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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Reset iPhone

I feel like my phone has been hacked and unknown software (operating system? Or maybe even bios) was installed on my phone. The websites I visit all look weird, telling me about business stuff when I don’t own a business. Also about education stuff when I’ve graduated university for long. Can’t seem to keep all my accounts safe, E.g. Facebook has some random unknown app connected to it. Does anyone know how I can restore my phone to its original state out of the box? Would like to keep my data though, like photos, calendar entries, contacts etc.

iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 16

Posted on Nov 17, 2022 4:22 AM

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User profile for user: SravanKrA
SravanKrA
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
417,278 points

Nov 17, 2022 4:24 AM in response to Community User

By hack, if you mean a stalker is remotely controlling or monitoring your device, then...


Keep the iPhone updated to the latest iOS always and never Jailbreak. That's it.


iOS / iPadOS devices cannot be hacked or infected with Virus / Malware / Spyware if it is updated to the latest iOS/iPadOS unless you have intentionally downloaded spurious software or unauthorized apps directly from the internet and installed them on your device or/and have Jailbroken. 


It (Hacking) also depends on how careful are you in sharing sensitive and valuable information pertaining to your iPhone such as Passcode, Password, etc with your friends and family members.


Be careful when sharing the device's sensitive and valuable information with friends and family members.


Thumb Rules:

  1. Enable  Guided Access before handing over an iPhone to kids
  2. Don't share Apple IDs
  3. Don't Jailbreak
  4. Don't share sensitive information pertaining to your device and payment methods
  5. Beware of Phishing
  6. Do not share your location with a stranger --> Find friends and share your location with Find My
  7. If you see this --> What to do if you get an alert that an AirTag, Find My network accessory or set of AirPods is with you


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User profile for user: Community User
Community User Author

Nov 17, 2022 9:20 AM in response to SravanKrA

A perfect example is like this one. I clicked your link for Fishing (as I know I have previously fallen victim to it). Near the bottom of the page it offered a free fishing security test button, as well as a separate link. I copied the separate link and pasted in my browser, but this was the link that pasted:



This doesn’t look like the phishing.org link at all, which makes me think my device has malicious software installed that is redirecting/displaying info/linking to other sites that I have no control over. Then how am I supposed to know if the site I visited is genuine?



[Edited by Moderator]

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Reset iPhone

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