Scan files and apps with Virustotal Uplink for Android
The official Virustotal application for Android has not received updates since 2012 which is one reason why it is recommended to use a third-party application instead to scan apps and files for malicious content on Android devices.
It is rather surprising that the official application does not receive any love considering that Virustotal is a Google company.
Another reason why you may want to switch is the fact that it is only letting you scan applications but not individual files that you may have downloaded and want to scan before you execute them or transfer them to other devices.
Update: VirusTotal Uplink is no longer available. Google did remove the official VirusTotal application from the Google Play store as well, and an alternative is not available. End
Virustotal Uplink is a new application for Android that offers what the official Virustotal application for Android offers and more.
The biggest feature addition is the ability to scan any file stored on the device or on connected cloud hosting accounts such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
The app displays all previous scans chronologically in the interface on start. A tap on the add button in the lower right bottom corner displays options to scan an installed application or a file.
Virustotal Uplink displays a file location selector first that includes recent files created or added to the system, popular locations on the device such as the download folder, and connected cloud storage drives.
The hash of the file is calculated first and results are displayed immediately if the hash is known already. Results display the number of hits and the date and time of the scan.
A tap on the overview loads detailed inforamtion that include different hash values, detailed scan results of all antivirus engines used by Virustotal, and a link to the results page that you can open in an external browser.
Application scans work similar but are limited to installed applications on the device. When you select the option the list of installed applications is loaded by the app.
All that is left to do then is to pick an app that you want scanned, tap on the upload button afterwards and wait for the results to be displayed in the main interface.
The settings list some options to change the apps' functionality. You may change the configuration to delete old reports automatically, or change notification options (the default notifies you in the notification bar whenever a scan completes).
Virustotal Uplink adds itself as a share provider on the device so that you can check files from most Android applications that support the sharing of information.
Closing Words
Virustotal Uplink is a useful application for Android that is more useful than the official Virusttotal application for Android thanks to its support for checking files and integration in the share menu.
