How do I scan my iPhone 13 for a virus causing pop-ups?

I’m having pop ups saying my phone has virus how can I scan my iPhone 13 to see if it has a virus




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Posted on Mar 14, 2025 6:38 AM

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Posted on Mar 14, 2025 6:50 AM

Unless your device is (or has been) jailbroken, an iPhone cannot get any viruses.

Also, try to clear your Safari history and cookies, using these instructions:--> Clear the history, cache, and cookies from Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

When done, restart your iPhone.


Regards

Giulio

7 replies

Mar 14, 2025 9:30 PM in response to Bennyboy1235

Bennyboy1235 wrote:

So its very hard to get a virus?


The advertisement lied about the scan, then lied about the virus, and, well, lied.


The advertisement that lied about that worked well though, because you’re here, asking about an advertisement that lied about the scan and lied about the virus, well, three, or five, or however many billion trillion viruses it lied about scanning for and lied about finding, because the advertisement that lied about the scan and lied about the virus used a word that scares you: VIRUS.


HACKER and DARK WEB are some other popular scare words.


There is malware that exists for iPhone yes, but — if the advertisement that lied to you about scanning and then lied to you about the virus had access to that sort of (expensive!) exploits, the advertisement that lied to you about the scan and lied to you about the virus would not have needed to lie about the scan and then lied about the virus.


Had the advertisement been able to conduct the claimed scan, it would have just ripped off everything, as scans are deeply intrusive operations, operations prohibited of even local apps. So even the “scan” claim itself is, well, problematic.


It’s also generally exceedingly difficult to prove a negative; to prove that some complex device is not compromised.


The scammers that lied to you about the scan and that lied about the virus are probably advertising an add-on “coffee shop” VPN app, an app that badly solves a problem that hasn’t existed for a decade, but badly solves it in a way perfect for collecting personally-identified network metadata for tracking and re-sale.


And ironically, a VPN app has nothing to do with solving the bogus virus detection claims that the advertisement lied about, too.


If the built-in iPhone anti-malware hasn’t detected any malware, you’re either not a target for what malware is around, or you’re far outside the realm of what help can be offered here; an immensely valuable target of an immensely wealthy adversary. But this “virus scan” was an advertisement, and not a scan. And no virus.


Yes, I’m hammering on the word “lie” there, because lies can be pernicious, and because repeating the lies works.

Mar 14, 2025 9:09 PM in response to Bennyboy1235

Bennyboy1235 wrote:

So its very hard to get a virus?


When you get a common cold, this is because cold viruses invade some of your body's cells, and turn those cells into factories for manufacturing more viruses. Those viruses attach themselves to other cells – to turn them into more virus factories.


A computer virus is a type of malware that works by spreading itself from one infected piece of code (e.g., app or script) to other pieces of code, turning them into computer virus factories.


iOS is extremely locked-down, and does not allow an app to modify files containing other apps. So let's suppose that an app that you downloaded from the App Store was infected with a virus. That virus could not spread itself to other apps on your phone because iOS would block it every time.


A "virus" that cannot spread is not much of a virus. Likewise, any supposed "anti-virus" program for an iPhone can't be very much of one, given that there is no virus infection to detect – and that the same protections in iOS that prevent "viruses" from spreading would keep an "anti-virus" program from disinfecting them.

Mar 14, 2025 7:13 PM in response to Beeco221

"How do I scan my iPhone 13 for a virus causing pop-ups?: I’m having pop ups saying my phone has virus how can I scan my iPhone 13 to see if it has a virus"

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Avoiding Popups:


What Kind of Popup Messages:


A. Web Browsing:

When it comes to browsing the Web, the Brave Web browser does its part in blocking popups. So, see that using that stops this: Brave Browser & Search Engine - App Store


B. Reporting Digital Scams:

As for scam popups, report these scoundrels and their wrongdoings. Use my User Tip: Using the Photos App to Report Scams: - User Tip



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How do I scan my iPhone 13 for a virus causing pop-ups?

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