AFAICS this screens software before it goes into the store, or screens sideloaded apps on device before installation. That’s still far from antivirus as Windows users know it.
App Scanning: It automatically scans all apps on your device—regardless of where they were downloaded (though it focuses heavily on apps from the Google Play Store and those sideloaded).
Real-time Protection: It runs safety checks on apps before you download them from the Play Store.
Periodic Device Scan: It periodically scans your device for Potentially Harmful Applications (PHAs), which are sometimes called malware.
Warnings and Removal: If it finds a potentially harmful app, it will warn you, disable the app, or in some cases, remove the app automatically.
Yes there is a Google Play Protect. There is also a service that checks every single App on the Store separately.
Though the effectivity is debatable.
There are third party ones but I have not heard anything good about any of them. I am not sure they are legitimate
AFAICS this screens software before it goes into the store, or screens sideloaded apps on device before installation. That’s still far from antivirus as Windows users know it.
In theory it does all of below:
Yes, and it’s better. Each app gets scanned before it even reaches your device. You can’t do that on a PC.