After months of rumors and speculation, Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is imminent. In just a few short days, all that rumor and speculation will finally be answered, and we can make way for…new rumors and speculation. (At least then it will be based on things we’ve actually seen.)

But as we enjoy our last hurrah before the hurricane of news and updates hits, it’s time to compile a look at what exactly we might be expecting when Apple executives appear (in a no doubt slickly compiled video) at Apple Park next week, and what isn’t likely to make the cut.

Heads up

They say that where there’s smoke there’s fire, and if that’s true then the Apple mixed-reality headset must be molten lava. (And not just because its processors are likely putting off a lot of heat.) This will be the first major new platform introduced by the company since the Apple Watch in 2014, and arguments about what it will look like, how much it will cost, whether it will be able to succeed where others fail, and even what Apple will call it have all run rampant.

But setting that aside for a moment, I think it’s worth noting that a new platform from Apple is actually a pretty rare thing. Yes, the company has introduced them at a rapid clip over the past 15 or so years–the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple TV, the Apple Watch—but it doesn’t happen every year or even every couple of years. Apple only puts this much weight behind something that it believes has a chance in the market. This isn’t a company that’s gotten where it is by launching products willy-nilly.

Also important is that Apple can afford, perhaps more than any other tech company, to play the long game. In fact, in some ways, it can’t afford to not play the long game: the iPhone is a blockbuster product, and there may very well be nothing else like it in my lifetime, but in case there is, Apple needs to be there. Sooner or later something will succeed the iPhone, and if Apple isn’t the one to develop it, then a huge chunk of its revenue will disappear.

It will be very interesting, come next week, to see how Apple pitches its headset; keep a close eye on whether, in a rare step, it talks about where the puck is headed with this product rather than just where it is now.

Watch and learn

Rumor has it that Apple’s last big new platform is due for a refresh after almost a decade on the scene. There’s an expectation that watchOS will get a significant overhaul at this year’s WWDC, and it does seem like it’s time (no pun intended) for the company to take another crack at this most personal of wearables.

After nine years of data seeing how people use the smartwatch, it’s a reasonable opportunity to explore how to improve the experience. One rumor suggests that watchOS 10 will take a widget-focused approach, using some of the same technology that supports existing widgets on iOS and iPadOS.

That idea isn’t exactly new to the Apple Watch: early on in the product’s life, the company had a concept called Glances that was envisioned to be for very simple one-screen “apps”. While the feature ultimately fell by the wayside, the recent adoption of widgets on Apple’s other platforms might make that a more attractive option on the watch as well, allowing developers to easily port work they’ve done on iOS and iPadOS to the smartwatch. As someone who only uses a few apps (few of which require anything more than a single screen), this could really help streamline using the Apple Watch.

The best of the rest

With a big chunk of the keynote likely devoted to the headset and watchOS, it’s anybody’s guess as to how much time the rest of Apple’s platforms will get. Don’t expect them to be ignored completely, though: WWDC is Apple’s chance to talk about the year ahead for all of its products.

What seems most likely, given the trajectory of the last few years of WWDC presentations, is that we’ll see more about new features that are coming simultaneously across Apple devices–say, for example, an Apple journaling app–as well as a few capabilities specific to each device.

That might include features like lock screen widgets coming to iPadOS 17 or a new rumored “status board” iOS 17 lock screen capability. There’s been little out there for either macOS or tvOS, though, suggesting that it might be a quiet year for some of Apple’s smaller platforms.

Finally, there’s always the question of hardware. Setting aside the headset for the moment–even if demoed at WWDC is unlikely to go on sale for the next several months–there are two Mac models that might make an appearance at the event: a 15-inch MacBook Air, which is likely to be just a larger version of the existing 13-inch version, and the Apple silicon-based Mac Pro, which Apple teased back in March 2022 but has yet to unveil.

The latter would seem a particularly appropriate announcement for a developer-centric audience, but given the dearth of rumors in the supply chain, it seems unlikely to ship in the near future. The 15-inch Air, by comparison, is supposedly ready to go but seems a less exciting product on which to spend a significant chunk of the keynote.

And, of course, Apple always leaves room for surprises. Personally, I’ve got my fingers crossed for small announcements that improve the quality of life across Apple’s devices: using any emoji for tapbacks in Messages, or improving autocorrect, or even just making Mail more responsive. If it’s a smaller year for Apple’s other platforms, the company could do worse than making little tweaks that can make a big difference.

Apple Watch, Virtual Reality

After months of rumors and speculation, Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is imminent. In just a few short days, all that rumor and speculation will finally be answered, and we can make way for…new rumors and speculation. (At least then it will be based on things we’ve actually seen.)

But as we enjoy our last hurrah before the hurricane of news and updates hits, it’s time to compile a look at what exactly we might be expecting when Apple executives appear (in a no doubt slickly compiled video) at Apple Park next week, and what isn’t likely to make the cut.

Heads up

They say that where there’s smoke there’s fire, and if that’s true then the Apple mixed-reality headset must be molten lava. (And not just because its processors are likely putting off a lot of heat.) This will be the first major new platform introduced by the company since the Apple Watch in 2014, and arguments about what it will look like, how much it will cost, whether it will be able to succeed where others fail, and even what Apple will call it have all run rampant.

But setting that aside for a moment, I think it’s worth noting that a new platform from Apple is actually a pretty rare thing. Yes, the company has introduced them at a rapid clip over the past 15 or so years–the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple TV, the Apple Watch—but it doesn’t happen every year or even every couple of years. Apple only puts this much weight behind something that it believes has a chance in the market. This isn’t a company that’s gotten where it is by launching products willy-nilly.

Also important is that Apple can afford, perhaps more than any other tech company, to play the long game. In fact, in some ways, it can’t afford to not play the long game: the iPhone is a blockbuster product, and there may very well be nothing else like it in my lifetime, but in case there is, Apple needs to be there. Sooner or later something will succeed the iPhone, and if Apple isn’t the one to develop it, then a huge chunk of its revenue will disappear.

It will be very interesting, come next week, to see how Apple pitches its headset; keep a close eye on whether, in a rare step, it talks about where the puck is headed with this product rather than just where it is now.

Watch and learn

Rumor has it that Apple’s last big new platform is due for a refresh after almost a decade on the scene. There’s an expectation that watchOS will get a significant overhaul at this year’s WWDC, and it does seem like it’s time (no pun intended) for the company to take another crack at this most personal of wearables.

After nine years of data seeing how people use the smartwatch, it’s a reasonable opportunity to explore how to improve the experience. One rumor suggests that watchOS 10 will take a widget-focused approach, using some of the same technology that supports existing widgets on iOS and iPadOS.

That idea isn’t exactly new to the Apple Watch: early on in the product’s life, the company had a concept called Glances that was envisioned to be for very simple one-screen “apps”. While the feature ultimately fell by the wayside, the recent adoption of widgets on Apple’s other platforms might make that a more attractive option on the watch as well, allowing developers to easily port work they’ve done on iOS and iPadOS to the smartwatch. As someone who only uses a few apps (few of which require anything more than a single screen), this could really help streamline using the Apple Watch.

The best of the rest

With a big chunk of the keynote likely devoted to the headset and watchOS, it’s anybody’s guess as to how much time the rest of Apple’s platforms will get. Don’t expect them to be ignored completely, though: WWDC is Apple’s chance to talk about the year ahead for all of its products.

What seems most likely, given the trajectory of the last few years of WWDC presentations, is that we’ll see more about new features that are coming simultaneously across Apple devices–say, for example, an Apple journaling app–as well as a few capabilities specific to each device.

That might include features like lock screen widgets coming to iPadOS 17 or a new rumored “status board” iOS 17 lock screen capability. There’s been little out there for either macOS or tvOS, though, suggesting that it might be a quiet year for some of Apple’s smaller platforms.

Finally, there’s always the question of hardware. Setting aside the headset for the moment–even if demoed at WWDC is unlikely to go on sale for the next several months–there are two Mac models that might make an appearance at the event: a 15-inch MacBook Air, which is likely to be just a larger version of the existing 13-inch version, and the Apple silicon-based Mac Pro, which Apple teased back in March 2022 but has yet to unveil.

The latter would seem a particularly appropriate announcement for a developer-centric audience, but given the dearth of rumors in the supply chain, it seems unlikely to ship in the near future. The 15-inch Air, by comparison, is supposedly ready to go but seems a less exciting product on which to spend a significant chunk of the keynote.

And, of course, Apple always leaves room for surprises. Personally, I’ve got my fingers crossed for small announcements that improve the quality of life across Apple’s devices: using any emoji for tapbacks in Messages, or improving autocorrect, or even just making Mail more responsive. If it’s a smaller year for Apple’s other platforms, the company could do worse than making little tweaks that can make a big difference.

Apple Watch, Virtual Reality

Macs may be a far less tempting target for malware and viruses, but they’re not immune from attack. Even if you don’t care about adware or being used as means to infect users on other platforms, it’s still possible to fall victim to ransomware, or password theft.

Accordingly, good antivirus for Mac software will protect your Mac on all of these fronts. It’ll catch malware that’s still spreading or in circulation; block ransomware; protect older systems with out-of-date software from security vulnerabilities; prevent your Mac from acting as a carrier for malware aimed at other operating systems; and keep infected files off of any virtual machines you’re running.

As to the question of which Mac antivirus software you should choose, our current top pick is Intego Mac Internet Security. However, you will find several other recommendations below that may suit you better, depending upon the type and number of devices that need protection and also how much you want to pay.

Our top contenders in our best Mac antivirus round up dominate by posting perfect (or virtually near perfect) scores from security research labs, passing our own malware detection tests with flying colors, offering well-designed interfaces, and even throwing in extra features like a firewall or password manager.

For some great discounts and deals see our best Mac antivirus deals round up.

Updated May 5, 2023 to update the F-Secure review.

Best antivirus for Mac reviews

Best Mac antivirus at a glance comparison

Here is an overview of the top Mac antivirus software tested above.

Developer

Product name

USB scan

Ransomware protection

Adware prevention

Anti phishing  protection

Email protection

Firewall

VPN

iOS version

Parental Controls

Support

Trial

Price

Intego

Internet Security X9

Y

Y

X

Y

X

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

7 days

$49.99/£49.99 / ye ($24.99/£20.99 /yr deal)

Clario

Antivirus 1.5 for Mac

Y

Y

Y

Y

X

X

Y

Y

X

Y

7 days

£107.88/£107.88 / ye (currently $50/£50 /ye); ($4.17/£4.17 / mo for a year, or $8.99/£8.99 /mo billed monthly)

AVG

AntiVirus for Mac

X

X

X

X

Y

X

X

Y

X

X

60 days

Free (Paid for version is $2.49 per month for one year / $2.39 a month for two-years / $2.29 a month for three-years)

Norton

360 Deluxe

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$39.99/£34.99/yr

McAfee

Total Protection

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$34.99/£34.99/yr

Avast

Premium Security

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

X

Y

60 days

$44.99/£39.99/yr

Bitdefender

Total Security

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$39.97/£34.99/yr

Eset

Cyber Security Pro

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

X

X

Y

Y

30 days

$49.95/£39.95/yr

Trend Micro

Antivirus for Mac

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$39.99/£49.95

Avira

Prime

Y

Y

Y

Y

X

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

30 days

$99.99/£85.99

Do Macs need Mac antivirus software?

Plenty of Mac aficionados will tell you that Apple computers are inherently secure and don’t require protection. We’d argue that they are wrong – or overconfident, at the very least.

Not long ago, the Silver Sparrow malware was detected on Macs powered by the M1 processor and infected hundreds of thousands of Macs in total. The bad guys, then, are still very much targeting Mac users and they’re getting smarter and greedier. As a result, cyber security is something you can’t afford to ignore, and good Mac antivirus is a very good place to start if you want to stay safe.

Macs are generally more secure than their Windows brethren for two reasons. On the technical side, macOS is a Unix-based operating system. As a Unix-based operating system macOS is sandboxed.

Sandboxing is like having a series of fire doors: even if malware gains access to your Mac, it is unable to spread to other areas of the machine. They are more difficult to exploit than Windows PCs, but Macs are not unhackable.

More general advice can be found in our Mac security tips; and those who have been hit by a malware attack should try how to remove a virus from a Mac.

How to choose the best Mac antivirus

Features fundamental to all packages are two ways to find viruses: on-demand protection and via always-on protection. The former finds viruses by examining one file after another during scheduled scans, or when you choose to undertake a scan, perhaps because you’re worried your Mac might be infected. The speed at which the Mac antivirus app can do this is important, because some take a long time and also hog the Mac’s CPU while they do so. Waiting six hours to find out if your Mac is infected is neither convenient nor relaxing.

Always-on malware protection is what protects the user outside of the times when scans are run. If some malware arrives, perhaps via an email or a downloaded file, then the always-on protection should be able to detect it and either quarantine it (copy it to a safe folder so the user can decide what to do with it), or simply delete it. Usually a notification is shown when malware is detected in this way, but not all antimalware apps show the same amount of explanation of what’s happened – and this was one of the factors we examined in our testing.

Outside of direct malware detection, many security suites include additional tools such as ransomware protection. Ransomware is a type of malware that, once it’s infected a computer, encrypts all the user’s files and then demands a fee to decrypt them. To protect against this infection, anti-ransomware features typically block any app from writing to a user’s home folders, such as Documents or Photos, unless the app’s pre-approved (a process called whitelisting). Lots of apps come already pre-approved, of course, such as Microsoft Word, or Apple’s own Photos app. But you can add others.

Several products also include virtual private network (
VPN) add-ons. These protect an internet connection by encrypting it, and this is useful when utilising unsafe open WiFi such as that provided by a café or hotel. In our experience, these are not replacements for separate paid-for VPN services as many do not unblock video streaming services and some are cut-down versions which constantly nag you to pay extra for the full, premium versions.

Web protection via browser plugins or extensions is also a common component and aims to stop you (or your children) doing anything you regret online, such as visiting fake or infected websites or handing over personal information.

There are usually different options from each vendor, and you get more extras with the top packages, and far fewer with free ones. They might include password managers, parental controls, cloud storage – the list goes on. Generally, the underlying antimalware engine is the same in all products from the same company, so you can save money if you don’t need those additional features.

Do bear in mind that all antivirus for Mac apps are sold as yearly subscriptions. That’s right, you can’t just pay once and use forever. Often there’s a hefty discount for that first year’s subscription, but this can burn you when automatic renewal occurs a year later and the full retail price is charged: often 100% more. Alternatively, you can purchase several years’ subscriptions at once for a bigger discount.

Some of the best Mac antivirus subscriptions allow you to install the software on more than one computer (including Windows and Android devices), which can sometimes add significantly to the value – all computers, phones and tablets within a household can be protected with one subscription.

Spotting fake Mac antivirus software

Beware that, due to the fact that people are so concerned about malware threats on the Mac, there have been cases of malware disguising itself as an antivirus app, such as the Mac Auto Fixer pop-ups that appeared on some Macs suggesting that software needs to be installed (at a high price). This is similar to another fake antivirus app called MacDefender.

Another Mac antivirus company that is often thought of as unscrupulous is MacKeeper. In the past various reports have suggested it is a scam or at worst malware. In recent times MacKeeper has attempted to transform itself and leave its disreputability behind. It has, for example, gained Apple Notarization – which means the software is checked by Apple for malicious components. The company has also been working to get certifications from various bodies to prove it isn’t a PUP, including an AV-Test certificate. If you have any problems with MacKeeper we do explain how to remove it here: How to uninstall MacKeeper.

How we test Mac antivirus software

Each software package is evaluated creating a clean installation of macOS, cloning it for each AV product, and then booting separately into each one to install a different package. This was to ensure that previous app installations didn’t interfere with new ones – sometimes AV software treats other AV software as an infection.

In addition to visiting malicious websites, downloading known malicious software, and even running said malware on our Mac, we also reference the most recent reports from two labs that regularly cover macOS malware: AV Comparatives and AV-TEST. These laboratories test AV software against sets of known malware as well as products that are grouped as potentially unwanted applications (like adware).

The latter doesn’t damage or expose your computer or its files but may consume power and CPU cycles. Because the testing effectively looks at a combination of virus databases and behavior, they remain good gauges even after many months. When an antivirus for Mac software package lacks a rating from a known security research lab, we do more extensive testing with real malware.

Finally, while we gave props for a lot of different features and behaviors, we marked products down if they lacked any or all of the following:

• A nearly perfect score on macOS malware detection
• Ransomware monitoring
• Native browser plug-in or system-level Web proxy
• A high score on Windows malware detection

Privacy concerns

Using a Mac antivirus product, especially any that includes tools to also improve your online privacy, may lull you into believing you’re safe from personal and private information leaking out. That’s not quite the case. While there’s no reason to panic, you should consider a few reasonable issues.

First, an antivirus for Mac product may upload the complete text of files flagged to the cloud, where it can be analyzed by separate tools hosted there. This practice is normal and sensible: Some malware can detect when a running process may examine it, and will then engage in subterfuge. Antivirus software makers also can access their massive databases to examine files with characteristics that trigger their algorithms—certain elements that match known malware. As a result, security researchers discover new viruses, worms, Trojans horses, and the like.

However, helping the greater good means you’ll have to be comfortable with trusting a third-party with your file contents. Where appropriate, we noted privacy policy issues in individual reviews.

Second, this software may also rely partly or entirely on cloud-based checks of URLs, malware, and the like. Accordingly, an AV package might upload every URL you visit, metadata about files, signatures of files, information about your computer’s hardware, a list of running or installed applications, and more. Companies vary on their disclosure of such policies, and may not let you opt out of this kind of sharing. We note issues in each review as available.

Third, anti-virus software makers also get a sense of what behavior is happening on your computer that’s being monitored or blocked, and may use that information for their own purposes. In some cases, you can opt out of this information gathering.

Antivirus, Personal Software, Security