How to check if your phone has a virus

If your phone just started behaving weirdly, then you might need to check if your phone has a virus. We will show you a super-easy way to do that.

Your smartphone is an integral part of your life. You use it for everything from making calls to taking photos to sending messages. So it makes sense that you wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to it.

But if you aren't careful about what you install or download on your smartphone, then you could end up with a virus. And that could cause all sorts of problems.

So how do you know if your phone already has a virus? And, if it has, how do you remove them? Today, we will show you how to check if your phone has a virus and how to remove it. Let's get started.

How To Check If Your Phone Has A Virus

Unlike computers, the chances of getting a virus on your smartphone are really low. But, it is still a possibility. If you are one of those who are concerned about whether your phone has been infected by malware, you will be glad to learn that you can actually check if your phone has been infected. 

Steps To Check If Your Phone Has A Virus

You can take the following steps to find out if your phone is infected by malware or virus.

• The most common way a virus or malware gets onto your phone is when you download a malicious app. So, just go through the list of your installed apps and see if there are any apps that you don't recognize.
• Viruses can also enter your phone through message attachments from an email or SMS, and downloaded content from the internet. In that case, install any antivirus software from the store and do a quick scan to see if it detects any malware.
• In addition, there are some signs that you can look for to check if your phone has a virus. Here are some of them:
  • Your phone is acting slow. It takes longer than usual to open an app or perform a simple task.
  • Your battery drains more quickly than usual.
  • Apps like Instagram crashing more often than usual.
  • Your phone is overheating and it is consuming more mobile data than usual.

In our opinion, if you are suspicious that your phone has a virus, the best practice is to use antivirus software to scan your phone. It is the most reliable way to know if your phone is infected.

So, in the case that your phone has a virus, what should you do? Well, naturally, you need to get rid of it. In the following sections, we will discuss how to remove a virus from your iPhone or Android device.

Read More: How to check your phone temperature

How To Remove Virus From Android Free

Android phones are more vulnerable to malware than iPhones. This is because Google allows Android users to download apps from outside the official app store, which can open the door to malware. If your Android phone is infected with a virus, here is how to remove it.

• Absolutely uninstall any suspicious app. If the Uninstall option is greyed out, boot the device in safe mode and you will be able to remove the app.
• Clear the cache and downloads of your browser. Open Settings, go to Apps and find your browser from the list. And clear its storage and cache.
• Use a virus removal app like Avast to remove other malware threats from your device.
• Your last resort is to reset your phone. Bear in mind that you will lose all your apps, data and settings (if only they aren't backed up).

Safety tips: Turn the Google Play Protect feature on as it will monitor your apps for unusual behaviour and warns you about potential malware. Also, do not install apps from unknown sources. Finally, keep your phone OS up to date; Install the security patches as soon as they are released

If you are using an old phone that no longer receives support or updates from the manufacturer, consider switching to a new device. Take a look at our picks for the best budget phones of 2022.

How To Remove Virus From iPhone

iPhones rarely get infected with viruses. However, they can be a carrier of malware, especially when they are jailbroken.

If your iPhone is redirecting you to strange web pages and opening the App Store without permission, the chances are that your iPhone has been infected with malware.

In that situation, here is how you can remove virus from your iPhone:

• Clear your browsing history and data. Open Settings, find Safari and clear its history and data.
• If your iPhone is misbehaving while using a particular app, the best thing to do is to uninstall it. In this situation, you can always contact the app developer. You could also visit the app forum or Twitter account and see if other users are reporting the same problem.
• You could always restore your iPhone to a backup you created before your phone began acting strangely.
• If none of the above works, you could try and reset your iPhone as a new device.

As mentioned above, the chances of your iPhone getting infected with malware are extremely slim. However, if you want to avoid it, it’s best not to jailbreak your iPhone and keep your iPhone updated by installing the latest iOS updates. You will be fine!