iPhones usually don’t get much malware or virus in general. Apple will only allow you to download registered apps from its store, but we know that it’s still a possibility for your phone to get malicious code. So it’s important to figure out how to recognize malware on iPhones in order to get rid of it.
It’s crucial you know how to act in those cases, and erase any bad code (viruses or malware) in the shortest time possible, since those can hijack ordinary functions, and in worst cases, they can have access to sensitive data on your phone, like banking info and personal info.
If a user wants to learn how to remove a virus from iPhone, will find many ways to do that, but the ‘step 0’ is actually knowing if your phone has malicious code. In many cases, outdated software and old phone behaviors can be taken as malware infections.
Thankfully, there are a few hints that tell you just that:
- May start running slowly, less responsive and behave in weird ways
- Spikes in data usage
- Bad battery performance
- Unexpected pop up ads
- Apps crashes
After you have noticed any of these behaviors, you can proceed to remove any malicious code.
How to delete malware on an iPhone?
- Remove distrustful apps from your phone
The first thing you will have to do is examine the installed applications on your device. After checking all the installed mobile applications, spot the one that looks distrustful and query yourself if you installed that application. If it’s an app you often use, don’t worry about it, but if it’s an app you don’t need or don’t remember downloading it, delete it. In many cases, that’s all you need to erase any malicious code on your storage.
After you download an application, it will install a lot of files and sometimes mischievous codes to your iPhone. That’s why by deleting it, you’ll be deleting all the file and malware that comes with it.
- Clear your iPhone’s Cache Data and Internet History
While browsing only, there’s a good chance that someone may click on an infected link and visit a suspicious website, it’s normal. In the worst case scenario, a bad link can give your Apple product malware, try deleting and clearing the data from your browser (history, cookies, cache and everything).
This should be a recurrent practice, doing it every now and then is a must. Since a malware or virus can reside in this type of storage and a good deal of malicious codes can reintegrate themself in your iPhone.
- Restore your iPhone to a previous backup version
Another solution to get rid of malicious code is to bring back your iPhone to a prior backup (way before the issues started). Every iPhone user has limited cloud storage for saving up the data of their products. This is one of the best options to deal with malware. Try restoring your phone to a backup made before you noticed the issues, it will bring back your device to a previous state without any issues (hopefully).
You should know that if your phone has had malware for a large period of time, there’s a high chance that your backup can contain the malicious code.
- Turn on/off your iPhone
The fastest way to remove malware on an iPhone is to turn off and turn on your phone. You have a good chance to cut off the malware from functioning. However, many times this is not a long-range solution, many mischievous codes can resume the activity after the iPhone is back on.
To turn on/off your iPhone, push and hold the main button for a short period of time until you see a “slide to power off” option, just drag the slider and it’ll be done. To switch it back on again, push the same button again and after a while (seconds) your apple product will be back on again.