iOS is one of the most secure mainstream operating systems in the market. Nobody can dispute that, not even the Android Warriors. The only system that comes close is Linux. However, viruses and malware for iOS do exist, which is why you need to use the best antivirus apps for iPhone and Ipad.
Some of the most common threats for iPhone and iPad include phishing emails, malicious ads, and other online threats. Installing the best antivirus on your iOS device will help you protect your device from all known and zero-day online threats. It will also boost mobile performance.
Unfortunately, not all top-rated antivirus apps are as good for Apple devices as they advertise. Therefore, we have curated the very best antivirus apps for iPhone and iPad that provide robust security tools and features.
Keep in mind, though, that these apps aren’t just virus scanners. They also offer lots of useful features that will help you stay safe online, such as public wifi protection to integrated VPNs.
Also, note that iOS “antivirus” apps don’t provide traditional antivirus scanning, as iPhones and iPads use an advanced security mechanism called “sandboxing”. This prevents apps from making changes to any other apps, files, or processes on your system.
So when people say “iOS antivirus”, they mean “internet security for iOS”. This covers a wide range of features that keep iPhones and iPads safe, like anti-phishing, scam SMS message protection, and Wi-Fi network scanning.
10 Best Antivirus Apps for iPhone & iPad
Bitdefender
If you are looking for an excellent anti-spyware solution for your iPhone, Bitdefender is an excellent choice. It is a well-rounded security suite with useful features.
How does Bitdefender cater to Apple fans? Well, for one, the apps are convenient – everything (from features to support) is displayed at the bottom of the window. Even the free app scans network connections and blocks anything suspicious. In addition, it also includes a VPN with a limit of 200MB a day.
While this might not sound like much, this means you won’t need to subscribe to a separate VPN service for regular browsing and occasional connections to unprotected wifi networks.
But that’s not all.
Bitdefender iOS also allows you to scan your email address for potential breaches for free, letting you know your security status online. The premium plan enables web protection, ensuring your phone is safe from online threats. And thanks to the Bitdefender Central platform, you can view the status of all the other devices under the same Bitdefender account. You can change the parental control settings here, too.
Aside from the free plan, the price of premium subscriptions starts from $19.99/year. It’s a solid option for protecting your iPhone – and there’s no risk involved. In addition to a solid free version, there’s also a free 30-day trial for all premium options.
TotalAV
TotalAV is an excellent antivirus option, and probably the best antivirus app for iPhone and iPad users. It offers a perfect all-in-one security package by improving your device performance and protecting you from all online threats.
For iOS users, TotalAV offers features like Data Breach Check, available for free. This will inspect whether your emails or personal data has leaked – protecting you from possible identity theft. System Security features will ensure your device is fully locked from someone else accessing and tampering with it.
There are also tools for device location, a battery monitor, and a Photo Manager. The latter removes unwanted screenshots, bursts, and duplicate photos, freeing up your disk space and speeding up your phone.
TotalAV has a premium option, which goes even further. It includes WebShield, which protects your device in real-time, blocking harmful websites and trackers, and preventing various social engineering attacks. It works across all apps and your browser, letting you surf more comfortably.
Regarding better surfing, TotalAV Premium also includes a solid VPN with no data caps. This protects your browsing data, such as an IP address, protecting your browsing from spying or your data from being stolen.
Together, these features make TotalAV Premium a top option. Especially if you have devices other than your iPhone and iPad – TotalAV premium offers protection for desktops as well.
If you’d like to try out the TotalAV antivirus premium package, you can get it for $19.00/year. And if you are dissatisfied with it, TotalAV offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, ensuring no instant long-term commitments.
Norton Mobile Security
Norton Mobile Security is not free, but it is one of the best antivirus apps for iPhone and Ipad. It offers a 60-day money-back guarantee for annual subscriptions. This means you can install and try Norton on your iPhone or iPad risk-free for almost 2 whole months before committing to a subscription.
Norton offers the best security features for iOS, including:
- Phishing protection.
- Malicious SMS message protection.
- Secure calendar.
- VPN with unlimited data (360 plans only).
- Wi-Fi security scanning.
- Advanced Identity theft monitoring (LifeLock plans only).
Norton has the best phishing protection on the market, detecting more malicious, fake, and risky sites than all other iOS apps. Its web protection doesn’t just keep you safe while browsing, but it also scans emails, messages, social media apps, and even calendar invites. This helps prevent you from visiting sites and clicking on links that can put your data or device at risk.
There is also Norton VPN, which comes with top-notch security features, pretty fast speeds, and tons of features. It has Tor support, an ad blocker, and split tunneling, which lets you choose which apps to route through the VPN tunnel and which through your normal connection. It also works with popular streaming apps like Netflix, and it lets you stream video lag-free thanks to its fast speeds.
Kaspersky Security
Kaspersky Security & VPN is a minimal free iOS security app that comes with a security breach scanner, Wi-Fi protection, and a secure QR scanner. Its breach scanning is pretty much identical to TotalAV’s breach scanner. All you need to do is simply enter your email address and Kaspersky will check your email against a massive database of breached websites and alert you to any compromised logins.
Wi-Fi protection and QR Scanners are also simple but useful tools to protect you from unsecured or dangerous sites.
Kaspersky also offers a (separate) free password manager app and a limited free VPN. The password manager provides convenient auto-filling, password generating, and 256-bit AES encryption for user logins, but the free version is limited to only 15 passwords, which isn’t very good compared to other free password managers. The VPN caps at 300 MB of data per day, though.
Avira
Avira is a great lightweight iPhone security app that, while not as feature-heavy, is still a very reliable and solid choice. The app itself is very minimalistic, clean, and easy to navigate.
Additionally, its features are a great addition to iOS protection. There is even one that prevents Siri from logging your Siri commands onto Apple’s servers. Also, the app comes with the Avira Phantom VPN (100 MB a day), so you can also protect the unsecured network you connect to and detect other smart devices using your home network.
In addition, the application will update your software regularly, create a backup of your files, and help you recover your lost or stolen iOS device.
If you’re interested in Avira’s top security features, you can get a subscription for $30.99/year, and you’ll also get a 30-day money-back guarantee. Plus, a single Avira account can be used on multiple devices, so you can easily protect all the phones and computers you own.
Surfshark
Surfshark is another great security solution for iPhone devices. While the iOS app doesn’t include an antivirus, it has everything you need for iOS protection.
For starters, you may have already heard of Surfshark because of its market-leading VPN service. It keeps you safe from hackers on public wifi and hides your online activities from your Internet service provider, malicious actors, and even governments. All that while maintaining excellent speeds.
Additionally, you get the Alert feature which monitors the web to find any leaks of your personal data. This includes your email address, credit cards, and IDs. If you want to use it, you have to enable two-factor authentication as an extra security layer.
This provider also has the Surfshark Search feature available in the app. It’s a search engine (like Google) but it doesn’t collect your data (unlike Google). Plus, it’s also completely ad-free, so you can enjoy an uninterrupted browsing experience.
You can get the Surfshark bundle for $3.98/month. You can try it risk-free – if you end up unsatisfied with it, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee available.
McAfee Mobile Security for iOS
McAfee Mobile Security is a super intuitive app that offers a great range of iOS security features. It’s not 100% free, but its multi-device plans have a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you a month to test it and see if it’s right for you. And while its web protection isn’t as advanced as Norton’s, it is still better than most iOS security apps.
McAfee’s iOS app also includes:
- Wi-Fi scanner.
- VPN (with unlimited data).
- Identity monitoring (data breach alerts).
- System scan (automatically checks for new updates).
McAfee’s Wi-Fi scanner is pretty good — it’s an on-demand scanner that will notify you if you’re using an unsafe Wi-Fi network.
You can get McAfee’s paid mobile plan with McAfee’s Total Protection subscriptions (starting at $39.99 / year). This can cover from 5 to an unlimited number of devices, including iOS, Mac, Android, and Windows devices, and are some of the best-value plans around.
ESET NOD32
ESET is cloud-based antivirus software ideal for iOS devices that lets you easily manage ESET through a singular management platform. It provides all the data of your security system and allows you to manage all endpoint security and user activities.
Features include anti-theft capabilities, web content screening, whitelisting, and blacklisting of programs. It uses a remote program called ESET Mobile Device Management to set up security settings for iOS devices. What’s more, this antivirus app does not need to be set up on your iPhone. ESET can assist you remotely in protecting your iPhone.
Very simply, you can control all of your devices from one consolidated dashboard.
One of ESET’s best features is its endpoint security. It offers ransomware protection, blocks and prevents targeted attacks, and prevents data breaches. There is also really solid protection from phishing attacks, as well as email security, complete disk encryption and file server protection for all-around safety from all possible angles.
The ESET antivirus plans allow you to cover up to 100 devices, and the price starts from $39.99/year. There is also a 30-day free trial.
Trend Micro
Trend Micro is another great antivirus app for iPhone and iPad. This provider is safe and uses sophisticated AI technologies to identify and block any suspicious activity.
It is an easy-to-use antivirus compatible with iOS 11.0 or later. Functionalities include keeping your iOS device safe by automatically blocking potentially harmful websites while browsing. It blocks ads, and personal information trackers, and avoids unsafe wifi networks, as well as excess data usage.
Trend Micro lets you run quick, full, or custom security scans. However, these scans are quite fixed, and you can’t control much. Its Folder Shield feature acts as an anti-ransomware layer that watches all of your files, including connected drives.
Trend Micro also has features like iMessage Protection for iOS. It automatically places all iMessages that link to suspicious sites into a junk folder.
There is a free version for you to try and test out. If you’d like to get Trend Micro Maximum Security or other premium plans, they start at $19.95/year. There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you’re not fully satisfied with the software.
Avast Security & Privacy for iOS
Avast Security & Privacy for iOS is a basic security toolset for iPhones and iPads that includes a handful of features: a Wi-Fi network scanner, data breach alerts, and a secure vault for your photos. While all the features work well, their range can’t really be compared to fully-fledged mobile security solutions for iOS such as Norton or TotalAV.
The network scanner, called Network Inspector, scans public Wi-Fi networks for intruders, weak passwords, and other vulnerabilities. It is light on your system, works smoothly, and will always notify you whether a Wi-Fi network is safe to connect to.
The Identity Protection tool provides basic data breach alerts for your email account. It monitors public databases and notifies you if it finds your passwords among the leaked credentials. To get unlimited data breach alerts (for multiple email addresses), however, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan.
You can store up to 40 photos you wish to keep private in the Photo Vault. This encrypted vault is protected by a PIN or biometric login, so no one will be able to access it without your permission, even if they get a hold of your iPhone/iPad. As is the case with data breach alerts, to gain unlimited storage, you’ll have to upgrade to Premium.
Apart from unlimited email monitoring and photo storage, Avast Premium Security adds a VPN, ransomware protection, and coverage for Mac, Android, and Windows devices as well as iOS for $23.40 / year. A 7-day free trial is available for iOS users, and all plans are also backed up by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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