The popularity of using the Android operating system has increased the number of developers and intruders in this field. Many applications are developed in this area and perform malicious activities like ransomware attacks, installing backdoors, phishing, sending premium short message service, and stealing private data. These activities pose many threats to smartphone users. This study provides a review of the main strategies used in intrusion detection systems to detect malicious activities at the application and system levels. The study illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of each method and the significant features used to discriminate against malicious activities and highlights several open issues that warrant further investigation and improvement. It is a comprehensive review that may be useful for academic researchers interested in cybersecurity.