If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone and you’ve come across a notification or Device Care warning mentioning ‘high risk apps,’ it’s understandable to feel a bit alarmed. This message typically comes from Samsung’s built-in security scanning, sometimes working alongside Google Play Protect, and it’s worth understanding exactly what triggers it and how to deal with it properly rather than panicking and mass-deleting apps.
On Samsung Galaxy devices, this warning usually surfaces through the Device Care app, found in Settings under Battery and device care. Tapping Security within this menu runs a scan of installed apps against known malware signatures and suspicious behaviour patterns, such as apps requesting unusually broad permissions, apps from unofficial sources, or apps flagged by Google’s own Play Protect system for containing potentially harmful code.
To review what’s actually been flagged, open Device Care, tap Security, then look for a Scan phone option. After the scan completes, any apps considered high risk will be listed individually, usually along with a brief explanation of why they were flagged, such as excessive permission requests or behaviour resembling known malware. It’s worth reading this explanation carefully rather than assuming every flagged app is genuinely malicious; sometimes legitimate apps, particularly less mainstream ones, get flagged due to overly broad permission requests rather than actual harmful behaviour.
To remove a flagged app, tap on it directly from the scan results, which usually gives you the option to uninstall immediately from that screen. Alternatively, go to Settings, then Apps, find the app in question, and select Uninstall from there. If the app was sideloaded from outside the Google Play Store, which is a common reason apps get flagged as high risk in the first place, removing it this way also stops it from running in the background afterwards.
If you’re unsure whether a flagged app is a genuine threat or a false positive, a good extra step is running a scan with Google Play Protect directly. Open the Google Play Store, tap your profile icon, select Play Protect, then tap Scan. This cross-checks your installed apps against Google’s own threat database independently of Samsung’s system, giving you a second opinion before you decide whether to uninstall or keep an app.
To reduce the chances of encountering high risk apps in the first place, stick to downloading apps exclusively from the Google Play Store rather than sideloading APK files from third-party websites, review app permissions carefully during installation rather than accepting everything by default, and keep both your Samsung security software and Google Play Protect running with automatic scanning enabled.
A high risk apps warning on a Galaxy device is Samsung’s security system doing exactly what it’s designed to do, flagging potentially harmful software before it causes real damage. Take a moment to review what’s actually been flagged rather than ignoring the warning, remove anything genuinely suspicious through Device Care or Settings, and keep automatic scanning switched on going forward to catch future threats early.
It’s also worth understanding that Samsung’s Device Care security scan and Google Play Protect, while both useful, work slightly differently and occasionally flag different things, which is exactly why running both gives you a more complete picture than relying on just one. Neither system is infallible, and no automated scanner catches every genuinely malicious app, so staying cautious about what you install in the first place remains your strongest defence.
If you’ve already entered sensitive information, such as banking details or passwords, into an app that later gets flagged as high risk, it’s worth taking the extra step of changing those passwords and monitoring your bank statements for unusual activity, in addition to simply uninstalling the app itself. Samsung’s warning is a useful signal to act on, but removing the app alone doesn’t undo any data that may have already been accessed while it was installed.