Retail Demo Mode contains malware - Pixel 3

Avast Mobile Security Avast Mobile Security for Android
1

I am setting up a brand new Pixel 3 which I ordered direct from Google. My first Avast scan of the device shows the following threat…

Retail Demo Mode contains malware! It may harm your device.

Avast is unable to unisntall the app and it’s not visible under Settings > Apps & Notifications. Please can anyone advise me if this is a false message or, if not, how I get rid of the problem.

I’m rather worried.

Annie

2

As a follow up, I’ve been on to Google and they inform me that the Pixel device has an inbuilt anti virus scanner which gives a notification if there are any harmful apps on the device. I think they called it Play Protect. They went on to say that as I haven’t received any official notification within the device, there are no apps or malware that would be affecting the device and it is completely safe.

Does this sound right? If so, should I report the issue to Avast as a false positive?

3

Hi, yes please, report it as false positive, our lab will investigate the issue.

4

Thank you. I hope I have done it correctly. I clicked on ‘Report as False Positive’ and then clicked Send but there was no confirmation of my action so I hope it has gone through.

5

Multiple Pixel 3 users, using Avast, are complaining of this problem on their brand new phones, fresh out of the box. It seems more likely to be a false positive than actual malware, especially as Avast users are the only ones reporting this issue.

6

Thank you NonSuch. That’s useful to know.