Do you have any doubt that something is wrong with your phone and you want to know if a smartphone has a virus? If your smartphone suddenly started to lose hits and behaves strangely, there are two possibilities: it has been hit by a virus; it is simply aged becoming slow and obsolete.
Today we will deal with the first case, which is the most frequent. In fact, if the smartphone in question starts to crash very often, needs continuous reboots and no longer allows you to get to the end of the day because of the speed with which you charge the battery, the problem could be malware. For Android smartphones it is very likely to run into a virus, while for Apple smartphones it is more difficult, especially if no jailbreak has been made.
In this guide you will find advice on how to understand if a smartphone has a virus and also some tips on how to protect Android from viruses and malware to prevent further attacks. Since smartphones with iOS on board rarely get infected, here you can understand how to remove a virus on iPhone.
Index
- Check the applications installed on the smartphone
- Check applications with administrative permissions
- Check the consumption of data traffic
- Check the battery consumption
- Check the remaining credit on the SIM
- Conclusions
Check the applications installed on the smartphone
The effects caused by viruses are very often immediate. The first thing to do, if the symptoms described above are found on your device, is to evaluate from what the infection could have been caused. One of the main causes is the installation of infected applications, and for this we must verify if there are applications in the smartphone that have not been installed personally.
In Android devices, just open the Settings and select the Applications item. Then you have to tap Show all apps, so you can see the full list of applications installed on your smartphone. If there is a suspicious application, to delete it just click on Terminate and then on Uninstall. Also, to get more information about an unknown app, searching on Google could help.
Speaking of the applications installed then, it is good to verify that the Play Protect service is active. Google Play Protect is a function of the Android store that monitors the applications installed on the device. To check that it is active, just open the Google Play Store and tap the menu symbol, scroll down until you find the option Play Protect and tap on it. Here, the item Search for security threats must already be active and you can also activate Improve detection of malicious apps for greater security.
It is important that you never download applications from untrusted sources, which are different from the Play Store. In this regard, going to Settings and tapping App and notifications > Advanced > Special Permissions to apps > Install unknown apps, you can view a list of applications. Under each of them there must be the words Not allowed, and if not, deactivate the entry Allow from this source, by tapping on the application.
In smartphones with iOS operating system there should be no risk of installing apps from untrusted sources other than the App Store. To check the applications installed on the device you need to enter Settings > General and finally in Free iPhone Space. From here you can view all the apps in the device and, in case there are one or more suspicious, uninstall them by first tap on them and then Delete app.
Verify applications with administrator permissions
There are numerous applications that use administrator permissions, but this can pose risks. In fact, it happens that malicious apps require these permissions and can thus act without disturbances within the smartphone.
On Android devices, you can view applications that have these permissions through the Device Administrator section. From the Settings, you will need to access the Security and Location section and scroll by tapping on the Device Administration App entry. In this way the list of all the apps that use the administrative permissions will be viewable and if there are any suspects, proceed to remove the permissions and then uninstall them.
In the iPhone there is no risk that some applications possess this kind of permissions. However, it is often the case that viruses use applications to intercept sensitive information (such as biographical data, current account information or credit card information) that are transmitted from the smartphone to the internet.
To avoid this, from the iPhone you have to enter the Settings and tap on General, scroll through the list and plug in VPN. Here you can delete the suspicious data or reset the network settings from the appropriate entry in Settings > General > Reset network settings.
Finally we talk about the devices, Android and iOS, with root or jailbreak. The devices in question are more likely to be infected and for this reason this practice is strongly discouraged.
Check the consumption of data traffic
There are many types of viruses, all with different characteristics and effects. The spyware for example, infecting smartphone and access the internet, it will start transmitting all the personal data that will find. For this reason the consumption of data traffic will be anomalous.
Data traffic is visible on Android devices, in Settings and in the Network and Internet option. Tapping on Data usage and then on Mobile data usage, it will be possible to check the consumption of data traffic on the mobile network, but also those under the Wi-Fi network by tapping on Wi-Fi data usage. If you find a suspicious list in the list of apps that have access to the internet, you can uninstall it by tapping it first on it and then back on its name.
To view the list of applications installed on iPhone that have access to the Internet, you must enter the Settings and then tap on Mobile. Here, scrolling down you can see the list and the number of bytes used by each application. To block access to the internet of an application just move the lever next to the app name, turning it from green to gray.
Check the battery consumption
Another effect caused by some viruses is the excessive speed of battery consumption. In fact, some viruses always remain active in the background by continuously exploiting the processor and thus causing a rapid reduction of the charge.
So, first of all it is good to check the consumption of your device. On Android devices just go to the Battery item in the Settings to view the consumption graph. The latter shows the battery discharge from the moment the smartphone was disconnected from the power supply. To view the consumption of individual applications just scroll down to find the list of applications, very useful in order to find any infected apps or services.
There is however to specify that excessive consumption of the battery are not always caused by a virus. In fact, the download speed of your smartphone depends mainly on the use you make of it, since it is easy to download faster using a lot of social network apps, video games, but even if you make many calls or keep the data and the GPS always on.
On iPhone devices, the way you can check battery consumption is just as simple. Once entered in the Settings, also on iOS will be the entry Battery where you will have to access. From here scroll down to the heading Battery use to view the complete list of apps that are consuming the battery of your iPhone. You can organize the list according to the consumption of the last 24 hours or according to the last 7 days, and also tapping on the list you can see the minutes of activity of each app and see which are In Use and which In the background.
Check the remaining credit on the SIM
One category of viruses that frequently affects users is that of Dialers. These malware connect directly to your SIM and activate services using your number so that you can consume a large part, if not all, the remaining credit. Dialers are often activated by opening malicious links from the smartphone browser and to resolve you will need to contact your telephone operator. You must ask your operator to be reimbursed for all costs caused by the services activated without request and if possible to request that a block be placed on your SIM card for any paid service. In doing so, you should not theoretically run into such discomfort.
Conclusions
We hope this guide has helped you solve your problem. In addition, we recommend that you consider antivirus applications for your smartphone, and in particular you can find the best antivirus for android at this link.
In the event that your Android smartphone is found to be infected, you can read the guide on how to remove viruses.
If you still have any doubts or queries related to this topic then feel free to consult with us via the comments box.