Is McAfee necessary for virus protection on Apple devices?

Chearyl wrote:

Does virus software like McAfee needed or does it cause issues on Apple devices.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

macOS has its own built in software. Save your money.

Third party AntiVirus is not recommended— it typically does nothing but add issues to the macOS and competes directly with Apple’s own built in security:

macOS - Security - Apple macOS - Security - Apple

Apple Platform Security - Apple Apple Platform Security - Apple Support

Protecting against malware in macOS

Protecting against malware in macOS - Apple Support

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony ...

Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Effective defenses against malware and other threats… - Apple Community

Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

I also recommend not installing tools like McAfee on a Mac. As an example, see this post

Safari page loading becomes very slow upo… - Apple Community

in which a user finds their Mac no longer runs properly (slow loading web pages -- loading web pages is about the most basic function a computer is used for) and they had McAfee installed. But the computer is still crippled even after removal of the McAfee tool, which is a commonly reported problem, that tools like McAfee are hard or even impossible to completely remove, even using the company's provided uninstaller.

Why could this happen? There are many reasons. One might be that the uninstaller does not remove all the elements of the software, because the uninstaller was not properly written. Another is that these so-called anti-virus tools are quite invasive. They place files in many places and directories, including some that are hidden or difficult to access for many users. Over time, as the MacOS changes, some of these directories may change or their purpose changes, or their permissions change. So where they could be accessed before by an uninstaller maybe in a newer version of the MacOS those folders are no longer accessible, or they have been renamed or relocated. Hence an outdated version of anti-virus can have unintended consequences.

There are many posts in Apple Discussions about Macs that are impaired by these anti-virus tools. It is ironic because the MacOS now has a sealed, read-only volume for its operating system. This makes it impossible for a virus to spread in the operating system. And even more ironic, an anti-virus tool purportedly utilized to keep a Mac healthy in fact can cripple it and interfere with its most basic functionality. Which of course is what viruses were created to do, originally. So the "cure" is worse than the "disease."

No antivirus software is needed and most, if not all cause issues.

The built-in anti-malware has blocked some of the add-on anti-malware from corrupting macOS itself, amusingly or ironically enough.

No, not needed. Yes, causes issues.