How to check your Android phone for harmful apps with Play Protect

2 min read · 6 steps · Updated 2 October 2026

Short answer

Open the Play Store, tap your profile picture and tap Play Protect. Tap Scan to check all installed apps now. Then tap Settings and make sure Scan apps with Play Protect is switched on. It is on by default and Google recommends leaving it that way.

Google Play Protect is the malware scanner built into every Android phone with the Play Store. It checks apps before you download them, looks through the apps already on the phone, also those from other sources, and warns you or removes an app that turns out to be harmful.

Menu names below are from Google Pixel phones and Google's own apps on a recent Android version. Samsung, Xiaomi and other brands rename some of them. The pictures are simplified diagrams of the screen, not screenshots.

Step by step

  1. Open the Play Store and tap your profile picture

    It is at the top right.

  2. Play Store menuManage apps & devicePayments & subscriptionsPlay ProtectSettings

    Tap Play Protect

    The page shows whether harmful apps were found and when the last scan ran.

  3. Tap Scan

    Play Protect checks all installed apps. If it finds something, it names the app and offers to remove it.

  4. Check the settings

    Tap Settings at the top right. Scan apps with Play Protect should be on.

  5. Turn on Improve harmful app detection

    With this option, the phone sends unknown apps that came from outside the Play Store to Google for checking. It matters if you ever install apps from other sources.

  6. Check that the phone is certified

    Back in the Play Store menu, tap Settings and then About. It should say that the device is Play Protect certified. A phone that is not certified may not get security updates, and Google apps may not work properly on it.

Good to know

Play Protect also takes permissions away from apps you have not used for months. Under Play Protect, Settings, Permissions for unused apps you can see and change this for single apps.

A warning from Play Protect while you install an app from a file is worth taking seriously. Banking trojans often arrive as an "update" sent by message.

If ads keep popping up although the scan finds nothing: how to stop pop-up ads on an Android phone.

Keep the system itself current: how to check your Android version and update your phone.

In short: Play Store, profile picture, Play Protect, Scan. Settings: Scan apps with Play Protect on, Improve harmful app detection on.

Sources
  • Google Play Help: Use Google Play Protect to help keep your apps safe & your data private

Rules and prices change. Check the official source before you act.