Today, there are over 3 billion smartphone users worldwide, which is almost half the world’s population. Smartphones have now become essential needs and are practically comparable to the three human basic needs.

According to a recent survey, 47% of Americans said they could live without their smartphones. In South Korea, 97% of adults own a smartphone. With the extensive use of the internet, smartphones have become more convenient options to access the internet than PCs. A data report from Data Reportal indicated that 52% of the world’s population are mobile internet users.

Besides accessing the internet, smartphones have become profound data storage devices making them high targets for hackers and malware. Smartphones are today data gold mines, and this has alarmed hackers into hacking and infecting them with malware for financial gains. In 2019, Kaspersky technologies detected over 3.5 million malicious installation packages. Mobile malware infection went up by 54% in 2018 and was projected to increase with the internet’s continued use.

However, Android smartphones have been the primary targets for viruses compared to iOS devices. 97% of mobile malware are targeted at Android devices, for they have a more flexible software system.

On the other hand, iOS devices are also victims of malware and hacker attacks. Nonetheless, such incidences are rare as iOS is a rigid software system. Mostly, hacking and malware infections occur to those who have jail-braked their devices, resulting in data loss, corrupt files, stole bank detail, and account passwords.

Conversely, in this post, we will learn how to find if your Android/iPhone has a virus and how to get rid of the malware and protect your smartphone. Well, let’s get down to business!

Signs That Your Phone Was Hacked

You might be wondering, how do I know if my phone is infected by malware or hacked? For sure, most people will not notice if their phone is infected until they mysteriously lose their data or receive weird calls from hackers asking them for ransom to decrypt their data. You do not have to wait for the situation to worsen, below are some signs that can tell if your phone is hacked or infected by malware.

1. Faster battery drain

It is among the first things you will notice when your Android/iPhone is infected by malware. Malware background activity uses up a lot of energy and, therefore, will tend to drain your battery much faster than usual.

2. Slowed phone operation

If your phone suddenly starts to slow down while executing requests, it is possible that it is hacked or infected with malware. Malware action will eat up your random-access memory, slowing down your phone.

3. Overheating

There so many reasons why your phone will heat up, most of which are quite normal. However, malware infection could also be a reason for your phone overheating.

4. Increased data usage

If you noticed a spike in data usage that cannot be accounted for, your Android/ iPhone might be infected by malware. The malware could be using your data to send back harvested data back to the hacker’s servers.

5. App crashing

If your phone has been experiencing random and excess app crashing, it could be due to malware or virus infection.

6. Unaccounted phone bill increase

Some malware work by sending premium messages and k later on deleting delivery txt messages casing your phone bills to increase. Ztorg Trojans were notorious for that.

7. Unfamiliar apps

Some malware can automatically download and install data harvesting applications on your hone. So, if you find an application you do not recall installing, there is a high possibility that malware did that or a hacker did it.

How to Get Rid of Malware and Protect Your Phone?

And while governments and businesses are planning to spend $6 trillion on cybersecurity, we all not going to ask you to spend thousands of dollars to get rid of malware and hackers to protect your phone. However, be warned a laxity in protecting your privacy and data could cost you a lot. Here are a few “cybersecurity” solutions that can help you get rid of mobile malware and as well keep hackers off your back.

1. Use Antivirus software for android/iPhone

This might sound quite casual but installing and running Antivirus software on your smartphone is a perfect and effective way to eliminate malware and protect your phone and data. Antivirus software are designed to detect, clean, or quarantine malware or virus-infected files. At the same time, it is imperative that you only use credible security software, download them from the Google play store or App Store for your iPhone. Avoid third-party Antivirus software. Here is a list of top recommended software for your device.

Antivirus software for Android

i.         Bitdefender Mobile Security

ii.         Avast Mobile Security

iii.         Norton Mobile Security

iv.         Kaspersky Internet Security

v.         McAfee Mobile Security for Android

Antivirus software for iPhone

i.         Avira Mobile Security

ii.         Phone Guardian

iii.          Lookout Personal for iOS

iv.         Kaspersky Security Cloud Free for iOS

v.         McAfee Mobile Security

 

2. Use VPN

Surfing the internet without a VPN puts you at risk of getting hacked, data breach, or malware infection from hackers. VPN services are meant to encrypt your web traffic and provide you with a virtual IP address that ensures that you remain anonymous when surfing the internet. The VPN virtual IP address ensures that you are less of a target for hackers and internet snoopers. Our list of top VPNs we highly recommend. We also wrote about Best VPN for Android  and  Best VPN for iOS.

3. Delete suspicious apps

Hackers will use seemingly legit applications to harvest and steal data from your Android or iOS devices. If you find out that you have an application that you do not remember installing. It would be best if you manually uninstalled it. Also, check out for applications with weird/ unnecessary permission requests and delete them too.

4. Reset your phone

It an aggressive way of dealing with malware. Before resetting, ensure that you have a backup for your data. Resetting your device grants your device a fresh start.

Reset iPhone

i.         Launch iTunes and connect your iPhone to the PC

ii.         Your device will detect and hit the Restore option to reset

Reset Android phone

i.         Go to Settings>> General, the Reset

ii.         Hit Factory reset data to reset your phone

 

Conclusion

If you have been wondering if viruses can infect your smartphone, you now have the answers. All smartphones are vulnerable to malware, except that some are more vulnerable than others. To be precise, Android devices are much more susceptible to malware compared to iOS devices, for they have a more flexible software system that can be manipulated by hackers to access your data. Therefore, you should always be alert. Pay attention to your phone’s behavior and use the signs in this post to determine if it has been infected by malware. If so, you can always result in either of the above solutions to remedy your malware problem.