What to do if my iPHone has been hacked?

Things are changed everrytime I get back on my phone


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Posted on Feb 12, 2024 10:01 AM

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Posted on Feb 12, 2024 10:14 AM

It's highly unlikely that your phone has been "hacked". Does it have a passcode on it? Is it even remotely possible that someone else could have that passcode? Do you share an Apple ID?


One of the most likely things I can think of is that you have Focus enabled and connected to your home screens. Go to Settings>Focus and check each one.

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Feb 12, 2024 10:14 AM in response to keriaua

It's highly unlikely that your phone has been "hacked". Does it have a passcode on it? Is it even remotely possible that someone else could have that passcode? Do you share an Apple ID?


One of the most likely things I can think of is that you have Focus enabled and connected to your home screens. Go to Settings>Focus and check each one.

Feb 20, 2024 6:54 AM in response to SJCox1988

SJCox1988 wrote:

Mine is hacked.

Unless you have jailbroken your phone or are someone whose data would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire, that's unlikely. If you explain the actual problems you're having without speculating on the cause, it's likely that someone here will be able to help you figure out what's really wrong with your phone.

Feb 20, 2024 8:36 AM in response to SJCox1988

SJCox1988 wrote:

Mine is hacked.

So out of 2 billion iPhones yours is the only one that is hacked?


There are rare instances when an iPhone is hacked, almost exclusively people who are so important on the world stage that it is worth $millons to hack them. But the interesting part is that a hacked iPhone never shows any symptoms of being hacked, because if it did that would be a giveaway. So if your phone has some odd behavior it definitely has not been hacked.

Feb 20, 2024 8:59 AM in response to keriaua

In recent years in IT environments, some words including “hacked”, “hacker”, and “virus” have acquired a second meaning. In IT, these words can also loosely mean “something has happened or has changed and I don’t understand, please help me.” While it is possible this is a “hacker” or a “virus”, there can be other and entirely benign causes. This second and benign case and the entirely reasonable concern about changes or about nascent hardware problems is arguably more common around here, too. (And in the interest of full disclosure, those same words can also mean that IT or the app developer or the platform vendor screwed up, too.)


In short… Please explain what you are encountering.


”Things are changed” covers a whole lot of possible changes, for instance. And might cover a hardware problem with the display that can cause missed touches or so-called “ghost” touches, or can mean that y’all are unfortunately sharing an Apple ID, or can mean y’all have changed shared settings on some other device or some other Mac and iCloud has updated the settings on this device.


As for rather more expensive approaches such as “get new phone and new phone number”, if the exploits are being targeted, or if the problem is a trusted person locally, or if the problem is a misunderstanding or involves the user making the changes and then forgetting the changes were even made (cases of forgetfulness I’ve directly observed with folks I’ve supported), that expense won't address the issue.


Put more simply, what is happening here that has you concerned about your security? Please be specific, too.

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What to do if my iPHone has been hacked?

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