Quick question – which one is safer? Android or iOS? Many people would naturally choose the latter, arguing that it’s Apple’s ‘walled garden’ approach that makes it so – indeed, Apple itself keeps saying something similar every time the EU tries to open up some more of its ecosystem.
But things are not always what they seem. And in at least one way, Android is actually more secure than iOS. We are talking about protection from scams. A YouGov study found that iOS users were 65 percent more likely to report receiving three or more scam texts in a week, while Android users were 58 percent more likely than iOS users to report receiving no scam texts in the week before the survey was conducted.
Additionally, Android users are 20% more likely than iOS users to rate their device’s fraud protection as “very effective” or “very effective.”
The findings come from a survey of 5,000 smartphone users across the US, India and Brazil, but note that Google was involved with you. Speaking of Google, Pixel device owners were 96 percent more likely than iPhone owners to report zero scam texts, iPhone users were 136 percent more likely than Pixel owners to say they received a high volume of scam messages, and iPhone users to say their device was not at all effective at preventing mobile fraud.
In a separate assessment, comparing the built-in scam and fraud protection on four devices (Pixel 10 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Zfold 7, and Motorola Razr+ 2025), the iPhone finished last when it came to the number of security features it had (see image below).
The report cites Android’s “robust call screening,” fraud detection, and real-time fraud warning verification capabilities as key differentiators versus iOS. Google Messages Filters are used to analyze messages from unknown senders to provide real-time alerts and to analyze messages from unknown senders for patterns of chat scams in scam detection, known as spam and for more complex threats. The app also blocks links in messages that are determined to be spam or scams.
The phone automatically blocks known spam calls through the Google app, and Call Screen can answer calls on your behalf (where available in markets) to identify fraudsters. Even if you reply, you have a scam detector, which uses on-device AI to provide real-time alerts for suspicious conversation patterns. Finally, Android helps prevent social engineering during calls by blocking high-risk actions or disabling security settings.
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