In today’s world, an existence without the smartphone appears to be unthinkable because all
our significant data, records, contacts, photographs, and so on, are stored in it, and when it gets
infected, life turns into a wreck.
With the advancement of technology and new programming, there has been a concurrent increase in virus attacks and cybercrimes.
Consequently, it becomes very important to keep your device safe and secure.
Though rare in occurrence, virus in an iPhone or Android phone is a possibility. It can hamper the overall working of the mobile phone.

Thankfully, with easily followable steps, one can make the iPhone or Android phone completely virus-free. Here is complete know-how on how to do it. By the end of this article, you will get to know everything from what is a virus to how to eliminate it from your life permanently.
What is a Virus?
Viruses are malicious software that infiltrates your phone without warning. However, the usage of term virus for phones is not appropriate. A virus has become a layman’s term for any malware software, but technically what you call a virus in your phone is not a virus, it is a malware.
The main difference between a malware and a virus is that the latter is capable of replicating itself, whereas malware cannot. Traditionally PCs can catch a virus that comes attached with software files and spreads to other programs infecting the entire system.
The virus replicates itself and results in performance lags, corrupt files, and making the device a mess, whereas, in the case of malware, they do not have the potential to replicate themselves.
They are termed as a virus as they are capable of accessing your personal data or other sensitive information, without your permission or knowledge.
Though this changed terminology does not give fewer problems than a real virus, nowadays, crypt files, slow data speed, and the random pop-up has become a persistent problem.
The most disturbing point is that these can hijack sensitive information like account numbers, passwords, and can make changes to it or track your daily activities, thus intruding your privacy without your knowledge.
Kinds of Viruses Mobile Phones Can Get
Virus, irrespective of its type, is an undesirable development. It damages the performance of the mobile phone and needs urgent care. Here are some of the viruses that phones witness:
Though it may be hard to distinguish one from another, users can know from the pointers above the reason behind unusual activity happening on the phone.
Tell-Tale Signs of a Virus in an iPhone or Android Phone
A smartphone or iPhone is most likely to get hit by a virus if its user has the habit of opening every email or ad that meets the eyes. A virus is a self-duplicating code that enters the device through nefarious websites or ads or attachments of an email containing malware.
There are many ways by which you can find out if your phone is exposed to some of these. Here are the signs to find out if your Android phone has malware:
By cautiously looking into the performance of your device, and the functioning of the applications on your phone, you can surely make out whether your phone is safe and secure or not. If you find any of the above activities on your phone or if it is not functioning smoothly, then you should take out some time to ramify it.
Though keep in mind that, not always the functioning reduces or the phone behaves weirdly because of the malware only. These issues might be because of the storage problem or apps crashing. So, when the phone is not working properly, try clearing the app cache or free up some space on your phone.
Delete the unused apps. Check if this works, if yes, then you are good to go, otherwise, you have to follow a few more steps, as then there are high chances that
your phone is infected by some serious malware.
How to Remove a Virus from Your iPhone or Android Phone
How to Remove Virus from iPhones– Some Stepwise Procedures to Follow
There are many ways to remove malware. Mentioned below are apt, quick, and easy to implement solutions. Keep in mind that all types of phones have the same basic steps for removing malware. There might be subtle variations in terminologies.
Remove Infected Apps / Files
Look for the apps that you think are infected. If you find an app that is not working properly or taking too long to start, delete it immediately. Otherwise, it will further transmit the virus to the other apps and can also corrupt other files.
Install a robust mobile security app on your phone
Clean up your file downloaded filess that are of no use or the ones that you find suspicious or -files which are unknown to you or you do not remember downloading. Remove these suspicious applications from your device.
Sometimes, you might be unable to uninstall the applications because the option to uninstall is greyed out. In such cases, remove administrator access. To do this, go to the ‘settings’ and go down to the ‘security and location’ or the ‘lock and security’ option.
Then ‘search for phone administration’ or some similar variant. Search for phone administration or similar variants. Select the option and a list with all the applications on your phone will be displayed. From there, uncheck the ones you want to remove. These applications will no longer be on your phone.
Restart the iPhone
The easiest way to stop any viral activity on the phone is to put the phone to restart. You do it by holding the power button till the time 'slide to power off' prompt command appears. Touch the knob and slide as suggested. It restarts the phone within seconds.
Keep the power button on till the time the Apple logo reappears. This simple act can restore the iPhone's original make-up. The restarting process varies according to the model of the iPhone or iPad you have. For example,
For iPhone 6S and Earlier
iPhone 7 and 7+
iPhone 8 and Above
Restore the Phone to a Point Before Recent Backup
This is another way to eject malware from your iPhone. You can restore from the backup that is stored on your computer, or from the previous version stored on iCloud. You can also restore from the backups on the computer, you can restore the same using iTunes.
Virus attack is an activity, just like any update your phone goes through. There is always an option available that enables the user to restore the phone to a point before a recent backup was taken. Steps include:
To restore follow the below-mentioned steps:
Reset all content and settings, if none of the above methods work, and you are continuously experiencing problems. This is the final step. It will restore your device to a new-like state. A factory setting wipes off all the contents, settings, and configurations and then installs the latest versions of the applications.
However, there is no going back. When you select this option, you are going to erase all your phone data. Make sure that before you use this option, you back up all your content or import the same to avoid losing all the important contacts, files, or photos.
These steps can set the iPhone to that point; it can recover the device from the virus's attack. Then, move to clear the browsing history to be on a safer side.
Clear Browsing History and Data
If the problem of viruses pertains, after doing the power on-off, then the next step should be to clear the history and data from your browser. Many times it is possible that the virus enters when you click any suspicious link, so it becomes necessary to clean the browsing data.
These viruses might still be existing be living in your old files. Clean up the caches and all the browsers. There remain chances that viruses might have come in via cache. Keep cleaning it from time to time.
This is a very handy and easy way to reduce the bleak chances of getting malware. Make it a habit. This step is essential if pop-ups and error messages are plaguing the Safari browser more than often. It is carried out through:
This step can help you deactivate the virus and bring the device back to safe limits.
Restore to New Device Settings
This is how you defeat the virus by undoing all the changes made in your device since its purchase.
Visit the App Store to Seek Help
Activate Your Phone's Safe Mode
Switch off your phone and reboot it in safe mode. Restarting your phone is one of the easiest ways of removing the virus. This will disable all third-party apps, including the malicious ones and the device will only run the original apps that were preinstalled when you have purchased the device.
There are two ways to reboot your phone into a safe mood:
When the phone is ON
Press and hold the ‘power button’ until the option of the slide to power off appears on the screen. It will take three to four seconds. Then turn the device on again by pressing the power button. Select the ‘safe mode option’ to restart. This will help in cleaning the malware present on the phone.
When the phone is OFF
Turn on the phone by pressing and holding the power button. Now, when you see the boot-up animation, press your mobile phone’s volume-down button till the phone starts in safe mode.
How to Remove Virus from iPhone
How to Remove a Virus from Android Phone
A virus entering the android phone is a remote possibility, but it is not entirely impossible. Thus, take the following steps to remove the virus if it has bugged your android phone:
Run Phone Scan using Reliable Anti-Virus
- 1Go to Google Play Store and download and install a trusted anti-virus app
- 2Click on the app icon and press 'Scan.'
- 3The anti-virus scans all the files and applications and removes any suspicious malware, etc. from the device.
- 4Tap 'Resolve' in case the threat is found.
- 5The app uninstalls or removes malicious apps or viruses in response to 'Resolve.'
The Manual Uninstallation of Malicious Apps
Restore Factory Settings in the Android Phone
What to do When the Culprit is a Buggy App?
The other source of a buggy app can be a faulty update. To avoid any unpleasant change in the phone after starting any app or update, it is essential to read the user reviews. If the users report the same issues as experienced by you, it confirms the presence of a bug in the app or its new update.
Once it is confirmed that the app is faulty, a simple solution will be to delete it. The good news is that removing an app is easier than removing the virus. Here are a few steps specific to the iPhone OS versions used to delete the problematic app.
iOS 13, iPad OS, and Above
iOS 12 and Lower Versions
Red Flags that tell About the Buggy App
Take a Look at Terms and Conditions
Implied Conditions
Compromised Clarity on Data Collection and Its Use Policies
How to Remove Virus from Android
Malware – A Serious Concern for Android Phones
The android phones' bugs are not 'viruses', technically. However, the android phones are vulnerable to malware, spyware, and ransomware. The malware hacks into the mobile phone to steal the user information and sells it to third parties. It raises the possibility of misuse of phone owners' data.
Android phones become vulnerable to such malicious agents as these can hide in a normal-looking app in the app store. These malicious apps or malware pose following threats to android device users:
It is quite necessary to know all about that stylish-looking app; it can be a trap! Secondly, any app may be safe in the beginning, but their updates may not be. So, beware of the suspicious activity caused by updates too.
How to Keep Your Phone Protected
After removing all the viruses, you probably want to make sure that such malware does not enter your phone again.
There are many ways to ensure that and to keep your phone safe and secure. These are the precautionary measures that you have to take to ensure complete protection, and they will drop the chances of malware infecting your phone to zero.
Download applications only from authentic sources
There are multiple options available for you to download applications manually online. However, it is suggested that avoid such unauthenticated apps, as they do not provide any surety or scanning of the application.
There are high chances of these applications being malicious and it will get installed on your phone. Hence, the best practice is to download from authenticated sources and be extra vigilant about your phone security.
Always Check the Permissions Granted to the App
When you install any app, it generally asks for accessing to your phone information. This information is necessary for the application to run without any issues. But, in case such an application requests permission for some unrelatable information then it is a matter to ponder.
It is suggested that you do not install such an app and do not permit such requests. Sometimes it happens that the app does not ask for permission at the time of installation. The applications have inbuilt software that automatically checks the boxes of permission. The permission is automatically granted.
You can also change the permission under the ‘Apps and Permission ‘tab.
Invest in a strong, powerful antivirus
It will not only protect your phone but will also enhance the efficiency and life of your phone. It is an essential investment.
The regular scanning will add up to the inbuilt scanning of the phone. Google Play comes with built-in security features known as Google Play Protect that scans your installed apps to find any malicious applications. Thus, your Android phone comes with a built-in antivirus.
Install a branded antivirus or install it from authentic sites. After investing in a good antivirus, keep using it. Run it regularly. This will be very helpful in the long run and will eliminate the chance of piling up any garbage which is prone to attract viruses.
Keep Updating the Device
Keep all the operating systems and software updated. These can be updated for better security and protection or to improve performance. iPhones also provide the same features. Download the iOS update as soon as it is published.
Ensure high security of your phone by keeping strong passwords
It will not easily be easy able to crack the passwords and access sensitive information if your password is strong.
Avoid using unsecured Wi-Fi connections
Always use a VPN when connecting to public Wi-Fi. The unsecured Wi-Fi exposes your phone data to the third party. It becomes an easy pathway for malware to enter your system.
Don’t Try to jailbreak your device
Jailbreaking is very attempting but doing so will enable viruses to easily enter your phone as apps will be able to go around the security safeguards on your iPhone.
How to Protect Android Phones from Malware
Listed here are some steps to take to protect the android phones from viruses:
Keep the phone updated
This will take you to the latest status of the phone. If it is updated, the status will be something like 'Updated to Android 9', or it will show status as 'Update available.'
Use Antivirus of trusted quality for android phones
Avoid installing apps from unauthorized resourcesPlay Store is the only source that Google stamps as 'authorized.' Any other source apart from it is not reliable. Android, accordingly, may alert you about the danger too.
Read About the app permissions
Avoid all suspicious emails and text messages
Make installations password-protected
How to Keep the iPhone and iPad Protected from Viruses
Prevention is always better than cure; it holds true when the iPhone or iPad's safety is in question. You can keep the security of iPhones and iPads tight by taking these steps:
What to do if You have Clicked a Phishing Email or Link?
Despite taking all precautions, if you have clicked any phishing email or link, don't panic! Let's understand first the aims of a phishing email or link:
Anyway, the best thing to know is that just clicking the phishing email or link does not wreak havoc; following instructions given in those does. So, if you think you have clicked a phishing email, do these:
- 1Disconnect from the internet immediately
- 2Change passwords to all important accounts immediately
- 3Get the debit or credit card blocked
- 4Thoroughly scan the mobile phone
- 5Create backup of files to a safe location
- 6Never enter any data
- 7Delete all browsing data including cookies and passwords
A Few Critical Phishing Infections
Important Sources of Phishing Links
Of these, the last one is the most common source and traps gullible people with added ease.
Ways to Avoid Losses from Phishing Links and Emails
So, whether it is an Android phone or an iPhone, their vulnerabilities are somewhat similar. Use the information to stay safe while using any of these mobile phones or iOS-run tablets.