50,000 downloads
20. Antivirus Virus Cleaner - Security Applock 2017
50,000 downloads
21. QR Code Free Scan
500,000 downloads
22. QR Code Scanner Pro
100,000 downloads
23. QR Code Scan Best
100,000 downloads
24. QR Code / Barcode Free Scan
50,000 downloads
25. Block Strike
10,000,000 downloads
26. Parkour Simulator 3D
5,000,000 downloads
27. AIMP
10,000,000 downloads
28. Skanvord (§³§Ü§Ñ§ß§Ó§à§â§Õ)
1,000,000 downloads
29. Wrestling WWE Action Updates
100,000 downloads
30. NeoNeonMiner
50,000 downloads
31. Smart Swipe
50,000 downloads
32. Call Recorder Pro
100,000 downloads
33. Call Recorder
1,000,000 downloads
34. Wallpaper HD ¨C Background
100,000 downloads
35. Master WiFi Key
100,000 downloads
36. WiFi Security Master - WiFi Analyzer, Speed Test
50,000 downloads
37. Free WiFi Connect
100,000 downloads
38. Five Nights Survival Craft
1,000,000 downloads
39. Mcqueen Car Racing Game
500,000 downloads
40. Addon Pixelmon for MCPE
500,000 downloads
41. CoolCraft PE
100,000 downloads
42. Exploration Pro WorldCraft
100,000 downloads
43. Draw Kawaii
100,000 downloads
44. San Andreas City Craft
100,000 downloads
45. Exploration Lite : Wintercraft
100,000 downloads
46. Addon GTA for Minecraft PE
100,000 downloads
47. Addon Sponge Bob for MCPE
100,000 downloads
48. Drawing Lessons Angry Birds
50,000 downloads
49. Temple Crash Jungle Bandicoot
50,000 downloads
50. Drawing Lessons Lego Star Wars
50,000 downloads
51. Drawing Lessons Chibi
50,000 downloads