** INTRODUCING: avast! Mobile Security Beta ** [NOW UPDATED TO 1.0.1123]

[Vlk]

The product has now been officially released.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=90818
Please continue the discussions in the regular (non-beta) section of the forum

Thanks to everyone who helped testing the product -- you guys were great!

Thanks
Vlk


We’re glad to announce a beta of a new security solution for your Android phone - avast! Free Mobile Security. [Now updated to v1.0.1123 -- for details see below]
It took us quite a while to build this product, but we wanted to make sure it would be really smooth and loaded with features. Our plan is to position this free product against competing paid products.

We hope you will like it.

Highlights

• Protect your personal data with automatic virus scans and infected-URL alerts.
• Stop hackers by adding a firewall (rooted phones).
• Control anti-theft features with remote SMS commands for: history wipe, phone lock, siren activation, GPS tracking, audio monitoring, and many other useful tools.
• Your ‘invisible’ app hides itself, making it extremely hard for thieves to find and disable.
  
• A standalone yet tightly integrated component of avast! Mobile Security, avast! Anti-Theft is the slyest component on the market. Formerly known as Theft Aware, the Anti-Theft portion of avast! Free Mobile Security has been recommended by leading industry experts that include T-Mobile, N-TV, AndroidPIT, and Android Police.

Features

avast! Mobile Security

• Antivirus: Performs on-demand scans of all installed apps and memory card content, as well as on-access scans of apps when they are first launched. Options for scheduling scans, virus definition updates, uninstalling apps, deleting files, or reporting a false-positive to our virus lab.
• Privacy Report: Scans and displays access rights and intents of installed apps, identifying potential privacy risks, so you know how much info you are really providing to each app.
• SMS/Call Filtering: Filter calls and/or messages from your contact list using set parameters based on day(s) of the week, start time, and end time. Blocked calls redirect to voicemail, while blocked messages are stored via a filter log. It is also possible to block outgoing calls.
• App Manager: Similar to Windows Task Manager, it shows a list of running apps and their size (MB), CPU load, used memory, and number of threads and services – with an option to stop or uninstall.
• Web Shield: The avast! Web Shield for Android scans each URL that loads and warns you if the browser loads a malware-infected URL.
• Firewall: Add a firewall to stop hackers. Disable an app’s internet access when on WiFi, 3G and roaming mobile networks. (Works on rooted phones only)

avast! Anti-Theft

• App Disguiser:  After downloading avast! Anti-Theft, the user can choose a custom name that disguises the app (e.g. call it “Pinocchio game”) so that it is even harder for thieves to find and remove.
• Stealth Mode: Once anti-theft is enabled, the app icon is hidden in the app tray, leaving no audio or other trace on the target phone – the app is ‘invisible’, making it difficult for thieves to detect or remove.
• Self-Protection: Extremely difficult for thieves to remove (especially on rooted phones), Anti-Theft protects itself from uninstall by disguising its components with various self-preservation techniques. On rooted phones it is able to survive hard-resets and can even disable the phone’s USB port.
• Battery Save: Anti-Theft only launches itself and runs when it needs to perform tasks. This preserves battery life and makes it very difficult for thieves to shut it down.
• SIM-Card-Change Notification: If stolen and a different (unauthorized) SIM card is inserted, the phone can lock, activate a siren, and send you notification (to a remote device) of the phone’s new number and geo-location.
• Trusted SIM Cards List: Establish a ‘white list’ of approved SIM cards that can be used in the phone without triggering a theft alert. You can also easily clear the trusted SIM cards list, and leave just one in the phone as the only trusted one.
• Remote Settings Change: A setup wizard guides the user through the installation process on rooted phones. No command-line knowledge is necessary to install Anti-Theft rooted. Also supports upgrading.
• Remote Features - SMS commands provide you the following REMOTE options for your ‘lost’ (or stolen) phone: Siren, Lock, Display Messages, Locate, Memory Wipe, Call/SMS Forwarding, History, Restart, and more.

System Requirements
To run avast! Free Mobile Security your device must meet the following criteria.

Operating Systems Supported
Android 2.1.x
Android 2.2.x
Android 2.3.x


Minimum Hardware Requirements
Any phone capable of running a supported system


Other considerations
If you have any comments of feedback, please start a new topic and/or respond to an existing one rather than bloating this particular thread.

Download: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.avast.android.mobilesecurity



Edit Dec 15: The product has now been updated to version 1.0.1123. Updating via the Android Market should work - or you can of course uninstall the previous version and install this new one from scratch.

Here's an (incomplete) changelog:

• Multiple bug fixes (various Force Close and Application Not Responding conditions)
• Fixed possible issue with the notification icon reappearing unexpectedly
• Better information provided upon failure of virus definitions update and false positive upload
• Added a line in scan log to display the time the scan finished

Changelog for previous revision 1.0.1069 (released on Dec 10):

• Multiple bug fixes (especially various Force Close conditions)
• Added a new option to hide the notification icon
• Experimental support for Android 4.x (feedback welcome)
• Added new "About" screen with version info and a feedback button
• Other cosmetic changes

Thanks
Vlk[/size]

[Rednose]

Oh Ondrej

And you couldn't tell me that last friday

Anyway, I can't help you here as I use IOS mobile devices

Greetz, Red.

[okmijnlp]

So what's going to happen to Theft Aware? I only bought it yesterday so I'm a little ticked off that this has just been released for free...

[bob3160]

Will this work on my Android Tablet
Mine has Android 3.0

[Vlk]

Will this work on my Android Tablet
Mine has Android 3.0

It should work, even though the number of tablets we have tested it on was somewhat limited. Would be actually good if you could give it a try on yours and report back.

Thanks
Vlk

[RejZoR]

Can't wait to test it on my Cyanogen 7.1 powered HTC Wildfire. So far i've been on DrWeb Light but i'm switching for sure now that i can.

Just one question, what will be in the free version and what will be payable? I'm guessing anti-theft or at least the more advanced parts of it will be payable...

[Chris Thomas]

Ah,

Installed on mine 

Can you explain Community IQ?

What all information is collected?

I like the Firewall

[Vlk]

Can't wait to test it on my Cyanogen 7.1 powered HTC Wildfire. So far i've been on DrWeb Light but i'm switching for sure now that i can.

Just one question, what will be in the free version and what will be payable? I'm guessing anti-theft or at least the more advanced parts of it will be payable...

We are giving away everything we've got for free.
There will be no premium (paid) version for the time being.

Can you explain Community IQ?
What all information is collected?

I will have to get back to you on this. I think it doesn't quite collect anything for now, but the idea was that it would allow us to gather data on app usage (reputation data that we can use to build a prevalence database).

Thanks
Vlk

[RejZoR]

Thanks, if anti-malware part is also good, i think competition will have a very hard time competing with your offering And yes, there apparently is a free cake (or how they say it ).

[okmijnlp]

So what's happening to Theft Aware? Why should people get it if this is free?

[RejZoR]

Just one, maybe dumb question, is real-time scanner in this app? Couldn't find any mention of it.

[chocholo3]

I've just installed it. The app itself is cool but I have few hints after few minutes of using it.
- It will be great to have an option for blocking outgoing SMS. At least if it's going to foreign country. It will be even better to deny SMS to any number which ain't in my contact list.
- Firewall is good but there is some weird colors in your skin. In every other program I've used there was red color for "denied" and green for "permitted". In avast! I've to try to set something up, try it (if I just permitted it or denied) and then go back and set all the other apps.
- WebShield will be awesome also in other browsers. I think there ain't a lot of people which uses default browser for usual everyday browsing...
- There should be some setup wizard after first launch. If I want to use this app I need to configure it but the clicking through the menu is annoying.


But it's super it's out and even free! I think all other free apps from market are lot of steps behind your back even if you have "just" beta.
Thanks!

[chocholo]

So what's happening to Theft Aware? Why should people get it if this is free?

Well, it is stand alone anti-theft app, some may prefer it, IMHO.

Just one, maybe dumb question, is real-time scanner in this app? Couldn't find any mention of it.

AFAIK only web shield.
Edit by Vlk: of course it is there - Just try with an Eicar, for example.

[Vlk]

Just one, maybe dumb question, is real-time scanner in this app? Couldn't find any mention of it.

Of course it's there (disregard chocholo's previous post).

- It will be great to have an option for blocking outgoing SMS. At least if it's going to foreign country. It will be even better to deny SMS to any number which ain't in my contact list.

We tried, but frankly, we don't know how to do that. There seems to be no mechanism that would allow us to do that.

Maybe something for rooted phones would be possible though...

- Firewall is good but there is some weird colors in your skin. In every other program I've used there was red color for "denied" and green for "permitted". In avast! I've to try to set something up, try it (if I just permitted it or denied) and then go back and set all the other apps. 

Thanks for the suggestion, we will think about that.

- WebShield will be awesome also in other browsers. I think there ain't a lot of people which uses default browser for usual everyday browsing...

Same as before... it's not really possible to hook into the 3rd party browsers. In reality, it does somewhat work in Dolphin for example, but it's little bit unreliable -- hence we don't market it.

- There should be some setup wizard after first launch. If I want to use this app I need to configure it but the clicking through the menu is annoying.

I thought there was some kind of setup wizard already... The only important thing it doesn't cover is the anti-theft component, but this should be fixed before the official release.

But it's super it's out and even free! I think all other free apps from market are lot of steps behind your back even if you have "just" beta.

Thanks for that.

Vlk

[okmijnlp]

So what's happening to Theft Aware? Why should people get it if this is free?

Well, it is stand alone anti-theft app, some may prefer it, IMHO.

Just one, maybe dumb question, is real-time scanner in this app? Couldn't find any mention of it.

AFAIK only web shield.
Edit by Vlk: of course it is there - Just try with an Eicar, for example.

But that's whatcim saying, why paybfor half an app when you can get the full package free?