How To Protect Your Phone From Viruses – Smartphone use has become ubiquitous in today’s society, with roughly half of all Americans owning a smartphone as of early last year.
The ubiquity of smartphones has also led to a massive increase in the number of applications available for download through the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
Because of this, it’s becoming increasingly common for people to come into contact with a virus or malware that has infected their smartphones.
Smartphone users need to take additional measures to protect their devices against potential viruses and malware.
This article will discuss the various ways you can protect your smartphone from viruses and malware, as well as provide you with seven tips to help you avoid getting infected in the future.
What do Viruses do to Your Phone?
A large number of smartphone users are unaware that their device can be infected by viruses simply by accessing a compromised website.
When someone visits a website that contains a virus, the virus can “escape” the web browser and infect the smartphone through an infected web page.
Likewise, if you access a malicious website, your browser may automatically download and install a virus onto your phone without you knowing it.
Malicious websites are constantly evolving and are often quickly taken down if found to be abusing their privileges.
However, their malicious code can still linger on in the form of Malwarebytes, which can infect your phone with ease.
Also Read: How To Secure Your Phone From Hackers: A Guide To Preventing Hacking Attacks
How To Protect Your Phone From Viruses
Back up your smartphone
Back up your phone! The best way to protect your phone is by backing it up. There are a variety of backup applications available for Android and iOS, as well as cloud storage services such as Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox.
It’s best to make a backup of your phone’s data at least once a week. More frequent backups will only take up more space on your device and won’t provide any additional protection.
However, making a backup after every important event can swiftly get old, and the need to back up your phone regularly can become a chore.
There is a middle ground that provides the best of both worlds: make a weekly backup, but also create a “log” backup that records all the calls, messages, videos, music, and other media you were listening to at the time of the backup.
That way, if something unexpected happens to your phone, you’ll still be able to retrieve some of your recent interactions.
Install a reputable antivirus app
The best way to protect your phone from viruses is by downloading and installing an antivirus app. There are many antivirus apps available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
However, most of them are either paid apps (with in-app purchases that will cost you money), or free apps that don’t provide adequate protection against malware. The only reliable way to protect your phone is by using a reliable antivirus app.
Some of the most well-known antivirus apps include Lookout, AVG, and Avast. These apps provide effective protection against both known and unknown viruses and malware.
However, most of them are paid apps, costing you $0.99, $4.99, or $39.99 per year, respectively. There is a free version of AVG, but it is ad-supported, as well as a free version of Avast that is limited in its capabilities. The only reliable way to protect your phone is by using a reliable antivirus app.
Set your phone to only allow trusted apps to access your location
When a malicious app requests access to your location, you should carefully examine the permissions requested by the app and deny any that are unnecessary. Location is very sensitive permission and should only be granted to trusted apps.
For example, if you have GPS navigation on your smartphone, you don’t want a virus that can track your location to have access to your location. Similarly, if an app is trying to “find your nearest gas station”, you don’t need the app to access your location.
You can allow these types of apps to access your location only if you trust that app and know it’s not trying to access your GPS or other sensitive data without your knowledge.
Set strong passwords for your smartphone
Passwords are the most important factor in protecting your smartphone from being hacked. A strong password is difficult for someone to crack using brute force, as well as remembering.
It should be at least eight characters long and contain at least one number, one upper- and lower-case letter, and one symbol.
Setting a strong password for your smartphone can be time-consuming, but if you take the time to create a strong password, you will significantly reduce the risk of someone accessing your device without your permission.
Some of the most popular password managers are offering free trials these days, so it’s worth looking into them if you want better passwords to protect your data.
A password manager can help you create strong passwords and store them in an app that syncs across all of your devices.
Restrict the amount of time you spend on your smartphone
Smartphones are addictive. While it’s great to have access to the internet on the move, regularly accessing websites and apps that are harmful to your smartphone can bring down your device’s performance and cause it to slow down.
To prevent this, you can limit the amount of time you spend on your smartphone. For example, you can set an hourly limit on how long you will spend on your smartphone per day.
This way, you will have less time for viruses and malware to steal your data. It’s important to note that limiting your usage will not remove the risk of viruses and malware entirely.
The risk exists even if you don’t use your phone for an hour each day. However, limiting your usage will significantly reduce the risk of your device being hacked.
Don’t install third-party apps unless you’re 100% certain they’re legitimate
Before downloading a third-party app, it’s wise to Google the app’s name and sees if it shows up on any malware or virus databases.
This will help you identify any possible risks before installing it on your phone. Additionally, it’s best to check the app’s permissions and make sure they’re reasonable.
For example, a fitness tracker should be able to access your location, but an app that claims to track your location and send you notifications should not be able to access your location.
Similarly, an app that handles money should not be able to access your financial data. Be wary of any third-party app that doesn’t have a reasonable reason for needing to access your data.
How to Check if Your Phone Has a Virus
It is not difficult to determine if your phone has a virus. All you need to do is check the battery icon at the top of your screen and look for any sign that it has been infected by malware or spyware, such as an exclamation mark in a circle with red and yellow lines around it.
If there are signs like this on your device’s battery indicator, then you should contact someone familiar with fixing phones immediately so they can remove them from your system.
If there are no indications on the power button of viruses in text form below its pulsating light indicating their presence:
That means your phone is clean from viruses and malware, and you are safe from them.
If there are indications that your phone is infected by a virus:
You should immediately contact someone who knows how to remove viruses from the device.
Wrapping up – Tips to Protect Your Smartphone From Viruses
To protect your smartphone from viruses, you need to take several steps. These include:
- Back up your phone.
- Install an antivirus app.
- Set your phone to only allow trusted apps to access your location.
- Set strong passwords for your smartphone.
- Restrict the amount of time you spend on your smartphone.
- Don’t install third-party apps unless you’re 100% certain they’re legitimate.
The best way to protect your phone is by backing it up. There are a variety of backup applications available for Android and iOS, as well as cloud storage services such as Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox. It’s best to make a backup of your phone’s data at least once a week.
More frequent backups will only take up more space on your device and won’t provide any additional protection. However, making a backup after every important event can swiftly get old, and the need to back up your phone regularly can become a chore.
There is a middle ground that provides the best of both worlds: make a weekly backup, but also create a “log” backup that records all the calls, messages, videos, music, and other media you were listening to at the time of the backup.
That way, if something unexpected happens to your phone, you’ll still be able to retrieve some of your recent interactions.
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