Keep Apple devices in sync

How to get rid of a virus on a Mac. There’s this notion that hackers don’t care about Mac users. They do, and there’s a bouquet of diseases your Mac can contract. In a nutshell, Mac computers do suffer from adware, trojan horses, spyware, and exploits. Apple App Store: Avoid iPhone Malware & Viruses from Apps. One of the easiest ways to keep viruses and other malware off of your iPhone is to only purchase and download apps from the Apple App Store, which you're limited to anyway if you haven't jailbroken your device. Apple's App Store has historically been a secure platform for purchasing.

Though iPhone viruses are rare, they can happen. Typically, this occurs through a few different methods, but it’s almost never totally your fault.

Hackers are clever, and are always finding new ways to infect devices for nefarious purposes. You can get a virus from clicking links you don't recognize, or downloading sketchy apps.

A common method for hackers to load viruses and malware on your iPhone is via iMessage. You’ll get a message telling you something urgent, and encouraging you to click a link to resolve an issue or claim a prize. When you do, your phone is subject to whatever is on the other end – and it’s almost never good.

If you believe your iPhone has a virus, we’ll show you how to clean your phone from virus threats, how tog et rid of a virus on your phone already, and discuss some apps that can help keep your Mac and iPhone safe from harm.

How to find out if My iPhone Has a Virus or Other Malware?

Plainly put, your iPhone will be acting strangely. Devices with viruses or malware are often slow, and can hijack normal functionality, like search. This is why removing viruses from iPhone or iPad is so important.

If your phone is acting abnormally, consider what links you may have clicked recently. There’s no Safari virus on iPhone, but Safari can be a gateway for hackers to load malware or other bloatware onto your device.

You should also think about which apps you've recently downloaded. Apps are a direct way for hackers to gain entry to your phone, and it's not always as direct as it seems. Developers often use snippets of code called APIs that are open source to access services in the cloud, and hackers have been known to inject malware and viruses into APIs.

Though this article will show you how to clean your iPhone from virus threats, prevention is still the best path forward. Don’t click links you’re not confident in, and don’t download sketchy apps from any source.

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Why are iPhone viruses so rare?

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Apple does a really good job of keeping the iOS ecosystem locked. The ‘walled garden’ keeps virus threats at bay. Though some threats have been detected, Apple’s diligence keeps the volume of viruses on iPhone really low.

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Code developers submit is also checked routinely for suspicious API calls or strange text. When the review team detects an issue, they communicate with the developer.

How To Remove a Virus from iPhone

Now that we know why it happens, let’s discuss how to get rid of virus on phone and keep it from occurring again.

Delete apps that look suspicious

Dig through the apps on your phone: do any look suspicious? Do you recall downloading each of them, and do you use them often enough to keep around?

The answer to “how do i get a virus off my iPhone?” is often as simple as deleting an app. Apps have associated files, and deleting them typically removes the files they imported. All you need to do is press and hold on the app icon, and select “Remove App” from the menu that appears.

Clear history and website data

Understanding how to delete virus from iPhone history is critical, too. Viruses can live in your browser history or website data, especially if you revisit a suspect website on your phone often. Viruses can re-inject files onto your phone, perhaps doing more damage.

Here’s how to reset your website history and data:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Select “Safari”
3. Select “Clear History and Website Data”
4. Choose “Clear History and Data” from the menu that appears

Restart your iPhone

Viruses and malware often happen while your phone is operating, and shutting your phone off completely can stop a virus or malware form working. It’s a simple measure that can often save you a lot of headache.

Keep in mind you will have to shut your phone down; putting it into Airplane Mode won’t do the trick. All you have to do is hold down the power button on the left side of your iPhone and the volume up button on the right side for a few seconds. On the screen that appears, slide the icon at the top of the screen to power your phone off.

Restore your phone from a previous backup version

Apple provides a small sliver of iCloud storage for backups, but it’s often not enough to store many backups. It’s also not a useful method if you’ve had a virus on your phone for a long while. Each backup iCloud has may also be corrupted!

This is why it’s best to have your own backup program, and why AnyTrans is an app you should download for Mac right away.

AnyTrans allows you far more control over your backups than Apple allows via iCloud. The app allows you to download any files or folders to your Mac, and sync iOS devices to your Mac’s storage. The wired connection to your Mac also sidesteps the often clumsy iCloud syncing protocols, and lets you get direct access to backups of your iPhone stored on your Mac or an associated external drive.

Because you have full control of where your backups are housed – and how many you hold onto – you can keep a reliably safe backup of your iPhone tucked away, and restore to it if you ever run into issues with viruses or malware on your iPhone. AnyTrans is really the safest solution for backing up and syncing your iPhone.

Reset with Factory Settings

If all else fails, or you simply want to start completely over with your iPhone, you can always reset your device to factory settings and start anew. Know that any data you haven’t backed up will be lost, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of everything AnyTrans has to offer before going this route.

First, you’ll need to remove your iPhone from Find My iPhone, if it’s enrolled. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Select your name banner at the top of the screen
3. Select ‘Find My”
4. Select “Find My iPhone”
5. Toggle all settings off

To reset your phone to factory settings, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your phone
2. Select “General”
3. Select “Reset”
4. Select “Erase All Content and Settings”
5. Enter the passcode for your iPhone
6. Tap “Erase”

Your phone will begin the process of deleting all of your data and settings. It will then reboot as though it were a brand new phone.

Tips how to keep your iOS device secure

Remember, preventing issues is far better than solving them! Now that you know to never click a link you’re not totally sure is legitimate, here are a few extra tips to ensure you never get another virus on your phone.

Download apps only from Appstore

Getting apps via other sources is possible, but you should never do it. Always download apps from the App Store, and never ‘sideload’ apps from the web or a secondary app marketplace.

When downloading apps, always read reviews. If an app has a low rating, it may be because users notice signs of a virus without understanding the app is at fault. If review note the phone slows down when the app runs or any other odd behavior, skip the download.

Keep iOS system updated

Each time Apple updates iOS, it comes with tons of security improvements. Apple never discusses what fixes it has made, but the latest version of iOS is always the safest.

Similarly, don’t download older iOS builds unless it’s directly from Apple. Even if you’re not crazy about the latest and greatest version of iOS, it’s safer than downloading iOS from somewhere else, which could itself carry viruses and malware.

Keep app Updated

You know how app updates often say “bug fixes and improvements”? That’s because ‘bugs’ and ‘improvements’ are often security patches!

Always keep your apps up to date. Apps that haven’t delivered updates in a long while may be carrying malware, too. Remember how we told you Apple checks code for suspicious activity? If a developer knowingly added a virus to their app and ships an update, Apple will check the code and hackers can be caught.

Pro tip: free gigabytes from unused file and photos

Keeping your Mac and iPhone in sync is popular, as having the same files, folders, and images across all of your devices just makes life easier. You can free up precious space for your synced apps, files, folders, and images with Gemini.

Gemini is dedicated to finding duplicate files, and deleting them if you choose. Your iPhone and Mac being totally harmonious sometimes means files and images are duplicated, causing unnecessary storage space to be occupied. You could ignore this, but why? Duplicate files are just clutter you don’t need.

Cleaning your Mac with Gemini and syncing your folders and images to iPhone ensures storage across your devices remains clear and concise, and you only keep the files you really want and need.

Conclusion

Viruses on Mac are never fun to deal with, so be sure to take preventative measures. The last thing you’d want to do is have to reset your phone just because you clicked a strange link in a text message!

Gemini and AnyTrans help keep your iPhone synced, backed up, and free of unwanted files. Both are available for free as part of a seven day trial of Setapp, the world’s most robust suite of apps for your Mac. While these two apps alone are reason enough to give Setapp a try, there are nearly 200 other apps available in the Setapp suite you’ll love, too.

When your trial ends, access to Setapp is only $9.99 per month. It’s an incredible bargain for access to over 200 apps, so why hesitate any longer? Give Setapp a try now!

An Apple Macintosh computer can get a virus or malware infection, so the short answer to the question is Yes. However, it's less likely for an Apple Macintosh computer to be infected compared to a MicrosoftWindows computer.

The term 'virus' and 'malware' are often used interchangeably. For the sake of simplicity, 'virus' will be used on this page and refers to either a virus or malware.

Several examples of viruses that have infected Apple Macintosh computers include the following.

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• Flashback malware - Infected over 600,000 Apple computers in April 2012; designed to steal user's personal information, including account login credentials.
• OSX/KitM.A virus - Infected a small number of Apple computers in May 2013; designed to take screenshots of a user's desktop and upload to one of several websites.
• OSX.PROTON - Infected thousands of Apple computers in 2017; designed to steal user's account credentials by accessing the macOS Keychain app.
• OSX/MaMi - Infected several thousand or more Apple computers in January 2018; designed to allow a person to view a computer's Internet traffic, also called 'snooping.'

In 2015, the senior e-threat analyst at Bitdefender, Bogdan Botezatu, was quoted as saying 'Mac OS X software has more high-risk vulnerabilities than all versions of Windows put together.' Despite that statement and apparent fact, Mac computers are still infected by viruses much less often than Windows computers. Below are some of the reasons why Apple Macintosh computers do not have as many viruses as Windows computers:

1. Beginning with macOS X in March 2001, Macintosh operating systems are built on 'Darwin,' a fork of the BSDkernel.
2. Most of the computer virus writers are more familiar with the IBM platform and Microsoft Windows, which means it's easier for them create a virus for that platform.
3. Many of the tools, scripts, and code used to create viruses or other malware are designed for Microsoft Windows.
4. Many of the targets of viruses are governments and businesses, with an aim to either steal information, money, or create havoc. The majority of computers used by government agencies and businesses have the Windows operating system, resulting in most viruses being targeted towards Windows computers, instead of Macs.

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If you are running a virtual PC on your Apple Macintosh or Windows in Bootcamp, because it is emulating Microsoft Windows, it can become infected with Windows viruses.

Software and plug-in threats

Although the Apple OS is more secure than many versions of Windows, additional software, plug-ins, and add-ons that connect to the Internet can introduce security vulnerabilities. The most common ways to attack a Mac computer is through a third-party browser and browser plugins, like Adobe Reader, Flash, and Java. Today, most Mac users have these plugins installed and enabled on the computer, and, in doing so, compromise the overall security of the system.

Additional security threats

Although a Mac is less susceptible to viruses, Mac users can still be the victims of trojan horses, phishing scams, and online fraud. If you are a Mac computer user, we still recommend keeping informed about how to keep safe while online. There is no such thing as a 100% safe computer. Mac, Windows, and even Linux computers are all capable of being infected with a virus or other malware.

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Additional information

• See our malware and virus definitions for further information and related links.