A long time ago, even before the birth of Windows operating system as we know it, when the computer viruses were still not such a big threat, the experts from European Institute of Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) created a small program to test the antivirus software. This DOS program was later called EICAR test file because all it does is print EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE! inside a DOS console. For decades this files has been used to see if the antivirus programs are protecting your systems in the background. A good antivirus should block this file as soon as it is downloaded or created on your computer system.
This same EICAR test file can also be used to test the antivirus apps in Android, but we have a better alternative – Ikarus TestVirus. This is in fact an app in itself and can be used to see if your currently installed antivirus app is properly blocking the possible threats. This can also help you understand how your antivirus app blocks the threats and what response is expected from you, so that when a real malware attacks your Android smartphone, you do not make any mistake in a hurry (such as touching the “Ignore” option). It is actually very interesting to see how different antivirus products react to this app and which options they provide.
The Ikarus TestVirus has no interface simply because it does not need any. As soon as you install this app in your Android device, your installed antivirus app should be able to jump into action and identify it as virus. If your antivirus does not block Ikarus TestVirus then perhaps you have to start thinking into changing the antivirus solution. There are plenty of free and paid antivirus solutions for the Android devices from all the reputed security software companies.
You can get the Ikarus TestVirus app for Android from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ikarus.ikarustestvirus.