Antivirus AI Wins the 2026 We Love Tech Award: Why Real Protection Doesn’t Need Surveillance

An award for Antivirus AI. But more than that, a signal to you: mobile security can be strong, intelligent, and privacy-first without trackers, ad IDs, or unnecessary data collection.

When you unlock your smartphone, you are not just opening a device. You are opening your everyday life. Your messages. Your photos. Your banking app. Your work. Your contacts. Your memories. That is exactly why mobile security is more personal today than ever before.

And that is exactly why this recognition means so much to us: Protectstar Antivirus AI has been named a winner of Evan Kirstel’s 2026 We Love Tech Awards in the Mobile Apps (Product) category. For us, this is not just another award. It confirms a belief that has driven us since Protectstar was founded: security should never have to spy on you in order to protect you.

“Security apps should never work like surveillance apps.”

That sentence captures what Antivirus AI is all about. An app that detects malware, defends against ransomware, and analyzes suspicious activity has to be especially trustworthy. It gains visibility into sensitive areas of your device. That is why it is not enough to simply promise “high detection rates.” A security app must be secure in its own design: transparent, resource-efficient, and built with privacy in mind.

An award for a clear stance

The We Love Tech Awards recognize products, organizations, and people who move technology forward in practical ways, not as a vision on a slide, but as real solutions that support people and businesses in everyday life. Antivirus AI was named Product Winner in Mobile Apps, exactly where digital security is often felt most directly today: on your smartphone.

What makes this recognition especially meaningful to us is that it fits what Antivirus AI stands for. The app combines dual-engine scanning, AI-powered threat detection, independent validation, and an uncompromising focus on privacy. In his award assessment, Evan Kirstel underscored this very point: mobile security can be strong “without trackers, ad IDs, or data harvesting.”

For you, that means protection does not have to be a trade-off. You should not have to give up your privacy just to detect malware, spyware, or dangerous apps more effectively.

Why this moment is more than a logo on the website

Awards are valuable. They create visibility. They give a team momentum. But an award is never the goal. It is a milestone. A moment to pause and see that the path we have chosen resonates.

For Protectstar, that path has been clear since 2004. Chris Bohn founded the company with the idea of developing security software that serves people — not data collection. On Protectstar’s company page, that idea is expressed today in a sentence that could hardly be simpler: We build protection, not surveillance.

This stance may sound obvious. In practice, it is not. Many digital business models depend on learning as much as possible about users. Protectstar deliberately takes a different path: no hidden trackers, no selling data, no unnecessary data collection. Your data belongs to you. That exact principle is also built into Antivirus AI.

The journey: from an idea to an award-winning AI security solution

The 2026 We Love Tech Award does not stand alone. It is part of a journey that Antivirus AI has built step by step:

• BIG Innovation Award 2025: Antivirus AI was recognized for innovation, AI-powered detection, and dual-engine technology.
• Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award 2025: The Business Intelligence Group honored Antivirus AI for AI-driven mobile cybersecurity and practical value for millions of users.
• AV-TEST achievements: Antivirus AI achieved high detection scores, strong performance, and high usability in independent Android testing.
• DEKRA MASA L1: Antivirus AI for Android was once again verified under DEKRA MASA L1 — an independent review of app security, architecture, and privacy requirements.
• 2026 We Love Tech Award: Now Antivirus AI has been named Product Winner in Mobile Apps for an Android security solution that brings protection, AI, and privacy together.

Together, these milestones create a picture that matters more to you than any single award:
Antivirus AI is not only award-winning. It is tested, continuously developed, and consistently built on trust.

How Antivirus AI protects you without making your private content the product

Modern attacks evolve quickly. Malware is obfuscated, apps change their behavior, new spyware variants appear, and traditional signatures alone are no longer enough. That is why Antivirus AI relies on a dual-engine architecture.
The first layer of protection works with proven signatures, heuristics, and known malware patterns. It detects what has already been classified. The second layer uses AI-powered analysis to identify suspicious new patterns as well — precisely the cases where traditional methods often react too late.

This is where implementation matters. Antivirus AI starts on your device. When a suspicious pattern is detected, the goal is not to upload personal content. Instead, Protectstar works with anonymized fingerprints derived from technical characteristics such as hash values and metadata. These are processed in encrypted form and compared against known threat patterns.

When a new protection rule results from this process, it can be distributed quickly to other devices. In this way, a detected threat becomes a shared protection benefit — without your private photos, messages, or documents having to become raw material for analysis.

Privacy-first is not a marketing phrase. It is an architectural decision.

Privacy is not created by polished wording. Privacy comes from product design decisions. Which data is truly needed? Which permissions are necessary? What is encrypted? Which libraries are used? Which information leaves the device? And what happens to it afterward?

This is exactly why the renewed DEKRA MASA L1 verification for Antivirus AI matters so much. It does not simply look at whether an app makes a good promise. It examines security requirements for mobile apps: data processing, secure communication, handling of sensitive information, permissions, release hardening, and technical implementation.

For you, this means an antivirus app should not only detect other threats. It should also be built in a way that does not create an unnecessary attack surface. For a security app, that is critical. Anyone who promises protection must first prove trustworthiness within their own product.

Independent testing provides guidance

The cybersecurity world is full of big promises. That is why independent testing matters. In AV-TEST’s January 2025 report for Android security products, Protectstar Antivirus AI 2.1 achieved 99.8% real-time protection against the latest Android malware attacks and 99.9% detection of widespread Android malware samples from the previous four weeks. The app also received 6 out of 6 points for performance and 6 out of 6 points for usability.

That matters because everyday security only works when it does not get in the way. If an app slows down your smartphone, drains your battery, or overwhelms you with false alarms, eventually you will ignore it or uninstall it. Good protection must be strong but also quiet, understandable, and reliable.

This exact combination is the core of Antivirus AI: high detection, low friction, clear usability, and a privacy approach that does not work against you.

The human side of security

Security is technical. But the need for security is deeply human. It is about the feeling that what is private stays private. That your family, your work, and your digital life do not become open targets. That you do not have to be a security expert every day just to use your smartphone safely.

Chris Bohn has long described Protectstar’s stance with a simple idea: security is a fundamental right. Not a luxury for people who understand complicated software or can afford high subscription prices. That is why Protectstar also carries the vision of making first-class protection as accessible as possible — symbolically summed up in the idea of security for 1 cent per day.

This vision is emotional, but it is not naive. It is based on technology, automation, AI, lean processes, and a clear product philosophy. When protection becomes simpler, more efficient, and more affordable, more people can use it. And when more people are protected, cybercrime becomes less attractive.

Why trust is today’s real competitive advantage

Antivirus AI does not only compete with other security apps. It competes with a feeling many users know well: distrust. Distrust toward apps that want too many permissions. Distrust toward products that collect data in the background. Distrust toward security promises that are not explained.

That is why the real question is not only: Does Antivirus AI detect malware? The question is also: Can you trust the app that protects you?
Our answer is clear: trust is earned — through transparent communication, independent testing, minimal data use, avoiding unnecessary trackers and ad IDs, and building a product that is not just loud, but dependable. That is why the 2026 We Love Tech Award is such a strong signal for us. It recognizes not only technology. It recognizes the decision to treat mobile security and privacy as one.

What this means for you

When you use Antivirus AI, you do not simply get another virus scanner. You get a protection approach that connects multiple layers:

• AI real-time detection: evaluates new and suspicious patterns faster.
• Dual-engine protection: signatures, heuristics, and AI analysis work together.
• Privacy-first architecture: protection without unnecessary data collection, without trackers, and without ad IDs.
• Independent validation: AV-TEST, DEKRA MASA L1, and additional reviews provide guidance.
• Everyday usability: protection should work in daily life without overwhelming you.
• Global protection network: new insights can benefit all users.

In short: Antivirus AI is built to give you what good security must deliver — less uncertainty, more control, and a better feeling in everyday digital life.

A thank-you to everyone on this journey

More than 8 million people in over 100 countries trust Protectstar. That number is large. But behind it are individual decisions. A person installs an app because they want to protect themselves. A family wants to know its data is safe. A company wants to better protect its mobile devices. One user does not want to be tracked. Another wants to know whether an app is suspicious.

Each of these decisions is an act of trust. And trust is not something you demand. You earn it: Every day, with every update, every validation, and every design decision.

That is why this award is also a thank-you to you. To everyone who uses Antivirus AI. To everyone who gives feedback. To everyone who sees privacy-first security not as a niche, but as a standard that modern security software should meet.

The next step

The 2026 We Love Tech Award is not an endpoint. It is momentum. Antivirus AI will continue to evolve because threats continue to evolve. AI-powered detection, app hardening, privacy, performance, and usability are not one-time goals, but daily work.

Our mission remains clear: we want to build protection, not surveillance. We want to make security simpler, not more complicated. And we want to help you navigate your digital life with less worry and more control. Because your smartphone is more than technology. It is part of your life. And that is exactly why it deserves protection that respects you.

Discover Antivirus AI for free today:

https://www.protectstar.com/en/products/antivirus-ai

Further reading

• Antivirus AI product page
• DEKRA MASA L1: Antivirus AI for Android verified again
• How AI protection in Anti Spy and Antivirus AI works
• Antivirus AI wins the BIG Innovation Award 2025
• Antivirus AI receives the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award
• A look behind the scenes with Chris Bohn
• Protectstar Antivirus AI Android celebrates its third AV-TEST triumph