How To Tell If Your Phone Has A Virus? 2024

The world has become much faster than before. In this modern world, people are more oriented towards technology. The use of mobile devices is at its peak. According to statista.com graph, more than 7 billion mobile devices are running all over the world right now.

It’s because mobile technology is highly scalable to embrace new tech ideas and functionalities. Mobile phone-producing firms have made it easy to embed corporate networks and personal technology. But along with the increased use of mobile phones, there are bigger threats of being infected with malware or viruses. The research report of the University of Cambridge states that more than 90 percent of all smartphones are exposed or hijacked by at least one attacker. Most mobile users don’t know that their device data is not safe.

Typically, mobile malware takes two kinds of approaches. The first type of malware will ask the user to grant access to sensitive information such as contact info, camera control, file manager, and call forwarding. This is where the Ads Blocker app comes in, and many of the permissions it requests are similar to what a real ad blocker would ask for. But they also allow the app to run constantly in the background to push advertisements even when the user is using other apps.

The second type of malware is more dangerous and can harm the device without the user’s permission. It accesses sensitive information by giving itself administrator privileges. No need to make victims click “OK” when requesting authorization. As a result, the malware can run discreetly without anyone suspecting its presence.

The malware can affect the mobile in any form. It can attack in the form of banking malware, mobile ransomware, mobile spyware, MMS malware, mobile adware, or SMS trojan. There are some precautions to follow to avoid this malware. These are:

  • Use secure Wi-Fi
  • Click carefully on the call to action of emails
  • Install apps from trusted resources
  • Avoid rooting your device
  • Install a good anti-virus

Most reliable antivirus tools

Sometimes the phone is blocked due to malicious codes or viruses. This happens when the device is highly affected. At that point, users try to restore the phone with some antiviruses. But in reality, most of the users don’t have any idea how to pick a good antivirus for their phone. Android devices are more likely to be infected or blocked as compared to iPhones.

However, on both sides, the risk is there. Here’s a list of reliable antivirus tools to try on a smartphone. These antivirus tools are ranked, based on some attributes which include Strong malware protection, High-quality features, Speed and Efficiency, Ease of use, and Good value. Anti-viruses that come at the top of the line in 2024 are:

  1. Norton 360
  2. Bitdefender Total Security
  3. Intego
  4. TotalAV
  5. McAfee Total Protection
  6. Avira Prime
  7. Kaspersky Internet Security
  8. BullGuard
  9. Panda Dome
  10. Trend Micro

These antivirus tools provide all necessary protections.  They provide real-time malware protection including firewall security, web protection, VPN, ransomware protection, OS optimization, network security protection, phishing protection, and many more based on operating systems and antivirus.

How To Remove A Virus From A Phone?

If your phone is blocked or malfunctioning due to some virus or malware, you can try different techniques and anti-viruses for this purpose. There are some predefined methods to free your device from a virus.

These tips would help you how to remove a virus from your phone. The mobile devices, if proper precautions are taken, do not need to have an antivirus for real-time protection, because there are parameters that automatically block the installation of unknown applications that could damage the device.

The first step to check if you are protected from installing unknown apps is to check your Android settings. If the option is enabled, remove the checkmark from the box next to it. This procedure is generic for Android devices. This option can be easily found in in-app settings. Restart your phone in safe mode. Find out the malicious application that infects your phone. Delete the malicious application from your mobile phone.

If some applications do not wish to delete themselves (uninstall button not available) or the process does not work, they may have granted themselves administrator rights when they were installed. Go to the ‘Security tab of your settings, then to ‘Administrator access’ to see the list of apps that have these rights. Remove them for malicious apps.

On iOS devices, the situation changes a lot compared to Android devices. The operating system of Apple devices is safe and the chances of encountering a virus are really low. It often depends on how you use your device. Jailbreaking and installing apps from unofficial sources is not recommended. It is highly not recommended to jailbreak your phone.

Jailbreaking is a procedure that, like rooting Android devices, allows you to bypass restrictions imposed by Apple on its iOS operating system. This procedure allows users to perform operations not authorized by Apple, such as installing applications from unofficial sources. This practice exposes the system to failures that can cause damage to the device, which also leads to the installation of malware that can access personal information, such as passwords written or stored on your device.

The second option is removing the virus with the help of anti-virus. Download and install a good anti-virus – as some good anti-viruses are listed above. Open the app and analyze the system files and apps. Once the scanning completes the application will ask you to remove the infected files and apps if found.

A good anti-virus will try to remove only the virus that is causing issues. But normally an anti-virus recommends deleting that file or app. Clearing your applications’ cache is also helpful to secure and speed up your phone. These anti-virus apps clean the app cache and unnecessary data from the phone’s storage.

It is also coming to know that keeping your operating system up to date is helpful to avoid needless blockage of the phone and its malfunctioning. So always install the latest release of the operating system.

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