Tech mistake |Can an iPhone get a virus or malware? Well, the answer is yes even though many people think it’s not possible. It’s very rare, but iPhones and iPads can get viruses and trojan attacks. I’ll talk about a few ways your iPhone can get a virus and show you how to avoid those potential pitfalls.
Don’t Jailbreak your iPhone or iPad
A lot of people are going to jailbreak their iPhone and if you’ve never heard of jailbreaking before, it removes Apple’s restrictions on what your apps can and cannot do. Apple restrictions protect the file system on your iPhone from getting viruses.
So, for instance, when you open an app on your iPhone, it opens in what’s called a scan box and that app has very specific and limited access to other apps or the files on your iPhone. When you jailbreak your iPhone, you’re taking it out of jail basically.
Now, this one app can do anything on your iPhone including give it malware and install apps that you know aren’t approved by Apple.
The other piece of it is that Cydia is the App Store for jailbreaking. Cydia is full of apps that just do all sorts of stuff with your iPhone.
Update your iPhone & iPad Regularly
Number two is to update your iPhone regularly. Periodically, Apple releases software updates that address bugs and fixes them. They don’t always make everything public that they find.
- Head over to the Settings app
- Tap General
- Hit Software Update
- It’ll say “checking for updates”
- If an update is available, you’ll be able to see ‘Download and Install’
Avoid Unfamiliar Websites
When you’re using Safari or another web browser, avoid unfamiliar websites because you can occasionally get a bad pop-up, which is the way people get viruses on iPhones on Apple Computers.
What happens is that they go to a website and it says something along the lines of “Virus has been detected on your Apple iPhone”, “Your battery is badly damaged by virus”, or “your system is heavily damaged by virus”.
A lot of people see these types of pop-ups and they get scared. They think that their iPhone actually has a virus, so they go ahead and download the software. By downloading the software that’s supposed to keep you “safe”, you’re installing a virus on your iPhone.
If you go to a website and you see a virus detected or something along those lines, you don’t have a virus right now, but if you download whatever they give you as a solution, then you will have a virus.
What to do When you get a Virus
If you think you have a virus:
- Close the Safari app
- Double-click the Home button to open the app switcher
- Swipe Safari Off the screen
The next thing to do is to clear Safari history:
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down to Safari and tap on it
- Scroll down again to Clear History and Website Data
It’ll clear history cookies and browsing data in safari.
Don’t Plug your iPhone into Devices you don’t Trust
Don’t plug your iPhone into devices. Just by plugging your iPhone into a compromised power strip or charger, your device is now infected and that compromises all of your data.
Whenever you’re plugging your iPhone into a charger, let’s say the airport, for example, you’re giving that charger access to not just the power on your iPhone, but the files on your iPhone.
Hackers have found ways to infect iPhones with just public Chargers that seem completely Innocent but not innocent.
Read more: Are Power Banks Allowed on Flights?: Yes, But Here’s how…
iPhone Virus Scanners
There are some apps in the App Store which can help you to keep your iPhone secure like Norton and McAfee. I don’t really think these are necessary.
A lot of people get scare and you know from viruses, especially if their experience with PCs that get viruses, so, McAfee and Norton, and other security companies figured out that they can capitalize on the fear and put iPhone apps in the App Store that ‘protect your iPhone’.
So, there you have it, iPhones can get viruses. Apple is wonderful at keeping just sort of the small-time hackers at Bay.
I look forward to hearing back from you in the comments section and your thoughts on this topic. If you liked this article, subscribe to the email newsletter where you can reply with tech-related questions and I’ll give you an answer or solution.
Related:
- ‘Congratulation you Have Won’ Virus message on iOS Device
- ‘Virus Detected on iPhone’: What to do If you Clicked this Scam
The article was originally published here.