I agree, the point is that we need to define "alive" itself clearly which as you stated, is currently beyond our understanding.
If being inert constitutes as not living then yes, virus is not alive. Their "evolution" is not because of their doing/needs but rather due to their construction. In that case I think virus is more akin to a poison. The substance itself can be not dangerous, but due to a metabolism process inside a specific organism/cell, it becomes a dangerous substance. The side effect in this case is just so happens to make another copy of the virus. But this process is prone to mutation as their building block is quite prone to do so, and we get the "evolution".
I think I may know a few of those. But not through play store. They usually scam someone by saying they got a packet on their way and their tracking number must be opened on an app that they send via messaging apps.