One thing that is getting more and more necessary on our Android devices is the need for mobile security protection. According to a Forbes article from 2014, 97% of mobile malware targets Android devices, whereas iOS malware takes less than 1% of the share. This is most likely due to the fact that Android applications can be downloaded from third-party sources and not just from the Google Play Store. While it may be a way to get paid apps for free, it isn’t always safe.
360 Security – Antivirus Boost, made by a Chinese company called Qihoo 360, brings a solid, intuitive, and well-designed antivirus program to the Android platform. The app comes with a multitude of features aside from just antivirus protection, such as an app manager, memory booster, junk file cleaner, and real time protection on top of it all. 360 Security is running version 3.1 and it brings along with it a very nice Material Design interface that matches up well with Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The one thing that I was worried about when booting up 360 security at first, was ad placement because it is a free app. Almost all of the free apps on the market place come with some sort of ads, but to my surprise, Qihoo did a very good job of hiding their sponsorships. In a small box in the top right corner of the app, there is what they call an “AppBox”. This is where all of their ads reside. I would like to see more applications follow this, so it definitely has a good start.
The interface of 360 Security is definitely one of the highlights of the app. When you boot up the app, there are three main categories on the homescreen, which are “Boost”, “Clean”, and “Antivirus”, in that order. The rest of the features and settings reside in a nice slide-out menu on the left side that. Another win for 360 Security in my book is using the same style slide-out menu icon as Google has employed on their apps. The icon, transitions from the three solid lines into a back arrow, just like the Google apps. It’s little things like this that show how well-designed an app is; they didn’t leave anything out.
With each category, as stated above, they give you detailed information about how many processes are running, battery percentage, storage, and phone status. 360 Security does a very good job of laying out the interface to make it as easy as possible for you to get the most protection for your device, with one click.
Boost
The Boost feature is essentially an application killer. It says how much memory is taken up, as seen by the percentage above, and it also states how many processes are running. You can click on the “running processes” tab to view all processes. Similar to the one in your app category in your settings menu. What’s nice about this interface is, you are able to select and deselect apps you wish to kill. Unlike the stock application killer, you are able to kill multiple at once to increase convenience.
In addition to that, it can keep track of battery statistics as well. The one thing I did notice with these battery statistics is that they conflicted with what my other applications such as Wakelock Detector, Better Battery Stats, and even the stock battery stats reported. I found I didn’t pay much attention to this, as it was inconsistent. Another issue I have with it, is when you clean up your battery, it estimates how much battery life you gained. It usually ranges from 10-20 minutes. While this is helpful, it is very hard to prove, as 10-20 minutes is a very small amount of time.
I would definitely like to see this aspect of the application get overhauled, as it is very informative and nice to look at. The one thing it has going for it is functionality, not performance. It tells you what is using said percentage and you can choose which apps you’d like to kill. So for functionality, it definitely gets the mark on this one.
Clean
The ‘Clean’ falls into the same category as the battery statistics. While it is very functional and very informational, it seems to miss the mark as what to clean. I may be too picky, but when  you run the clean feature it picks up just about everything, and wants you to delete it.
I have a custom recovery, backup, and the fK Kernel on my Nexus 6, all of which the app counts as “app cache”. I can’t really fault it for that, but it is kind of annoying if I go to use the clean feature and have to un-check all of those. Other than that, it finds what they call “system junk files”. This is essentially the same thing if you were to go to your storage in the settings (on Android Lollipop) and clear the “cached data”.
Antivirus
The antivirus part of 360 Security is definitely the most refined part on this application, as it should be. When I first booted up the scan on my device, it took around 30 seconds to complete, so not long at all. It tells you your phone status, and thankfully for me, I had no malware/viruses on my device (surprise!). The second time around, the scan time was cut in half, so it does well optimizing what needs to be scanned.
Once again, 360 Security does a great job of displaying information that is helpful. It tells you if it recommends a scan or if your phone is secure. If it is not secure, it will pinpoint which app or file is the source and recommend you delete it.
It also has real-time protection, so you don’t have to worry about manually scanning to find a threat. You might think that it will have a drain on battery life, but that is not the case. On my Nexus 6 I found no drain/wakelocks coming from 360 Security whatsoever. They definitely know what they are doing and try to optimize every aspect of the app.
Other Features
Some other features that 360 Security comes with range from a few tweaks, ability to enable root access (mine was enabled for this review), data monitor, and even a “find my phone” option. While I didn’t spend much time with the additional features, they are definitely nice to have, but once again, they just are duplicates of what Google already has.
With Android there is already a find my phone feature, Google it, and there is also data cap limit you can set to your device. 360 Security may pull off the aeshetics a little better, but “if ain’t broke don’t fix it.” It just seems as if they are trying to do too much with what they were given.
Conclusion
360 Security is definitely one of the best looking antivirus applications on the market. Not only does it feature a beatiful interface, it is very simple to understand and unleashes a ton of features in one single app. It’s antivirus portion is the strongest part of the app, as it should be, but also features a cleaner tool as well as a memory booster.
The two latter options seem just as add-ons to what Google already has employed on Android, but it is convenient to have them all in one place. To me, this is a great app if you are looking for an antivirus app for your Android phone, but it has me wanting more.
I’m sure this app will continually get better over time, but some of the add-on features just seem as if they are reaching to make the app all-inclusive too quick without making sure all the features work 100%. Maybe I am too picky or my standards are too high, but if they want me to make this my go-to app for battery, memory, and antivirus monitoring, they will just need to touch it up before it replaces the stock options and better battery stats/wakelock detector.
If you would like to download 360 Security, you can find it at the Google Play Store below. It doesn’t cost a cent!
[pb-app-box pname=’com.qihoo.security’ name=’360 Security – Antivirus Boost’ theme=’discover’ lang=’en’]
I like CM for all of the above, and then some. I really love that there are no ads when you open their app. They throw game, & app suggestions as well as top new, or. hot topic news stories, once you run booster. It’s very simple, & is the only one I’m aware of that cools down CPU’s, alerts to move apps to your SD card a automatically you get to decide), cleans apk, app junk, cache, watches for malware, misbehaving apps, & more.
CM’s apps are very small as in, under 3-6 mb. The only complaints in Google Play Store in CM’s ratings, is they offer several small apps rather than bundling them altogether (i.e.Heartbleed scanner app etc.).
I have free Norton, but do not use it. CM is the most useful & intuitive app, I have on my phone (Samsung Note 4). Not only are there no ads, it’s free! They offer 2gb of basic back up to top it off. They don’t charge much to jump to like 100 gb’s of cloud storage, & back up Lastly, they offer news about the latest Android threats (which they caught before others).
They are highly rated too. The #1 complaint, is a minor issue of CM offering several smaller apps, instead of all bundled into a bigger package. But really, how many times do you need to run a Heartbleed scan once you regularly change your password, or use a password vault etc.?
Check out CM! They’re the best all around house cleaning & security app in my humble opinion.
Third Oracle
Are you sure you’re not a Cheetah Mobile employee? Your comment sounds a bit superfluous and self-promotional.There are plenty of good security apps out there including 360 Security. Seems a bit desperate doesn’t it since you’re promoting an app in the comments section nonetheless.
Not very happy right now. Cannot open phone. Screen says to double tap then swipe but it doesn’t work. Phone is locked.
The same happened to me today!!!!!!!
Please help! I am not good in this all IT stuff and by an accident deleted all my files by cleaning (thought it would only “clean“ the damaged ones) and now I don’t know how to recover them – I think it cannot be that difficult. I have an Android tablett which is not rooted and I don’t have any backup programmes (unless there is a default one). Thank you very much in advance!
I liked this application a lot till i got messed up with cleaning up files. I did advanced clean up and choose something like cleaning up application files (which I thought those are only damaged ones). Then, all the photos about 2,000 which I downloaded and saved from friends via viber, what’sapp, instagram & so on. I do wanna know if there is any way I could recover back. help! :( Pretty please!!!
Thanks a lot & regards,
michelle
What about security of photos and files on the android being somehow accessed or used by the application itself? Recent events and fact app developed in China make me wonder.
I have 360 security on my phone but would like to also have it on my Kindle – how do I go about this? The ab says that it is installed but I cannot seem to find it! Please help
Susanne McAuley
I liked this application a lot till i got messed up with cleaning up files. I did advanced clean up and choose something like cleaning up application files (which I thought those are only damaged ones). Then, all the photos about 2,000 which I downloaded and saved from friends via viber, what’sapp, instagram & so on WERE ALL GONE. I do wanna know if there is any way I could recover back. help! :( hope somebody will reply me soon! Pretty please!!!
Thanks a lot & regards,
michelle
Absolutely loved the 360 security app. Today may 14 , 2015, the app has changed. Cannot speak yet about the changes, but i do not like what I see. Wish I could have the same 360 i had yesterday
Like it
for some reason i have add wear that i can not get off my phone from this company!!! it acts like a virus. i try to open google search and a fake warning screen opens and states my phone is infected (and i use both avg and malewarebytes on my phone) and directs me to download this software in google play and actually opens google play when i try to back out of the windows it tries to open….. as well as opening a page from facebook for this app … and i don’t even use facebook at all!!!! i have deleted both google chrome and search bar and emptied the caches and saved storage data….beware any company that does this and wants access to all your phones files with read/write is shady
did doing all that get rid of it? I have the same problem on my Android and have no idea how to approach it. I have whole apps now that can’t be used because the ad keeps taking over.
None of the things I mentioned got rid of it… but finally one day when it popped up I gave in installed it and then opened 360 then closed it and uninstalled it and it has finally stopped it… it is crazy how this company can do this
Why did u uninstalled it for
but just today as i turned on my flashlight app this showed back up… had been a couple days ..but i guess short of resetting phone to factory there isn’t much to be done
don’t you mean “adware?”
There’s a question mark after “infected.” Obviously this changes the meaning.
I Have 360 security and it has my Phone locked and I can’t unlock my phone.
The only thing I can think of is doing a hard reset on your if you can get that far into it
What did u do to make the phone locked on u
How can I unlock my phone?
I think the advertising element of this app may have been underplayed here (don’t want to sound ungrateful, thank you for the article, I appreciate your time)- every time you use a function you are taken to a page with ads (its really annoying) – I have no doubt this is one of the best apps out there for what it does but it would be much better if they brought out a paid version with no ads – additionally some of the functions need to be allowed to run automatically instead of having to keep responding to notifications several times a day like I have nothing to do except keep this app happy. Lastly, every time I go back to the phone settings for something or another the ‘send anonymous data’ is always checked even though i keep turning it off!
I love the 360 Security app. But what I don’t like in the latest version (v3.3.7.4397) is having to scroll through ads to reach the various statistics and functions that the app provides. It’s actually easy for the functions to get lost in-between the adverts which push me to download browsers, games, et al. These ads clutter and make the app look messy and also annoy me each time I have to scroll through them. I installed Adblock Plus but it has no affect on these ads within the 360 Security app. I’m running Android version 4.3 on an unrooted Samsung Galaxy S3. Does anyone know if it’s possible to block the ads that appear within the 360 Security app?
Your experience with ads is definitely different from mine. I just downloaded this app and I am on the verge of removing it because the ads and prompts to download unwanted additional and non-related apps are so intrusive!
we dont like this app. All my msges and contacts are being deleted. how do we retrieve them???
I down loaded it I have a tablet it works fine for me if it deleted your contacts you must have hit the wrong button.
Nice
uninstalled it after one day (for no particular reason, just needed one time full system scan), restarted the phone and now no longer able to unlock my phone with prior set emergency password that worked, finger print option not available either as a choice. app was ok and cleaned few items up – no ads, but this uninstall result is extremely f@cked and not designed well at all.
HOW DO I USE THE DUPLICATE PHOTO FINDER FOR MY HP LAPTOP. HAVE PLENTY OF DUPLICATES I NEED TO GET RID OF. THANKS GUYS.
why is not auto connect my mts dongle then 360 security is installed
but i have uninstalled 360 security then my mts is perfectly run why
please solve my problem
I can lock up my Facebook, WhatsApp, Clash of Clans, Messenger, Gallery and other important apps which may leak your privacy with LEO Privacy. And I can also customize my lock mode which allows me to lock different apps under different circumstances. 360 security is also a good choice, but I think it isn’t smart enough~
Am fall in love with LEO Privacy..such amazing app ever i seen.. We can keep our apps 100% safe. App have only 5 MB size,so no more hanging or lagging problems. We can set different types of security options. Easily remove unwanted memories and clean RAM faster .Am highly recommend it for my family and friends.Awsome work!! Keep it up!!
It doesn’t save your pictures.Nice app but be warned that this doesn’t save your pictures anywhere.. I’ve had to re save my pictures probably 5 times… Does anyone can recommend a applock that can hide private contacts? My boyfriend always snoops my phone!!! Very embarrassing… applock is a great human creation. Among all of applock I had used, prefer LEO Privacy much better… If you have any other applocks to recommend, please leave message and give some comments!
Put your contacts in as a different name that you would know who it is.. you can download Go Sms Pro.. it’s free.. there is also a way to download things through the app to get the vip version.. it has a private box that hides anyone you put in it.. and also you can have it show up with notifications that says something other than new message.. or set it up to not show, pop up, or vibrate when you receive a private message..
360 Security Antivirus Boost Worstest Software… Always Hangs, Not Cleaning Properly, Not Removing Virus, Etc…
Why are there so many ads?! I can’t even see my start screen unless I swipe away the 360 ad. I feel like it’s killing my battery too. Argh! That’s why I’m switching to, and hopefully won’t get burned, by purchasing a Pixel. We’ll see!